A puffy face isn’t precisely a magnificence objective for most individuals. As a substitute, there are de-puffing face masks, eye lotions and different skincare routines, all with the objective of constructing your face look contoured, clean and fewer bloated.
Many issues may cause facial puffiness, similar to allergy symptoms, eczema, high-salt diets and even the straightforward act of mendacity flat as you sleep. However now folks on TikTok say there’s one other purpose for puffy, spherical 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 zits. However is that true? Sure and no, consultants say. Right here’s why:
First, cortisol serves a selected objective.
“Cortisol is what we call a glucocorticoid hormone, and it actually helps regulate your body’s response to stress,” mentioned Dr. Divya Yogi-Morren, the medical director of the Pituitary Middle at Cleveland Clinic.
Cortisol is especially produced within the adrenal glands (that are on prime of the kidneys), mentioned Dr. Mehboob Hussain, an endocrinologist at College of California at Irvine Health. And cortisol is important for day-to-day life.
“Without cortisol, many functions of the body would not be able to occur properly, and essentially no cortisol means you would die if there’s no treatment or remediation of that,” Hussain mentioned.
Cortisol additionally helps “control the body’s use of fat, 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 widespread as social media makes it appear.
“If your body has too much cortisol, it can just be because of daily stress in life, or it can actually be because of a disease called Cushing syndrome,” Yogi-Morren mentioned.
“The most frequent cause of situations where there’s too much cortisol in the body is when people are taking cortisol for medical reasons for prolonged periods of time at high doses,” added Hussain. (This could result in Cushing syndrome.)
Cushing syndrome isn’t one thing that may be handled at dwelling or recognized through a video on TikTok. As a substitute, it’s essential see a health care provider for testing and remedy, Yogi-Morren famous.
Moreover, there are occasions when your physique makes additional cortisol, like while you break a bone, mentioned Hussain, however ranges even out after a brief time frame.
In relation to a rounding of the face due to excessive cortisol, aggravating moments in life are doubtless not what’s inflicting that. It’s doubtless Cushing or one other well being situation, similar to polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which causes weight acquire amongst issues, together with irregular intervals and extra hair development.
“Most of the time it’s not going to be Cushing syndrome… it’s most likely going to be something else that is something more frequent, you know, PCOS, obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome. Those are associated with these changes,” Hussain mentioned.
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Clinically excessive cortisol ranges can even trigger thinning of the pores and skin and zits.
TikTok customers additionally say so-called cortisol face causes under-eye circles and zits. In line with each consultants, this may be Cushing syndrome, too.
Zits can develop when you have Cushing syndrome, mentioned Hussain, and it will possibly additionally develop as a symptom of a number of the different circumstances he talked about above, similar to PCOS.
However even for those who don’t have one among these circumstances, you should still take care of high-cortisol-related zits, mentioned Yogi-Morren.
“Elevated cortisol, which is associated with high stress, can lead to increase in androgens. Androgens are basically male hormones, both men and women have them, but if you have excess androgens, you can… produce more oil, and then if you have more oil, you have excess bacteria and dead skin cells, which clog the pores and result in acne,” Yogi-Morren defined. “And there are studies that [say] stress-induced cortisol elevation has been linked to exacerbation of acne symptoms.”
On TikTok, under-eye circles are additionally mentioned to be an indication of excessive cortisol. And thinning pores and skin is one other symptom of Cushing syndrome, Yogi-Morren mentioned, as are issues similar to fatigue, muscle weak spot and sluggish therapeutic.
“The thinnest skin in your body might be under your eyes, so that’s why we’re getting some under-eye symptoms,” she mentioned.
In the event you’re involved about your cortisol ranges, discuss to a health care provider. Don’t search recommendation from TikTok.
“The best thing for everyone to do is to talk to their providers about their cortisol levels, and if you’re concerned, your primary care doctor will usually order some preliminary tests,” Yogi-Morren mentioned. “And then if the tests are abnormal, you may get referred to an endocrinologist who specializes in high cortisol, like myself, to further evaluate and decide what needs to be done.”
Cushing syndrome isn’t one thing that may be managed by means of way of life modifications, however when you have a high-stress life or different underlying points which might be the rationale behind a puffier-than-usual face, your major care physician might prescribe different at-home remedies, Yogi-Morren mentioned.
“They might talk to you about stress management levels, sometimes they might put you on a healthy diet or a weight management program,” she defined.
Once more, although, in case your face form modifications otherwise you discover under-eye circles or zits, it’s much less prone to be Cushing syndrome, Hussain mentioned.
“When I was going to medical school and was getting early clinical training… one of my professors would say what’s frequent is frequent, what’s rare is rare, and that’s just going to stay,” Hussain mentioned. “Cushing is rare. Acne is frequent. PCOS is more frequent. Obesity is an epidemic, right? And so the frequent things you’re going to encounter much more, and what’s rare is going to stay rare.”
