Why does drinking more water cause acne?

July 26, 2021 3:04 AM

This is bizarre and I’m not fully sure if it’s not psychosomatic. But over the past several years, I’ve connected drinking more water with getting more painful cystic acne and more acne in general. As a result, I try not to drink or eat watery things but it’d be great if I could go back to normal.

It’s not a certainty but more often than not, if I drink too much water past the point of simply quenching thirst, I seem to get painful cystic acne and just more acne in general. As for quantity of water, I mean drinking enough to have very pale yellow urine.

If I eat more salty foods, I seem to be able to drink a little more water without making my skin worse.

This doesn’t bother me too much nowadays because I’m very careful with my water and fruit intake but I’d love to just drink cans and cans of bubbly water again without caring.

My general health is fine. Doctors are often dismissive of anything atypical in my experience so I haven’t explained any of this in detail to any doctor or dermatologist.

The people around here are very clever so I thought I’d see if anyone has any ideas of what this could be.

posted by anonymous to Health & Fitness (12 answers total)

Is it possible that when you drink more water is the same days you do other things, like exercise, go to concerts, sweat, etc?

What's your skincare routine? After researching and testing everything, the few things that seem to matter are cleansers (I like cereve foaming cleanser), sunscreen, and (ha) drinking more water.
posted by bbqturtle at 3:21 AM on July 26, 2021 [2 favorites]

Details for consideration: The water source (not even necessarily the home, but the town or city also).

You can diy mineralize water as well- including cans of soda water and that haven't been mineralized. If I recall correctly, a significant portion of people really need natural minerals found in water, but don't receive them (many are fine without).

You can also create your own soda machine from simple bar materials for a better custom fit. It could be some of the trace minerals, lack of minerals, or other additives in soda water (like La Croix essences) actually affect skin. Just because they're super neutral doesn't mean they won't affect some.

With acne and modifications, less is usually more, but it may be the way your body is processing/interpreting the local water or certain soda water.
posted by firstdaffodils at 3:41 AM on July 26, 2021

If by drinking water you mean "cans and cans of bubbly water" then I would cut that out and drink glasses and glasses of still filtered water instead. If the cans of bubbly water you are drinking are flavored or have any additives then that might be the issue.
posted by Polychrome at 5:03 AM on July 26, 2021 [20 favorites]

I am sensitive to iodine and eating iodized salt aggravates my cystic acne horribly. I wonder if your water supply is treated with iodine? Or if there’s just naturally a high level of iodine in the water where you are? This article talks about the variations in iodine levels in the Danish water supply but I would imagine that levels can vary wherever you are. Does water from another source (if you’re traveling, if you try different kinds of bottled water) do the same thing?
posted by corey flood at 6:48 AM on July 26, 2021 [4 favorites]

In the US at least what is added to water varies drastically from state to state and within states, there could be all sorts of stuff you are sensitive to that the general population is not (and for the most part is not dangerous, but..). Also if you are talking about seltzers etc., "natural flavors" is pretty loose. I agree with others to try out some filtered water and also to see if you do better with mineral water. And if either one goes well, maybe slowly add in a single brand/flavor of seltzer .. good luck, this sounds frustrating.
posted by love2potato at 7:19 AM on July 26, 2021

Are you familiar with the theory of skin purging? Sometimes when you're using products that increase cell turnover (like a retinoid), your skin gets worse before it gets better. I wonder if that's along the lines of what you're experiencing here, and wonder if adding in a retinoid product like Differin to your skin care routine would assist with getting through the bad stuff.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:35 AM on July 26, 2021 [2 favorites]

I wonder if you are chronically dehydrated, and this is your skin's initial response to finally getting enough water. Like if you are used to eating a bunch of meats and starchy foods, and then suddenly change your diet to eating lots of leafy greens, you're gonna have the shits. It doesn't mean leafy greens are bad for your body, your body just has to readjust.

Have you ever gone through a long term period of trying to intentionally hydrate yourself? Does the acne flare and then go away? Or does it get worse and worse and worse?

Many years ago I thought I might be sensitive to something in white basmati rice because I got horrible digestive symptoms after I ate it. Turns out, I always ate a particular dish that was served with white basmati rice around the same time every month, and it was actually gastro symptoms due to endometriosis, matching along with my cycle, and had nothing to do with the rice. The timing of when I ate rice was just a total coincidence. If you've got ovaries, do you find yourself going for fruits and bubbly water around the same time of the month? Just a thought.
posted by phunniemee at 9:09 AM on July 26, 2021 [6 favorites]

Bubbly water is full of carbon dioxide which is acid-forming -- I wonder if it is changing the pH levels in your body sufficiently to have an effect?
posted by jacquilynne at 12:01 PM on July 26, 2021 [3 favorites]

Random internet person idea: Wikipedia notes "Some individuals experience severe intensification of their acne when they are exposed to hot humid climates; this is due to bacteria and fungus thriving in warm, moist environments. " and it's long been known that salt is an antibacterial so perhaps it's logical that if you are chronically a little dehydrated, this could be good for your condition, as your sweat is more concentrated and your skin is therefore saltier?
posted by soylent00FF00 at 3:51 PM on July 26, 2021 [3 favorites]

Being allergic to water is a thing (aquagenic pruritis), but based on a cursory internet search, it sounds like it's painful itchiness upon contact with water, so probably not your thing.
posted by aniola at 7:38 PM on July 26, 2021

Is it acne in particular places, or just general all over? Is it a specific brand of bubbly water or any bubbly water, or any water at all? Do you use a water bottle and only wash it at the end of the week? Unfortunately you're probably going to have to elimination diet your watery liquids for this particular problem.

Acne can come from all sorts of weird little things, but my personal anecdote is that mine tends to get better when I'm drinking more water. It could be an additive in the water you drink that's causing you sensitivity. In the summers most of my water intake comes from the bottles of filtered water they provide us at work (construction). Despite the dirt, sweat, hard hat, and sunscreen/dirt mixture I smear all over my face three times a day, it's also the best my skin looks all year.
posted by teslacoilswoah at 7:42 PM on July 26, 2021

Considering that you mention bubbly water specifically, I think people are probably onto something--the canned bubbly water is rarely just water + bubbles. So it might be worth it to see whether regular filtered tap water or bottled water has the same effect.

You could also be mistaking a correlation for a cause; when you are upping your water intake, is it for a reason? Hot weather, lots of time in the sun, etc? It could be that excess sweat, or reapplying sunscreen, or wearing hats/sunglasses/masks in the heat are actually causing the breakouts.

But in my (extremely individual, as with all skin things) experience, cystic acne in particular has always just been hormonal. I fought for decades to ID potential causes and never got more than a month of relief until I started taking spironolactone. If you're a person who menstruates, you may think it's not hormonal because it doesn't sync up with your cycle, but it won't necessarily do that.

You might well be having a reaction to something on the surface or something you're ingesting. I just include my experience here because I blamed my acne on everything under the sun and it turned out that it wasn't anything I could address without medical help. Doctors can be assholes but this is still worth bringing to a derm.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 6:34 AM on July 27, 2021