GTF chromium, 200 mcgs twice a day and oregano oil, 300 mg 2-4 times a day.

How long were you on plan before your surgery? Typically it takes me a few months (around 3) before I see a any difference. I think it's a process of normalizing your insulin levels, which takes time... at least in my case.

I never stay on plan long enough to see the AN go away completely, even after reaching my goal weight. So I don't think it has to do with how much weight you've lost... It's all up to your hormone (insulin) levels, and the turn over rate of your skin cells. Not all overweight people have AN, while some skinny people even have it... So there is much more at work than meets the eye.
Good luck!

I cant explain why you didnt see skin lightening when you lost weight, but the fact that you have darkened since having gained it simply suggests to me that you have become Severley Insulin Resistant. This would mean that your insulin production levels have increased hundred fold & it isnt before long that you will become type II diabetic if you havent already.
Sorry hun xxx

Hi, I think I have AN too.
I'm white european and my skin looks dirty (it's not tan), it's on my face, neck, at the bottom of my chest, some on my body (but it's way lighter but darker than my chest or legs), and some on my left hand(if you compare it with my right hand, you clearly see that it is way more darker.)
the rest of my chest is completely white and when I wear a V neck tshirt I can clearly see the difference between my dark face and neck and my white chest, it's terribly ugly. I know something's wrong because when I put one of my hand on my face, it's not the same skin tone at all, my face and neck looks dirty and burnt!

I've thought that my skin was dirty or something like that so I tried so many exfoliating lotions to get rid of that and it showed no changes.
and hopefully I fell on this thread!

as far as I know it's not hereditary because when I see my pictures when I was a child I was completely white (until the age of 10 where my face and neck start to darken).
it's probably because of overweight, I was fat during all my childhood, two years ago I lost about 50 pounds, I've gained 10 more pounds and it stabilized because even if I do a lot of exercise I eat a lot of junk food, it's probably the cause of my skin darkening.

now that I read all this thread, I'm starting to lose weight and avoid eating carbs(I guess a proteins only diet is a good idea, isn't it?) and I'll try out those fish pills and see what happens!

Put in Acanthosis Nigricans into Facebook & I have started a group where we can share experiences on the discussion & wall pages...

My daughter is 15 years of age and suffers with this condition also. She was prescribed Metformin 100mg a day.

It worked to begin with but due to chronic upset stomach (a known side effect of this drug) she has had to stop taking it. We have been chasing the professor from her hospital to prescribe something else, but its like knocking your head up a brick wall to get anyone to do anything.

In the meantime my daughters chronic fatigue has returned 100 fold and she spends life in bed all day & a little bit out of it in the evening before returning to bed!

It is doing my head in..... Life shouldnt be like this for a teen

Sadly, I also have had this problem ever since I could remember. I remember my family cracking jokes at me to "wash better", little did they know at age 12, I was scrubbing my neck, armpits, elbows, knees and inner thighs until they were bloody. I even used to sit for an hour a day with lemon slices on my elbows (I had read somewhere at the time that it could help "discoloration".

Finally at 18, I was diagnosed with PCOS. But, sadly, my doctor said the only way to get rid of AN is to lose weight.

I always wear my hair down, wear atleast three quarter length sleeves, never wear shorts, tanktops, etc. I'm so embarassed to even be intimate with my boyfriend of five years...even after ALL this time, I still cannot even fathom showing, or telling him about my condition. If we are intimate, the lights have to be completely off, and me, under the blankets. He hates it.

Like others have said on here too, Im more embarassed about these discolorations than my weight problem! I just am glad to see that Im not a freakshow - Ive never met, or even seen anyone with this condition before...so thank you guys for posting, it really does make me feel a bit better. I hope this low-card dieting works!

HELLO..today i decided..enough is enough...im going to try everything i can to try and get rid of my A.N, ive had it since i was a teen,and yes i also remember the time my family used to tell me to clean my neck properly!!....i was diagnosed with it when i was 17/18...actually i self diagnosed it...coz the dr's are soo rubbish they didnt understand what was going on!...ive been to them several times, asking them for ANYTHINK to get rid of it, but they nevr paid any attention to me...ive got it on my neck,underarms elbows,and inner thighs...
as i read the threads i felt as if i could relate to everyone!,,,i was soo surprised..you were all taking the words that ive thought over in my head soo many times!i used to love swimming...now i cant even bare the thought of being half naked...i have to wear 3/4 sleeves,even in the summer...and i always have a scarf on!!!...im sooo embarassed to take it off, i wont even take it off infrnt of my best friends,..thers such a distinct colour difference between my neck and chest!.......

I just dont know if i can ever get intimate with a guy....whAT AM I SUPPOSD TO DO?...all of this is soo upsetting..i feeel like a freak...i cant even do the normal things,that most girls wont even give a second thought to!

and is it just me?..or does anyone else watch those sanex and sure anti-perspernt adverts and get sooooO jealous.of the girls with clear armpits!?!

ok...so im new to this low carb thing..its going to be hard coz i LOVE carbs and dairy prods..but im gonna do it, if thers a chance of clearing it up...i just dont knw where to start from...thers soo much info!!??....
I just cut out carbs from my diet..but what am i supposd to replace it wiht?

200 mcgs of GTF chromium as well as coconut oil and organic oregano oil taken both internally and externally along with a low carb diet will reverse the condition over time.

A little update ....
My daughter has lost quite a bit of weight this year now. Has to be a good 2 stone upwards. (I dont badger her for weight loss figures, we just know her clothes continue to get much baggier). She has kept her carbs quantities controlled and does swimming 2 or 3 times a week along with visits to the gym with me. Her whole skin tone is considerably paler than mine now, yet at one point she was much darker than me and the doctor thought she was mixed race !

I thought I would add this update, so that long term you would see that with perserverance & the right advice from here you too can tone down the dark patches & lose weight....

She reacted badly to metformin (suffering chronic diarreah) so she had to stop taking it. To be honest she is managing well enough with just exercising to not have to take, it but she has been prescribed Slow Release Metformin which should be better but as yet my daughter has taken it. (She fears the painful repercussions of the last medication she took)..

She still sleeps a lot, (perhaps more habit than need) but does have more of an active social life.
All being well she starts College in a months time.
Im crossing my fingers that she will be able to keep up with it all....

About a year ago, I started to notice slight discolorations, in certain areas. I didn't think anything of it, and did a quick google search which proved futile. However, the discoloration didn't disappear and it's getting increasingly worse--spreading and unsightly. After doing heavy research on Google, I firmly believe that I have Acanthosis Nigracins, everything matches with all the descriptions/photos. However, there is one thing, that doesn't fit--the "cure" is too lose weight, but I'm not overweight! Infact, I've been quite skinny all my life, If I lose any weight it wouldn't be healthy, really, I'm concerned, because I'm in the early stages where I can stop this before it gets worse..but WTF do I have, I do believe I have some kind of gluclose problem, and that the acans is resulted from the gluclose problem.. and I want to find out before this skin discoloration spreads. I also know its NOT attributed from PCOS, because I don't have any of the symptoms, and I recently had a gyno exam about six months ago. I know you will all tell me to go to a doctor--but, I have no health insurance, so that is out of the question. I don't know what to do , le sigh....

Hi Paprika!
I understand where you're coming from. I've had AN when I was both skinny and chubby (I've never been obese.) And I don't have any health insurance either, so it's all a guessing game to me.
I almost wish it was caused by weight! Then at least I could set a goal, and see it progress. But with AN it goes much deeper than that...

Regardless of weight, AN is caused by an over abundance of Insulin, so your weight isn't the main problem when it comes to this disorder. You literally have so much insulin in your blood that its pouring over into your skin cells.
So you're probably:
1) Insulin Resistant and 2) Producing too much insulin.
And the best way to combat these issues without medication is to eat low carb.

I wish you luck, its a long hard road with AN.

Hi Diane,

Thanks for the response. I was living in France last year, so my diet mainly consisted of Carbs, including lots and lots of baguettes, tons of wine and cigarettes. I've read that one person on this site had significant improvment by eating NO carbs whatsoever for two weeks but how is that possible, it seems like EVERYTHING has carbs, minus meat products. I have limited my intake of carbs by only eating whole grain carbs, but I feel like I should stop eating even the whole grain for two weeks and see what happens. Also, I drink tons and tons of Tea on a daily basis, with zero cal sweetners, but I've read conflicting things that tea-reduces your risk for diabetes, but I also read that it raises insulin, so I'm not sure if I should buy zero caffeine Tea or not drink any tea, or if tea helps, also I read that nicotine is a contributor, I've limited my smoking but I'm considering rolling my own tabacco without any nicotine. I'm just not sure what I can eat to combat this problem, I'm assuming green vegetables and meat? how about dairy? I've never been on a "diet" in my life, but I've stopped eating sugars and white flour products. Any recommendations and did you notice any improvements from AN, does it ever go away, does it get reduced? Is this a life-long illness?

Also, I forgot to add, I stopped eating fruit, since it has carbs, is this a good or bad thing? Sorry for all the questions.

It does improve over time, but I've never stayed on plan long enough to find out if it goes away completely. *bad me* LOL
I've had the discoloration in my underarms, inner elbow, outer elbow, and knees pretty much go away in 4 months. But my neck, and inner thighs still had a little discoloration to it... But still, much better than normal!! It was almost gone.

As for the diet I was on, I was on Atkins induction most of the time. (Less than 20g carbs per day.) And I pretty much just ate eggs, various meats, small salads, various cheeses, and heavy cream (for coffee). No grains, no starchy vegetables, no fruit.
I've also done well eating VLC/ZC... which is pretty much just a diet of meat most of the time. But I'd add eggs, cheese, and heavy cream every now and then. I know that might sound drastic... but after about two weeks it's really easy to get use to.
You have to find what diet works for you, but I would definitely drop the fruit and grains! When I go off low-carb, that's what I usually eat more of, fruit and grains... and guess what? The skin problems come back.

I don't know anything about the tea... But I am a coffee drinker (some times 6 cups a day) and I don't find that it hinders me in any way.
I don't drink any zero-cal sweeteners other than Sweetfreez. (Which is basically just liquid splenda.) And I don't drink a lot of it, just about 4 drops a day.
Other than that I usually stay away from all the other zero calorie drinks, they make me really hungry for some reason... so I suspect I have an insulin reaction to them. So I stick to water if I'm thirsty.

I would also say to try exercising if you don't already. I hear insulin sensitivity increases when you exercise, but I don't know if it's a huge change.

Hi Diane,
Thank you so much for your lengthy response, I really appreciate it. I suppose, I should eliminate even whole-wheat grains and brown rice, that does seem drastic (wow only less then 20g)since I'm a carb lover, but I want to see results, so I'm going to try it out. What vegetables do you recommend that is low in starch/ any recommendations for specific meal plans? I read that you should eat whole cheese, and not fat-free cheese, and I'm assuming all dairy products are okay or not? I drank about 6 cups of Tea a day, and I use splenda, but I read that caffeine is terrible for your blood sugar levels, so I switched to decaffianted tea, I've read that tea has about half the caffeine as coffee, but also a high amount, 8 cups of my decaff tea equals one cup of regular tea! I only have the discoloration in my inner thighs at the moment, and a little bit in one underarm so I'm hoping it goes away, did you start to see improvements after two weeks? I'm also assuming beer is out of the question, what about wine, alochol?