So, in my last video about why I don’t recommend taking Accutane, I mentioned that there is sometimes an initial breakout when you use holistic treatments.

I should have explained that better because I realize now that it sounded a bit scary!

Have you ever heard of something called a healing crisis? It’s not as bad as it sounds.

Well let me explain to you something about the skin.

Your body is constantly detoxifying wastes through our body’s natural methods of disposal. Your lungs, your bowels, your urine, your liver. When these become too overloaded and can’t keep up with all the toxins flowing into your body, this is bad news – because the toxins have to come out somewhere.

For some people, they end up overweight because their bodies decide to store the excess in their fat cells. For some people, it comes out in the form of a headache or arthritis. For some people, it decides to release the excess through the skin… sometimes in the form of acne.

Okay, so what this means then, is that when you first decide to change up your lifestyle for the better, the overloaded detoxification organs, like the liver, release their excess toxins. This is the first step in the healing process and it’s a great, wonderful, fantastic thing!

But because everything is still pretty backed up at this point, it can come out through your skin which results in a very temporary worsening of your acne.

This shouldn’t last more than a week or two before your acne goes back to the average level of acne that you normally see. You should also be aware that this probably only means a few more spots than usual. If you generally have mild or moderate acne, it’s not like it’s going to suddenly jump 5 points on the severity scale, so don’t worry.

In this time after your healing crisis, your body will begin to heal your disposal organs, and they will be able to dispose of toxins properly, without having to get them out through your skin.

This is when your acne will begin to clear up

I want to emphasize though that a healing crisis is not even something that is guaranteed to happen. It’s more likely to happen if you jump head first into a strict cleanse or detox diet, where your body is suddenly capable of releasing a bunch of toxins at once.

If you were to make slower changes to your health, it’s unlikely you would see any worsening of your acne at all.

The point of this article is that it’s a reminder to you all to be patient… there’s a lot of healing work going on in your body that you can’t see, and it can take a couple months before you start to notice a difference on your face.

I know, I know… it’s unbelievably difficult not to get scared and frustrated when you are making all this effort and it doesn’t appear to be working.

I used to go crazy about it, but just remember that calming down and having a little faith will help your body to heal faster than going nuts in frustration. I experienced all this stuff myself… the healing crisis, the frustration, the worry. And look at my skin now!

So just relax, take a deep breath.

Go for a walk with a friend or meditate in nature. Remember that this isn’t forever.

You’ve dealt with acne this long, what’s a few more spots when you know this is the last few months you’ll ever have to deal with them?

Do you usually have enough patience to see if a treatment works, or do you quickly go from one treatment to the next? Share your experiences below!

photo by Ostrosky Photos