Does creatine cause acne?

September 19, 2026

A tub of creatine monohydrate powder supplement

No. There's no direct evidence that creatine monohydrate causes acne. The theory rests on creatine raising DHT, the hormone tied to steroid-driven breakouts, but the best-designed trial to measure that hormone directly, a 2025 randomized controlled trial, found no DHT difference between creatine and placebo over 12 weeks [1].

If that sounds familiar, it's the same theory behind the creatine-and-hair-loss myth, and it traces back to the same single study. Someone starts creatine, breaks out a few weeks later, and reaches for the nearest explanation with a hormone in it. It's a reasonable guess. It just isn't what the evidence shows.

Where does the acne-DHT theory come from?

The whole idea traces to one 2009 study of 20 college-aged rugby players [2]. During a 7-day loading phase at 25 g of creatine a day, their DHT rose 56% above baseline. Over the following 14 days at a 5 g maintenance dose, it stayed about 40% elevated. Testosterone itself didn't move.

That's a real result, and worth taking seriously. But it's also the only study of its kind. That's 20 people, one research group, and no replication since: the 2025 trial's own authors note that no subsequent research has either confirmed or refuted the result [1]. It measured a hormone ratio in blood. The published abstract lists serum testosterone, DHT, and body composition as its outcome measures, with no skin, sebum, or acne measure among them. A theory built on one small, unreplicated study is a hypothesis, not a finding.

DHT does have a real, established role in skin. It binds androgen receptors in the sebaceous gland and increases the machinery that makes sebum [4]. Sebum, in turn, is one of four things that has to line up for acne to actually form: excess oil, a plugged follicle, bacterial overgrowth, and the inflammation that follows [5]. So the theory isn't biologically absurd. It's just missing its middle step, the part where someone actually shows creatine moving DHT high enough, for long enough, to matter for skin.

Even the mechanism is messier than "more DHT, more oil, more acne" suggests. The same review of androgen signaling in skin notes that blocking the specific enzyme that makes DHT in the sebaceous gland didn't reliably reduce sebum output in trials, and that men who lack the type II form of that enzyme entirely still produce sebum at normal rates [4]. Androgens clearly matter for skin in general. That doesn't mean every small shift in one hormone ratio translates into a breakout on a predictable schedule.

What did the 2025 trial actually find?

That middle step got tested directly. Researchers put 38 resistance-trained men through 12 weeks of either 5 g of creatine a day or a matched placebo, tracking DHT, testosterone, and hair follicle health with blood draws and imaging [1]. Both groups' hormones moved in step with each other over the 12 weeks. There was no significant difference in DHT, no difference in the DHT-to-testosterone ratio, and no difference in any hair outcome measured.

The trial wasn't built to check acne, it was built to check hair. But hair loss and acne share the same proposed mechanism: creatine raises DHT, and DHT then does something to skin or follicles. If the shared first step, the DHT rise, doesn't happen at a normal 5 g dose, the acne version of the theory loses its engine too.

That lines up with the field's own safety literature. The 2017 position stand from the International Society of Sports Nutrition reviewed studies across ages and doses up to 5 years long and concluded: "the only consistently reported side effect from creatine supplementation that has been described in the literature has been weight gain" [3]. Acne doesn't appear on that list. That's not the same as a guarantee for every person on earth, but it's the honest state of the evidence.

What actually causes breakouts around the gym?

If someone starts creatine and their skin changes, creatine is rarely the likeliest explanation. Two ordinary things usually change at the same time, and both are well documented.

The first is sweat sitting on skin. The American Academy of Dermatology is clear about what does the damage: working out causes sweating and a buildup of oil, dirt, and bacteria on the skin, all of which can lead to acne, and you don't have to quit exercising to see clearer skin [7]. Equipment and clothing that trap that heat and sweat against the skin, and then rub against it, make things worse [8]. That combination of trapped heat, friction, and occlusion has its own name, acne mechanica, and it clears faster than ordinary acne once the cause is addressed [8]. The AAD's own advice here is to wipe sweat away rather than let it dry on the skin, change out of a damp shirt promptly, and wash gym clothes between sessions [7].

The second is timing. Someone who starts creatine usually also starts or restarts training harder around the same time. New training means more sweat, more skin contact with gear, and sometimes a new pre-workout or protein product added at once. When three things change together, it's easy to blame the one with a hormone story attached to it and miss the two that are actually mechanical.

None of this means every new breakout is down to hygiene. It means sweat and gear are the common, well-documented causes in this exact situation, and they're worth ruling out before reaching for a supplement with a shakier evidence trail behind it [7][8].

Creatine isn't a steroid, and the confusion matters here

Real steroid acne exists and it's well documented: in bodybuilders using anabolic-androgenic steroids, acne is reported by 43% of users, driven by androgens pushed to supraphysiologic levels, which increases androgen receptor binding and sebum production in the sebaceous gland [6]. That's a genuinely different situation from a daily creatine scoop. Anabolic steroids are synthetic hormones dosed to override the body's own regulation. Creatine is a compound your body already makes in the liver and kidneys and stores almost entirely in skeletal muscle [3], and over 12 weeks it didn't move DHT or testosterone away from placebo [1]. That difference is covered in more depth in is creatine a steroid?. The fact that both show up in the same gym bag doesn't mean they act on skin the same way.

What's actually in the tub

AUROM's creatine is one ingredient: micronized creatine monohydrate, 5 g per scoop, nothing else in the tub. There's no proprietary blend to wonder about and no hidden second compound that could be doing something the label doesn't mention. Every batch has a Certificate of Analysis available on request, so what's in the scoop is checkable rather than taken on faith. Creatine supports strength and power output during resistance training [3], which is the reason people take it in the first place, not because of anything to do with skin.

FAQ

Does creatine cause "bacne" specifically? No more than it causes facial acne. Back breakouts during training are usually sweat and fabric sitting against skin for long stretches, not a supplement [7][8].

Will my skin clear up if I stop taking creatine? If creatine wasn't the cause, stopping it won't change anything, and you'd be giving up the strength benefit for no skin benefit. Look at hygiene and gear first.

Does creatine raise testosterone? Not meaningfully. In the 2025 trial, total and free testosterone moved almost identically in the creatine and placebo groups over 12 weeks [1].

Is the 2009 DHT study wrong? Not necessarily wrong, but narrow: 20 people, three weeks, one lab, never replicated. It's a real result that hasn't held up as a general rule once a larger, longer, better-designed trial checked the same hormone [1][2].

Should I see a dermatologist about persistent acne? If breakouts are painful, scarring, or not responding to basic hygiene changes, that's a dermatologist conversation rather than something to keep guessing about from an article.

The takeaway

Check the gear and the sweat before you blame the tub. That's where the documented causes are, and ruling them out costs nothing. If you're taking creatine monohydrate, the other myth in this family runs on the same two studies: does creatine cause hair loss? goes deeper on the 2025 trial.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.