Thyroid Iodine and acne

theoneguy · Apr 23, 2019

So I was taking 250mcg iodine a day for my thyroid and feeling pretty good however my shoulders broke out in terrible acne. I stopped taking the iodine and they cleared up, I recently tried taking kelp tablets instead of the potassium iodine (I think that is the form of iodine it was in now thyroid energy tablets) and once again my shoulders started to break out with acne so i stopped. Anyone else ever had this reaction and know how to fix it?

Vince Carter · Apr 23, 2019

I think would be a sign that you don't need the supplemental Iodine at least not that much.

theoneguy · Apr 23, 2019

From what I have read it can also be caused from being iodine deficient and the iodine forcing out bromine. So yeah not really sure so thought I would ask here to see if anyone else had experienced it. I feel much much better taking the iodine and my waking body temps seem closer to 36.5C compared with 35.8C when I do not take it.

Vince Carter · Apr 23, 2019

You might notice too that when supplementing with Iodine, when you run a TSH lab that it will be quite a bit elevated, pretty common to see that in this scenario with Iodine. Just in case you were hoping to see your TSH come down and/or be less indicative of a Hypo condition.
Have you tried for the acne Selsun Blue shampoo...works really well for me with acne when used as a body wash.

Vince · Apr 23, 2019

It should be safe with supplementing with 500 mcg of iodine daily, so I see no reason why 250 mcg would have any any negative effect on you. I supplement with kelp, which contains 325 mcg of iodine. I have hypothyroidism, I do have to use thyroid meds.

theoneguy · Apr 23, 2019

I did notice my TSH was raised last test but didn't worry too much about it as I felt good. I tried everything from salycic acid to head and shoulders shampoo and nothing worked at all, The acne got really bad to the point i was worried about scarring. Soon as i stopped the iodine it went away in a few weeks. I tried again recently with both potassium iodine and also just kelp(even just 1 tablet 125mcg made me break out) and both times the acne reappears within a day. If i cease immediately it will clear up in a few days. I am really at a loss as it is not a large amount of iodine to why this is happening.