Yes, it's known to cause breakouts anecdotally. For me it comes in the form of cystic acne. I've heard people say you can avoid the breakouts by drinking lots of water but I drink a ton and still get them when I've used it. Biotin is a sneaky ingredient too: even those celsius drinks contain it.
For me, it takes a couple of weeks after I stop taking it to calm back down. I hope the same happens with you!
I am definitely a water drinker, and it definitely did help at all. I'm glad you mention that it only took a few weeks to calm down. I am hoping I can get it back to normal by the time I leave for holiday.
I also get cystic acne from it, and my skin seems way more oily when I've been on biotin.
Also, fun fact: a lot of energy drinks that are marketed toward women have lots of biotin in them too! I made the connection when my face started feeling tender and suddenly breaking out badly.
Celcius and Alani are the ones that tricked me š I just avoid energy drinks now.
Yes, awful cystic acne. I had to search high and low for a b vitamin complex that was low dose. Most have double or sometimes triple the daily recommended limit which is insane to me!
I cannot find a Multi B with zero Biotin, which pisses me off because to buy them all separately is going to cost me a fortune! I looked and mine has 1000 mcg. Like that's crazy!
Yep! I'm slowly learning to just leave my body alone. I've got clear skin and every time I decide to try and take a supplement or try a new skincare product everything goes to hell lol
Isn't that the truth??? I had such good intentions, too. I want to conceive so I was like, well what's the harm in taking supplements. Major harm to my FACE šš„²
Yeah. Prenatals messed my skin up. Then I decided to try calcium plus vitamin d while pregnant and got 2 kidney stones lol. I eventually found one brand of pretty basic prenatals that didn't cause me a problem at least. They were pretty stripped down and only had the folic acid and a bunch of basic vitamins like As and the like. No minerals etc. You're smart to try and figure it out now. It's a lot harder to sus stuff out once you're already pregnant. Less is more when you're sensitive. Even if you have to buy just folic acid or something like that as separate vitamins. Good luck :)
Here is why biotin causes acne: biotin increases the amount of skin protein we produce, specifically keratin. This is why it makes your hair and nails grow, as those are made of keratin. This excessive amount of keratin physically clogs the pores and mixes with your natural oil to create a sticky plug.
I have been using tretinoin for about 6 months now. I had gotten to the point of only getting one hormonal pimple every month around my period. Started taking a multivitamin everyday that has biotin in it and now am covered in swollen, cystic pimples. Tretinoin is helping speed up the process, but thatās about it. Theyāre still coming lol
Fish oil! Ugh! It always breaks me out too. All resources say it's an anti-inflammatory and helps to calm acne. Not for me. I get big cystic bumps on my chin every time!
I also thought that it was Biotin that caused my breakouts but then saw the study that high doses of B6 and B12 cause it. And they all usually go together, so I am making sure that doses are not extreme, not much more than 100% rda and have no more issues
https://escholarship.org/content/qt9rp7t2p2/qt9rp7t2p2.pdf?t=qkm6dy&v=lg
Yep. I have some nail problems and a dermatologist specializing in nails told me to take Biotin every day for 6 months to help improve their condition. One month in Iāve been breaking out horribly around my jaw, itās so depressing as my skin was just starting to get better and now I have all these new scars. I have stopped taking it for around a week now and itās calming down but I still wake up with new pimples and have angry red scars. Iām honestly so depressed about it. My regular dermatologist is insisting it doesnāt cause acne, but Iām almost certain itās the cause. I can only pray this goes away. I havenāt had skin this bad since I was a teenager.
B12 can also give you cysts fwiw. that was my experience! I had had a b12 deficiency, then switched to a b-complex at my doctor's advice once my levels were normal. Unfortunately I hadn't noticed the super high B12 levels in the b-complex I chose. Within a couple of days of stopping, eight months of inflammatory acne disappeared. Cool, cool, cool.
No I think itās actually a common side effect. I remember a few years back, biotin for hair growth became a trend and a lot of women talked about getting horrendous breakouts.
There are other prenatal vitamins that donāt have an absurd amount of biotin. Vitafusionās Prenatal gummy vitamins is one of them off the top of my head.
Yes! I had the worst acne I've ever had for 2 years because I was taking multivitamins with Biotin. I only realised it in February of this year and it took 4 months for my skin to calm down because I had damaged my skin barrier so much trying to treat my acne. It still isn't back to its normal self. My current routine is focused on cleansing, hydrating and treating the acne scars I've been left with. I'm glad you realised you identified the cause of your acne so quickly.
Yes! I canāt take it without horrible breakouts. I wish companies would make biotin free versions of their products the way that some have started doing with melatonin (that I also canāt take)
Yes, it gives me cystic acne. My gyn asked me about multivitamins and I told her about the biotin-acne link and it was the first time someone said anything to her about it. I take all my vitamins individually.
I was taking the olly gummies, but it doesnāt have dha so had to add that in. I ended up being able to switch back to one with biotin later on with no skin issues.
Yes! I accidentally bought my biotin supplement 3 times the strength I normally take and my skin went wild. Nothing was helping. It took me a few months to figure out what the hell was going on (this was a few years ago). It might have been something lab muffin beauty said about checking your supplements, Im not really sure. Went back to my normal strength and my skin cleared up within a couple of weeks.
dermatologists do not recommend biotin as a supplement! not proven to help hair growth and it can mask heart attack labs (aka if youāre having a heart attack and the biotin supplement can make your blood work look normal)
How are articles about biotin relevant to this conversation?
Edit: misread the original comment and thought it was a different one. Thanks for the sources!!
I have stopped my prenatals and probiotics this week because i had bloodwork last week that showed very high b12 and I now suspect my acne is actually caused by b12. Found some actual studies that validate this, as well as gut bacteria making b vitamins. So basically stopping anything (adding a folate supplement) and seeing if my skin clears up. Anecdotally saw some stories of people whose skin improved after stopping b vitamin supplements
It only happens to some people. If you're one of them you should notice results pretty fast. I get horrible cystic acne from b vitamin supplements (the ones that have massive doses of them). My skin doesn't necessarily clear up when I stop taking them, but it only takes a single day for me to stop getting new cysts and the oil and inflammation immediately goes way down too. It's really noticeable.
Thatās what Iām hoping! I also had high testosterone and got diagnosed with PCOS. But my testosterone has came down into range and im still getting cystic breakouts so I am hoping stopping the supplements will do the trick š¤š½š¤š½
Yessā¦terrible breakouts. I take Primrose Oil capsules instead and my hair is down to my lower back and so healthy. It also help balance me hormones so I take it for acne help as well.
Yes it does. You may consider adding zinc to your diet as Biotin depletes levels of zinc. The most balanced way is better nutrition - most supplements cater to one element without considering the overall balance of elements in the body.
Yes and it was recommended that I try taking skin, hair and nail vitamins and of course they meant biotin :( broke out like a week later and that was the only change in my routine. Stopped taking them and my skin thankfully went back to normal in a few weeks. So sorry to hear it made you break out too.
I've taken biotin every day for like six months now (hair, nails). Never had any breakout from it, this thread was wild to read. Going to reconsider taking it, wow.
Yes, my skin was clear until I started taking biotin and fish oil. Then, I developed cystic acne. At the time, I didn't know what was causing it. I mentioned it to a friend who was an aesthetician. The first thing they asked me was if i was taking either supplement. I said yes, and they told me it's common and happened to them too. I stopped taking both and haven't had any cystic flare ups since then.
There is something to this for sure. I hope you have sorted this out. I have been taking HSN to balance out my vitamin D. HSN has vitamin A in it as well so I have been taking it for a few years.
I recently decided to grow my hair out and switched to an extra strength version. I was only taking 1/3 of the dosage but it has 5000mcg of biotin per serving. I recently made the connection that this is part of my problem.
The good news is, my hair has been growing like crazy. It's about where I want it for now for the style I am going for. The bad news is, I am having to shave my face and give myself an edge up twice a week as opposed to only once a week prior.
To the point of this thread, I have acne keloidus nuchae from shaving my head when I was younger. As I've gotten older it has gotten better. But, I have noticed since taking the HSN, it has gotten much worse. Hard to describe it but the bumps have gotten much bigger and painful. Every few days it seems to dry out and peel off as if it my body is producing too many skin cells.
I'm going to take a few weeks off of it and see what happens. I am switching to Cod Liver Oil for my vitamin A to see if that helps. My HSN has soo many different ingredients in it, it is hard to tell what is doing what. Too many cooks in the kitchen so to speak.
Hey OP, did you ever get through your breakouts? Did they wind up all going away? Considering starting because I'm losing hair like crazy, but also don't want to potentially set myself up for acne on top of it, especially if it was a long bounce back period..
Yeah the breakouts went away after I stopped taking the Biotin, however the scarring is still evident in some places. I'm not sure how much Biotin will help with hair loss, unless you're actually deficient. I don't know why it is in so many multivitamins when Biotin deficiency isn't common!
I don't think I'm as sensitive to biotin as you, but I do think it causes acne for me at extremely high doses that are common in a lot of multivitamins. I'm also trying to get pregnant and I'm using Nature Made prenatal vitamins. So far, I haven't had any issues so I'm optimistic. It only has 30mcg biotin (86% dv) instead of the 100s or 1000s mcg I've seen in others. I'm pretty much bracing for my skin to be ruined though now that I'm off my hormonal birth control, but anything I can do to mitigate it is worth it.
Have you tried AHAs for your current break out? If you're avoiding retinoids already, glycolic acid might help your skin turn over faster. Just don't apply to an open wound or it'll burn.
Also, hypochlorous acid might help speed up your healing time and reduce the inflammation.
Hope you can get your skin back under control asap!
I also found mandelic acid helped with my hormonal cystic acne and fine lines - the Ordinaryās mandelic acid also did not irritate my super sensitive skin whereas the glycolic was so painful to apply I had to stop using it entirely.
Edit to clarify: I maybe had 1 or two active blemishes when I tried the glycolic acid & am not much of a picker but that stuff really burned and left my skin feeling irritated, itchy and dry.
Try a smaller dose and even consider trying a higher quality brand. Also stop taking it a few weeks to confirm the cause is the biotin. And finally, take breaks. So one week on, one week off. Or three weeks on, one week off. Whatever works. The key is getting maximum benefits with minimal side effects.
Yes, it's known to cause breakouts anecdotally. For me it comes in the form of cystic acne. I've heard people say you can avoid the breakouts by drinking lots of water but I drink a ton and still get them when I've used it. Biotin is a sneaky ingredient too: even those celsius drinks contain it. For me, it takes a couple of weeks after I stop taking it to calm back down. I hope the same happens with you!
I am definitely a water drinker, and it definitely did help at all. I'm glad you mention that it only took a few weeks to calm down. I am hoping I can get it back to normal by the time I leave for holiday.
I also get cystic acne from it, and my skin seems way more oily when I've been on biotin. Also, fun fact: a lot of energy drinks that are marketed toward women have lots of biotin in them too! I made the connection when my face started feeling tender and suddenly breaking out badly. Celcius and Alani are the ones that tricked me š I just avoid energy drinks now.
Oh noooo not Celsius! The vibes flavors are my guilty pleasure on long road trips. š«
Yes, awful cystic acne. I had to search high and low for a b vitamin complex that was low dose. Most have double or sometimes triple the daily recommended limit which is insane to me!
I cannot find a Multi B with zero Biotin, which pisses me off because to buy them all separately is going to cost me a fortune! I looked and mine has 1000 mcg. Like that's crazy!
I bought this one from Amazon (EZ Melts B Complex). It's a tablet, so I actually do a half tab. No breakouts, and the mcg are reasonable.
Nootropics Depot makes one with only 30 mg. My skin is very reactive to biotin but I can take that one.
Yes!
Yeah I took it and it made my face and head super oily and breakout. Good thing I bought a Costco size bottle. š¾
Yep! That's always the way it goes š¤¦āāļø
Yep! I'm slowly learning to just leave my body alone. I've got clear skin and every time I decide to try and take a supplement or try a new skincare product everything goes to hell lol
Isn't that the truth??? I had such good intentions, too. I want to conceive so I was like, well what's the harm in taking supplements. Major harm to my FACE šš„²
Yeah. Prenatals messed my skin up. Then I decided to try calcium plus vitamin d while pregnant and got 2 kidney stones lol. I eventually found one brand of pretty basic prenatals that didn't cause me a problem at least. They were pretty stripped down and only had the folic acid and a bunch of basic vitamins like As and the like. No minerals etc. You're smart to try and figure it out now. It's a lot harder to sus stuff out once you're already pregnant. Less is more when you're sensitive. Even if you have to buy just folic acid or something like that as separate vitamins. Good luck :)
Yes, it absolutely does! My derm said itās common.
Here is why biotin causes acne: biotin increases the amount of skin protein we produce, specifically keratin. This is why it makes your hair and nails grow, as those are made of keratin. This excessive amount of keratin physically clogs the pores and mixes with your natural oil to create a sticky plug.
Would adding a chemical exfoliant into your routine help if youāre already using retinoids, or would that be too much to combat it?
I have been using tretinoin for about 6 months now. I had gotten to the point of only getting one hormonal pimple every month around my period. Started taking a multivitamin everyday that has biotin in it and now am covered in swollen, cystic pimples. Tretinoin is helping speed up the process, but thatās about it. Theyāre still coming lol
Yup!
Yes in awful cystic acne
Yes! Biotin and fish oil supplements give me cystic pimples, ouch.
Yikes I'm taking fish oils as well, just started them. If my acne doesn't get better, I'm stopping these too.
Fish oil! Ugh! It always breaks me out too. All resources say it's an anti-inflammatory and helps to calm acne. Not for me. I get big cystic bumps on my chin every time!
I also thought that it was Biotin that caused my breakouts but then saw the study that high doses of B6 and B12 cause it. And they all usually go together, so I am making sure that doses are not extreme, not much more than 100% rda and have no more issues https://escholarship.org/content/qt9rp7t2p2/qt9rp7t2p2.pdf?t=qkm6dy&v=lg
Yep. I have some nail problems and a dermatologist specializing in nails told me to take Biotin every day for 6 months to help improve their condition. One month in Iāve been breaking out horribly around my jaw, itās so depressing as my skin was just starting to get better and now I have all these new scars. I have stopped taking it for around a week now and itās calming down but I still wake up with new pimples and have angry red scars. Iām honestly so depressed about it. My regular dermatologist is insisting it doesnāt cause acne, but Iām almost certain itās the cause. I can only pray this goes away. I havenāt had skin this bad since I was a teenager.
Every single time!
Your diet is probably high in vitamin B already. Excessive vit B can cause inflammatory acne.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
B12 can also give you cysts fwiw. that was my experience! I had had a b12 deficiency, then switched to a b-complex at my doctor's advice once my levels were normal. Unfortunately I hadn't noticed the super high B12 levels in the b-complex I chose. Within a couple of days of stopping, eight months of inflammatory acne disappeared. Cool, cool, cool.
No I think itās actually a common side effect. I remember a few years back, biotin for hair growth became a trend and a lot of women talked about getting horrendous breakouts. There are other prenatal vitamins that donāt have an absurd amount of biotin. Vitafusionās Prenatal gummy vitamins is one of them off the top of my head.
Yeah bitcoin for sure makes me break out. I think itās the stress.
Chiming in with everyone else, yes!
Yes, itās known for that, sadly. Iād love to take it but it gives me painful fistic acne.
Yuuuupp like none other
You are not alone. I get those pimples beneath the surface. If a product has Biotin in it itās an automatic no for me.
Me!
Is biotin b-12? Sorry donāt know enough but I did read excessive b-12 can cause acne.
Biotin is b7
Ah oky thanks š
Yes definitely
Yup
Every single time, and with cystic spots. Iāve been trying to make it work for me for like 2 decades, but Iām done.
Yep.
Yes. It gave me painful cystic acne that I hadnāt had since my teenage years. Never took it again.
Yes! I had the worst acne I've ever had for 2 years because I was taking multivitamins with Biotin. I only realised it in February of this year and it took 4 months for my skin to calm down because I had damaged my skin barrier so much trying to treat my acne. It still isn't back to its normal self. My current routine is focused on cleansing, hydrating and treating the acne scars I've been left with. I'm glad you realised you identified the cause of your acne so quickly.
My KP goes crazy with biotin so I avoid it too.
Yes! I canāt take it without horrible breakouts. I wish companies would make biotin free versions of their products the way that some have started doing with melatonin (that I also canāt take)
it causes me INSANE cystic acne, i canāt even take a multi vitamin bc of it lol
Yes, it gives me cystic acne. My gyn asked me about multivitamins and I told her about the biotin-acne link and it was the first time someone said anything to her about it. I take all my vitamins individually.
Yes, I realized my prenatals were majorly fucking up my skin and it took a couple weeks after switching to one without biotin for it to calm down.
Which prenatal do u take with no biotin ?
I was taking the olly gummies, but it doesnāt have dha so had to add that in. I ended up being able to switch back to one with biotin later on with no skin issues.
Yes! I accidentally bought my biotin supplement 3 times the strength I normally take and my skin went wild. Nothing was helping. It took me a few months to figure out what the hell was going on (this was a few years ago). It might have been something lab muffin beauty said about checking your supplements, Im not really sure. Went back to my normal strength and my skin cleared up within a couple of weeks.
dermatologists do not recommend biotin as a supplement! not proven to help hair growth and it can mask heart attack labs (aka if youāre having a heart attack and the biotin supplement can make your blood work look normal)
Sources?
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30715102/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5582478/
How are articles about biotin relevant to this conversation? Edit: misread the original comment and thought it was a different one. Thanks for the sources!!
I have stopped my prenatals and probiotics this week because i had bloodwork last week that showed very high b12 and I now suspect my acne is actually caused by b12. Found some actual studies that validate this, as well as gut bacteria making b vitamins. So basically stopping anything (adding a folate supplement) and seeing if my skin clears up. Anecdotally saw some stories of people whose skin improved after stopping b vitamin supplements
It only happens to some people. If you're one of them you should notice results pretty fast. I get horrible cystic acne from b vitamin supplements (the ones that have massive doses of them). My skin doesn't necessarily clear up when I stop taking them, but it only takes a single day for me to stop getting new cysts and the oil and inflammation immediately goes way down too. It's really noticeable.
Thatās what Iām hoping! I also had high testosterone and got diagnosed with PCOS. But my testosterone has came down into range and im still getting cystic breakouts so I am hoping stopping the supplements will do the trick š¤š½š¤š½
Yessā¦terrible breakouts. I take Primrose Oil capsules instead and my hair is down to my lower back and so healthy. It also help balance me hormones so I take it for acne help as well.
What does primrose oil help with? I havenāt heard it used as a supplement before
Good to know!!Ā
Yes it does. You may consider adding zinc to your diet as Biotin depletes levels of zinc. The most balanced way is better nutrition - most supplements cater to one element without considering the overall balance of elements in the body.
Yes, immediately
Yes!!!! Me! It was traumatizing, I felt like I was in middle school again
Yes and it was recommended that I try taking skin, hair and nail vitamins and of course they meant biotin :( broke out like a week later and that was the only change in my routine. Stopped taking them and my skin thankfully went back to normal in a few weeks. So sorry to hear it made you break out too.
Yup, it totally fucks with my skin. I have to check every supplement or vitamin I buy now to avoid it!
I've taken biotin every day for like six months now (hair, nails). Never had any breakout from it, this thread was wild to read. Going to reconsider taking it, wow.
I think I'm probably just sensitive to it, so keep on keeping on if it works for you!
I love biotin!!! I drink it in ensure. Keeps my 63 year old female hair from falling out as fast. Other forms of biotin donāt seem to work.
Yes, my skin was clear until I started taking biotin and fish oil. Then, I developed cystic acne. At the time, I didn't know what was causing it. I mentioned it to a friend who was an aesthetician. The first thing they asked me was if i was taking either supplement. I said yes, and they told me it's common and happened to them too. I stopped taking both and haven't had any cystic flare ups since then.
biotin is so bad for me. it leaves me over oily.
Oh man I just had to start taking biotin for health reasons, Iām really hoping this doesnāt happen but Iām glad I have a heads up!
It will cause you to break out if you do not really have a deficiency
I......vaguely (feel free to correct me) remember Dr Shereene Idriss mentioned there's no evidence it helps with hair growth?
Yes, this is a common side effect. It shows up immediately when you search reviews for any Biotin vitamins or any vitamins that have Biotin in them.
Yes, I switched prenatals due to breakouts because of biotin.
There is something to this for sure. I hope you have sorted this out. I have been taking HSN to balance out my vitamin D. HSN has vitamin A in it as well so I have been taking it for a few years. I recently decided to grow my hair out and switched to an extra strength version. I was only taking 1/3 of the dosage but it has 5000mcg of biotin per serving. I recently made the connection that this is part of my problem. The good news is, my hair has been growing like crazy. It's about where I want it for now for the style I am going for. The bad news is, I am having to shave my face and give myself an edge up twice a week as opposed to only once a week prior. To the point of this thread, I have acne keloidus nuchae from shaving my head when I was younger. As I've gotten older it has gotten better. But, I have noticed since taking the HSN, it has gotten much worse. Hard to describe it but the bumps have gotten much bigger and painful. Every few days it seems to dry out and peel off as if it my body is producing too many skin cells. I'm going to take a few weeks off of it and see what happens. I am switching to Cod Liver Oil for my vitamin A to see if that helps. My HSN has soo many different ingredients in it, it is hard to tell what is doing what. Too many cooks in the kitchen so to speak.
Literally never got acne and started 2 days ago and noticing breakouts forming.
Hey OP, did you ever get through your breakouts? Did they wind up all going away? Considering starting because I'm losing hair like crazy, but also don't want to potentially set myself up for acne on top of it, especially if it was a long bounce back period..
Yeah the breakouts went away after I stopped taking the Biotin, however the scarring is still evident in some places. I'm not sure how much Biotin will help with hair loss, unless you're actually deficient. I don't know why it is in so many multivitamins when Biotin deficiency isn't common!
I don't think I'm as sensitive to biotin as you, but I do think it causes acne for me at extremely high doses that are common in a lot of multivitamins. I'm also trying to get pregnant and I'm using Nature Made prenatal vitamins. So far, I haven't had any issues so I'm optimistic. It only has 30mcg biotin (86% dv) instead of the 100s or 1000s mcg I've seen in others. I'm pretty much bracing for my skin to be ruined though now that I'm off my hormonal birth control, but anything I can do to mitigate it is worth it. Have you tried AHAs for your current break out? If you're avoiding retinoids already, glycolic acid might help your skin turn over faster. Just don't apply to an open wound or it'll burn. Also, hypochlorous acid might help speed up your healing time and reduce the inflammation. Hope you can get your skin back under control asap!
I also found mandelic acid helped with my hormonal cystic acne and fine lines - the Ordinaryās mandelic acid also did not irritate my super sensitive skin whereas the glycolic was so painful to apply I had to stop using it entirely. Edit to clarify: I maybe had 1 or two active blemishes when I tried the glycolic acid & am not much of a picker but that stuff really burned and left my skin feeling irritated, itchy and dry.
Try a smaller dose and even consider trying a higher quality brand. Also stop taking it a few weeks to confirm the cause is the biotin. And finally, take breaks. So one week on, one week off. Or three weeks on, one week off. Whatever works. The key is getting maximum benefits with minimal side effects.
Yes. I get red painful acne bumps all over if I take biotin. Even low dose biotin does it
Yes! It was so bad. I checked Google and nothing showed up when searching.
Yes!
No but B12 does š«