A puffy face isn’t precisely a magnificence purpose for most individuals. As an alternative, there are de-puffing face masks, eye lotions and different skincare routines, all with the purpose of creating your face look contoured, clean and fewer bloated.
Many things can cause facial puffiness, resembling allergic reactions, eczema, high-salt diets and even the straightforward act of mendacity flat as you sleep. However now people on TikTok say there’s another cause for puffy, round faces: excessive cortisol, aka the stress hormone.
Social media customers are calling it “cortisol face” and declare that an excessive amount of of this hormone causes a spherical face, puffy pores and skin, under-eye circles and pimples. However is that true? Sure and no, specialists say. Right here’s why:
First, cortisol serves a particular function.
“Cortisol is what we name a glucocorticoid hormone, and it really helps regulate your physique’s response to emphasize,” stated Dr. Divya Yogi-Morren, the medical director of the Pituitary Heart at Cleveland Clinic.
Cortisol is especially produced within the adrenal glands (that are on high of the kidneys), stated Dr. Mehboob Hussain, an endocrinologist at College of California at Irvine Well being. And cortisol is important for day-to-day life.
“With out cortisol, many capabilities of the physique wouldn’t have the ability to happen correctly, and primarily no cortisol means you’d die if there’s no therapy or remediation of that,” Hussain stated.
Cortisol additionally helps “management the physique’s use of fats, protein, carbohydrates and your metabolism,” added Yogi-Morren.
Having an excessive amount of cortisol can trigger a rounding of the face, nevertheless it’s not as frequent as social media makes it appear.
“In case your physique has an excessive amount of cortisol, it could actually simply be due to day by day stress in life, or it could actually really be due to a illness referred to as Cushing syndrome,” Yogi-Morren stated.
“Essentially the most frequent reason behind conditions the place there’s an excessive amount of cortisol within the physique is when persons are taking cortisol for medical causes for extended durations of time at excessive doses,” added Hussain. (This could result in Cushing syndrome.)
Cushing syndrome is just not one thing that may be handled at house or recognized through a video on TikTok. As an alternative, you might want to see a physician for testing and therapy, Yogi-Morren famous.
Moreover, there are occasions when your physique makes additional cortisol, like once you break a bone, stated Hussain, however ranges even out after a brief time frame.
On the subject of a rounding of the face due to excessive cortisol, demanding moments in life are seemingly not what’s inflicting that. It’s seemingly Cushing or one other well being situation, resembling polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which causes weight gain among issues, together with irregular durations and extra hair progress.
“More often than not it’s not going to be Cushing syndrome… it’s most definitely going to be one thing else that’s one thing extra frequent, , PCOS, weight problems, diabetes, metabolic syndrome. These are related to these modifications,” Hussain stated.
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Clinically excessive cortisol ranges can even trigger thinning of the pores and skin and pimples.
TikTok customers additionally say so-called cortisol face causes under-eye circles and pimples. In accordance with each specialists, this may be Cushing syndrome, too.
Zits can develop when you’ve got Cushing syndrome, stated Hussain, and it could actually additionally develop as a symptom of a few of the different situations he talked about above, resembling PCOS.
However even when you don’t have one among these situations, you should still take care of high-cortisol-related pimples, stated Yogi-Morren.
“Elevated cortisol, which is related to excessive stress, can result in improve in androgens. Androgens are principally male hormones, each women and men have them, however when you’ve got extra androgens, you possibly can… produce extra oil, after which when you’ve got extra oil, you’ve got extra micro organism and useless pores and skin cells, which clog the pores and end in pimples,” Yogi-Morren defined. “And there are studies that [say] stress-induced cortisol elevation has been linked to exacerbation of pimples signs.”
On TikTok, under-eye circles are additionally stated to be an indication of excessive cortisol. And thinning pores and skin is one other symptom of Cushing syndrome, Yogi-Morren stated, as are issues resembling fatigue, muscle weak spot and sluggish therapeutic.
“The thinnest pores and skin in your physique may be underneath your eyes, in order that’s why we’re getting some under-eye signs,” she stated.
In the event you’re involved about your cortisol ranges, speak to a physician. Don’t search recommendation from TikTok.
“The most effective factor for everybody to do is to speak to their suppliers about their cortisol ranges, and when you’re involved, your major care physician will normally order some preliminary exams,” Yogi-Morren stated. “After which if the exams are irregular, you might get referred to an endocrinologist who makes a speciality of excessive cortisol, like myself, to additional consider and resolve what must be completed.”
Cushing syndrome is just not one thing that may be managed via way of life modifications, however when you’ve got a high-stress life or different underlying points which can be the explanation behind a puffier-than-usual face, your major care physician might prescribe different at-home therapies, Yogi-Morren stated.
“They may speak to you about stress administration ranges, typically they may put you on a nutritious diet or a weight administration program,” she defined.
Once more, although, in case your face form modifications otherwise you discover under-eye circles or pimples, it’s much less prone to be Cushing syndrome, Hussain stated.
“Once I was going to medical college and was getting early medical coaching… one among my professors would say what’s frequent is frequent, what’s uncommon is uncommon, and that’s simply going to remain,” Hussain stated. “Cushing is uncommon. Zits is frequent. PCOS is extra frequent. Weight problems is an epidemic, proper? And so the frequent stuff you’re going to come across way more, and what’s uncommon goes to remain uncommon.”
