Steroids and Acne
One of the most well known and well publicized side effects of being on steroids, including your standard prescription steroids, not just the stereotypical injectable kind that also happen to be illegally sold in many places, is that it can give you terrible acne. This is because steroids increase the amount of androgens, or male hormones, in your body, and these male hormones are what is responsible for acne in men and women. Too much testosterone, while it can be great to build lean muscle mass and help burn fat off, is not all that great for acne, in fact is is the major contributing hormone to acne, and men and women with too much of it can actually get acne quite badly.
Many times people on steroids will get acne on their body and their face, specifically on their back. I’m not sure why it really seems to attack the back the most, but this is where you hear about steroid related acne occurring the most on the human body, and it can get really bad. I’ve seen some pictures of men who are steroids with back acne, and it is just covered. Sure, they look more muscular, but they are also going to be dealing with some serious long term acne scarring for years to come as well! This can be a devastating side effect of anabolic steroids, the kind that body builders often misuse, but it’s not even the worst of the potential and reported side effects.
One of the worst side effects is what is called “roid rage” where one goes into fits of rage that seem to be uncontrollable. There is a particular case that got a lot of publicity because of the high profile attributes of it all, and of the industry this person was, in, but Chris Benoit’s murder of his family is thought to be potentially related to steroid abuse. Although of course this cannot be proven for sure, there is a lot of speculation.
Also, many times, since steroids are taken in cycles, there can often be depression ranging from mild to severe during these cycles. Coming off of them cold turkey can even go so far as to cause suicidal thoughts, so it’s imperative that someone does not just come off of them cold turkey. Other undesirable side effects that have been reported with steroid use are gynecomastia, or breast growth on males, shrinking of the testicles, and even impotence. There are other side effects of course, but I really wanted to discuss the acne aspect of steroid abuse.
