Biotin causing Acne!

[lockslessmonstr]

I started taking biotin (2500mg a day) to boost my hair growth. I started this about 3 months ago and have coincidentally have had the worst cystic acne breakouts EVER. I ended up getting a cocktail of prescriptions from the dermatologist to combat the unrelenting explosion. Tonight I was researching acne & acne treatments (I'm truly at a loss as to what is going on with my face) and found a bunch of info about how biotin can cause cystic acne!!!!! Needless to say the bottle of biotin is now in the trash and my hair will just have to grow at it's usual snail pace. Hopefully my face will clear up soon, if not it's back to square one.

So I'm wondering if anyone else has been taking biotin for their hair and is also struggling with breakouts? And does anyone have more info on this? Is it just a coincidence? Thanks!

[theskeletonkey]

Yes! I take 5000mg once daily and for the first two weeks I had some pretty bad acne.
Cystic & some surface ones :undecided thankfully it's starting to clear up, but it is taking a while.
I totally understand your decision to stop taking it, I was at my breaking point but I decided to just stick it out.



- Marissa

[krissykins]

I started to take Biotin last week, and generally I have clear skin, but I have noticed a slight breakout.

Correlation between the two? Maybe. Or it could be PMS...

[Jeni]

I think there was a thread about this...or maybe just a general Biotin thread, either way it has been mentioned before and no you are not alone! I was taking biotin but also started breaking out which I finally figured out was from the biotin. I believe some people have had success starting at a lower dose and slowly upping it until your taking the recommended dose but that didnt work for me.

[Kristen_Marie]

I've started taking a hair, skin and nails supplement that has (of course) a healthy dose of biotin. I hadn't noticed a bigger break out rate just because I've always had problem skin. Though, I only take the pill once, sometimes twice a week just because I've never been fond of what pills can do to the liver.

I'm curious if my most recent breakout has anything to do with the supplement. >.<

[longhairedfairy]

Biotin is supposed to be good for the skin. Maybe you need to take a lower dose.:shrug:

[jera]

Are you sure it was the biotin, sweetie? :confused: I can't take it because it causes migraines, but if you take brewer's yeast instead you'd get enough biotin and other essential B vitamins as well for clear skin, strong nails, and healthy hair.

Try a facial sauna for the cystic breakouts. Saunas have made my pores shrink almost into non existence. By sweating, saunas will help your skin release those toxins your body is holding in and causing you to break out, so get at the root of the problem.

[Dementia1013]

What's cystic acne?

[Toadstool]

That's why I don't take biotin :-(

[rach]

What's cystic acne?

cystic acne (looks really painful)
http://z.hubpages.com/u/243736_f260.jpg

as to
usulal acne

http://tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:Q-WJWXPgKj2SYM:http://www.dermaxime.com/images/acne-pimples.jpg

[demitasse]

I took Biotin for a few days until I saw the dreaded M word—migraine. I get a couple a year and don't want to do anything that could encourage more. Just learning to be more patient instead. :)

[curls2grow]

I started taking biotin (2500mg a day) to boost my hair growth. I started this about 3 months ago and have coincidentally have had the worst cystic acne breakouts EVER. I started reading your post and thought it was just like what happened to me several years ago when I tried adding a biotin supplement. I was taking 5000 mg/day and got horrible, large acne cysts. I cut down to 2500 mg but I think it was too late; my skin already screamed that it didn't like the extra biotin and seemed to be holding onto cysts even at the reduced dose. I stopped completely and the cysts calmed down and eventually went away. I do still get a bit of extra biotin in my multi-vitamin, but it doesn't aggravate my skin.

All that aside, I may have an a slight increase in growth at the time, but it was definitely not worth the hassle with cystic acne.

[bluemoon1891]

A lot of people claim that an increase in water intake helps with the acne, and that your skin is simply going through a "purging" stage...However, when I was taking Biotin (3000mg) the acne never cleared up until I stopped taking it MONTHS later. It was like cystic pimples too that would leave ugly scars everywhere. :( The scars took forever to heal up and are still slightly visible. Bleh.

I do believe it helped with my hair growth, but it was doing too much damage to my skin for me to keep up with it. So you are not alone.

[SeaShell]

actually I've been taking biotin since January and have had more breakouts than usual...I figured I'd just grown immune to the pro active system which usually keeps my skin clear, but now you have me wondering. I also had one cyst and have experienced slight breakouts on my neck which has never happened before. I never knew biotin can cause that :(

[lockslessmonstr]

I'm so glad it's not just me! I think some people can tolerate biotin just fine but not me. If you can take it with no acne issues, YAY and I'm jealous. And daaaaaaaaaaaaamn that one pic of the cystic acne that was posted!!! Holy crap! Mine's not anywhere near that bad, but I don't want ANY at all.

[rach]

I'm so glad it's not just me! I think some people can tolerate biotin just fine but not me. If you can take it with no acne issues, YAY and I'm jealous. And daaaaaaaaaaaaamn that one pic of the cystic acne that was posted!!! Holy crap! Mine's not anywhere near that bad, but I don't want ANY at all.

i know, sorry about that, but i gave the idea :rolleyes:

[s_tresses]

Has anyone tried lowering their biotin dose and seen a difference? I believe the minimum they have in vitamins is around 500 mg...

Any other vitamins that help with hair growth?

[aldasbeke]

I've noticed a pretty bad breakout that has correlated with taking a lot of Biotin. I really don't think it's worth it when I think about it..

[Igor]

I was really begin to wonder if I should make a pre-made post for all the Mega Dose Biotin = Hallelujah! –threads going around trying to warn people, but maybe I should just link people to this one since no one seems to want to listen.

Just because something is water soluble doesn’t mean its okay to take a ridiculous overdose of. It still needs to be processed by the body. Kidneys can still fail from having to filter things out. The body can react strongly to everything in excess, even water soluble vitamins

The body doesn’t need a lot of biotin because it’s made by benign bacteria living in our digestive system and the body is getting what it needs from that. Mega dosing on something the body is almost self sufficient on, is frankly put arrogant and dangerous.

I really wish people would use the search functions, either on LHC or even Google before they start mega dosing on a single vitamin like this. Unfortunately people seems so adamant on that biotin is the single solution to better hair growth that they can’t be bothered to do the research.

I’m a firm believer in taking vitamins or supplements for the body and you will be rewarded with good hair health, as opposed to overdosing on the handful of vitamins that pop-knowledge tells you can help hair growth.

[BellCat]

I've been taking biotin about a month now. At first I was getting little weird spots on my face :S however I did a bit of research and found that taking another vitamin B with the biotin stops the breakouts so I went and bought a multivitamin with lots of different vitamin B's in it and my breakouts stopped :)

[dropinthebucket]

I've been taking biotin about a month, as well. Was already taking a B-100 multi, along with a daily multi. Hey, I'm old and a vegetarian, I need all the vitamins I can get! :) I'm keeping my dose at 2000, and spacing it - once in the morning, once in the evening. Biotin's also supposed to help with inflammation and joint cartilage (for which I already take MSM and silica - my fingers are starting to twist from arthritis), so I'm gonna keep going with it. So far, no horrendous skin issues. BTW, my hair has started growing visibly faster with the biotin ... but then, I'm taking all that other stuff, too.

[LadyG]

I have had acne my entire life, and use pro-active to control it. I started taking Biotin about a month ago, but at 1000mg only. I'll probably up the dosage in another month, and go slowly so as not to shock my system. So far, I've not had any problems. And no, my hair isn't growing all that much faster, but at least I know it's going to be healthier.

[Anje]

Even 1000 mg Biotin has given me acne in the past. Adding zinc seems to have made a difference for me, but you need to be careful when supplementing minerals like zinc. It competes with copper for absorption, and you shouldn't go over 100mg Zn/day from all supplements combined.

I think Igor is likely correct about megadosing a single vitamin not being a good idea. At best, you're secreting a lot of vitamin into the toilet, and at worse you do risk it competing with other essentials for use or harming your digestive flora balance. In any case, supplements should supplement a balanced, nutritive diet, not compensate for not having one.

[Vipera Berus]

I started taking biotin a while ago and it made me break out so I stopped taking it. Today I went to health food shop to look for a different supplement and started talking to a lady who works there. She claimed that breakouts occur because biotin has detoxifying effects.

[christine1989]

I take a high potentcy biotin and at first it gave me a tiny bit of acne so I started taking zinc which cleared it right up :).

[Honestwitness]

I just started taking Biotin this past week. However, my pills are 5000 mcg not 5000 mg. There's a huge difference between micrograms and milligrams. Are you all really taking milligrams?

[Buddaphlyy]

I just started taking Biotin this past week. However, my pills are 5000 mcg not 5000 mg. There's a huge difference between micrograms and milligrams. Are you all really taking milligrams?

I wonder this too. I was prescribed biotin about a month ago to help with my hair growth and she told me specifically to start at 1000 mcg and after 3 months if I see no progress, I can go up to 2000 mcg. She said there's really no medical reason to go past 5000 mcg. So when I come here and see people talking about taking 1000 mg, it kinda makes me go :confused:

BTW, for anyone who does know or aren't familiar

1 mg = 1000 mcg

[TwilightBloom]

I use it, but i haven't noticed more acne, i already get it once a month, and it hasn't gotten worse that i can tell. It has helped my hair grow though, and also I have new growth that had stopped growing.. Yayyy:cheese:

[Anje]

I just started taking Biotin this past week. However, my pills are 5000 mcg not 5000 mg. There's a huge difference between micrograms and milligrams. Are you all really taking milligrams?
Good call.... I mistyped mine at least (forgot the units). It's definitely 1000μg = 1mg.

[patienceneeded]

I was considering taking biotin to speed up hair growth and now I'm not sure I want to do that anymore. I had enough trouble with my skin a few months ago, I don't want a repeat. What else do people take to strengthen hair and encourage growth?

[maus]

I have read that MSM and/or zink helps with the breakouts. I have had a little bit of cystic acne (like one or two cysts) when I started taking biotin (about 6 weeks ago), and added MSM. Haven't had anything since, but not sure if it was the MSM, or if maybe I just had some hormonal issues during that time and not adverse reaction to the biotin after all.... I can say though that my hair seems to be growing faster, but again, I am not sure if that's the effect of the biotin or just better haircare in general.

[suicides_eve]

Biotin was the cause of my flare ups.As soon as I stopped they went away. Even multi vitamins have it so I take pills I need individually.

[MClass]

I've always had bad acne til a few years ago and I started biotin slowly and am now @ 5000mcg a day and having no break outs at all, but I increased over a year period.

[beebadeeps]

I ran across this post by accident! I've noticed my acne has been bad but it's gotten so much worse over the last couple years. Now I realize it could be because I've been taking biotin and a b complex. Guess I'll be stopping those!!

[Nedertane]

Hmmm. I've been getting cystic acme since I started college, but that was before I started taking biotin, and it hasn't gone away. Maybe I need to stop or lower the dose...

[pink.sara]

You aren't alone in the biotin breakouts. I tried it having had pretty much perfect skin all my life and had horrid little pimples around my nose and chin that got worse over about 5 months until I ran out of biotin and didn't take any for about 5 weeks.... Which was about the time it took for my skin to clear up.

I attributed it to the fantastic new skin regime I'd purchased or just hormonal changes around 30 (thought maybe it was an age thing) then I bought a new tub of biotin 1000 tablets and within 3 weeks it was coming back. SO asked if I had been doing anything different our taking anything new and it twigged.

My hair grew faster, my nails were awesome but my skin hated it!

[Hairitic]

I, too had significant breakout when I started taking 5000 mcg Biotin/day about 6 months ago :(. I don't remember how I figured it out but once I stopped those capsules, my skin went back to its normal condition :o. I do still get a small amount of Biotin in my daily MultiVitamin but apparently it's not enough to cause a real problem. I do also take 1325 mg MSM/day. I may at some point, try to gradually increase my Biotin intake and see what happens. I'll be sure to post here if I do :p.