Trans men face increased risk of acne after starting testosterone, study finds

[Jessica_Rose ✅]

Trans men face increased risk of acne after starting testosterone, study finds

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/01/trans-men-face-increased-risk-of-acne-after-starting-testosterone-study-finds/ 🔗

Greg Owen (30 Jan 2026)

Results of a new study published in the American Medical Journal confirm what many transmasculine people already know: testosterone can cause acne.

But the research also revealed that transfeminine individuals on estradiol therapy experience a higher incidence of acne than their cisgender peers, demonstrating that androgen-dominant therapies alone (those employing male hormones) aren't the sole cause of acne in trans individuals.

Using electronic health record data from four Kaiser Permanente regions, researchers conducted a study including nearly 281,000 individuals without baseline acne. That number covered just over 20,000 trans patients: 11,234 transmasculine individuals and 9,486 transfeminine individuals, or about 7% of the total group.

At five years, cumulative acne incidence was substantially higher among transmasc individuals (15.8%) compared with matched cisgender men (3.8%) and cisgender women (10.5%).

Acne risk for that group peaked during the first year following testosterone initiation, when transmasc individuals had more than an eightfold higher risk than cisgender men, and a nearly threefold higher risk than cisgender women.

Although risk declined after the first year, it remained significantly elevated throughout the five-year follow-up period.

But transfeminine individuals initiating estradiol therapy also demonstrated altered acne risk patterns.

Their overall acne incidence at five years was 6.0%, higher than that observed in matched cisgender men (2.9%) but lower than that in cisgender women (8.4%).

After estradiol initiation, transfeminine individuals had a modestly increased acne risk compared with cisgender men, while remaining at lower risk than cisgender women.

[Simplycause]

Testosterone causes acne. That shouldn't really be a surprise or unknown. Anecdotally I've read that most people undergoing MTF transition have a decrease in acne...or hormonal acne anyways likely do to the decrease of testosterone.

But I would be interested to know if the transwomen in the studies actually tracked the hormone levels of the participants and whether or not they were on a monotherapy or taking an testosterone blocker as well.