An acne breakout could be a sign of a rare type of cancer that wreaks havoc on hormones.
Pituitary gland cancer affects about 100 people a year and occurs when a cancerous tumor grows in a small nodule at the base of the brain that is crucial for controlling hormone production.
The disease can cause hormone levels to become erratic, resulting in a variety of symptoms usually related to puberty, including an outbreak of unsightly spots.
Now, a skin health expert has taken to social media to warn about the disease and the many hormone-related issues that could be potential signs.
In a clip viewed more than 2 million times on TikTok, Dr. Mehss from Turkey wrote: “Pituitary tumors can cause various skin symptoms such as thickened skin, hyperpigmentation, acne, hirsutism (excess hair), and dry skin, due to hormonal imbalances.
While these tumors can be cancerous, benign tumors in the pituitary gland can also cause these types of flare-ups, as well as other health problems.
The vast majority of pituitary gland tumors are benign, and around 10,000 are diagnosed each year.
These growths cannot spread to other parts of the body like cancerous ones.
However, if it is cancerous, it can be fatal, and data suggests that around three in five patients die within a decade of their diagnosis.
An acne breakout could be a sign of a rare cancer that is wreaking havoc on your hormones, a doctor has warned
The link between spots and the pituitary gland lies in the fact that the pituitary tumor produces excessive levels of a “stress hormone” called cortisol.
Too much cortisol can cause acne as it causes glands in the skin to produce excess oil, causing spots to appear.
Other strange problems can also be attributed to a pituitary gland tumor, depending on the type of hormones the growth produces.
This includes suddenly expressing breast milk without being pregnant or breastfeeding, excessive hair growth around the chin in women, and abnormally large hands and feet due to excess growth hormone.
Not all pituitary gland tumors produce hormones, but even these can cause problems.
A growing tumor in that area of the body can press on the nerves connected to the eyes and potentially cause vision problems or headaches.
Some social media users who responded to the clip were dismayed by the wide range of symptoms the tumors could cause.
“Thank you for describing me,” one wrote.
“I literally have all these symptoms,” said another.
However, in many cases pituitary gland tumors do not cause problems and doctors discover them incidentally when performing another test such as a scan.
Studies conducted on cadavers even suggest that between a third and a quarter of people may have small pituitary tumors without even knowing it.
Charity Cancer Research UK estimates that around 17 per cent of brain tumors diagnosed in the UK develop in the pituitary gland.
Treatment of problematic pituitary gland tumors usually involves surgery to remove as much of the growth as possible, followed by radiation therapy to destroy any remaining tumor cells.
Some pituitary gland tumors can also be treated with medications that help reduce the excessive levels of hormones they may produce.
Some patients will need to take artificial hormones to compensate for the lower levels produced by a poorly functioning pituitary gland, as well as ongoing monitoring to check that the tumor does not return.
It is not clear what causes most pituitary gland tumors to develop, but there is some evidence to suggest that the problem may be hereditary.