By Chloe Casey
Forget jade rollers, LED masks and salmon sperm facials. The latest skincare trend taking over TikTok is a blood test.
‘Ferritin face’ is the social media term for the claim that low iron levels leave visible clues on your face – dark circles under the eyes, pale or grey-looking skin. Some influencers say raising their ferritin levels transformed their complexion in ways no product could.
But before booking a blood test or buying iron supplements in your quest for better skin, let’s look at the science.
Ferritin is a protein that stores iron in the body, so a ferritin blood test is really a way of checking how much iron you have in reserve. Unlike iron itself, which can fluctuate throughout the day, ferritin is a better indicator of the body’s iron stores.
Iron is an important nutrient. It supports growth, immune function and energy production and is essential for haemoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen around the body. Because it’s so important, the body tightly regulates how much it holds on to. Run too low, and you risk anaemia – a condition where the blood can’t carry enough oxygen, which can become dangerous if left unchecked.
Some people are more likely to run low on iron than others, including pregnant women, anyone with heavy periods, people with inflammatory bowel diseases, vegetarians and vegans. The symptoms can show up in plenty of places besides your bloodwork: fatigue, weaker immunity, mouth sores, brittle nails, hair loss, and yes, paler skin.
So there is a kernel of truth in ‘ferritin face’ – severe iron deficiency, particularly when it causes anaemia, can make someone look pale. But that doesn’t mean low ferritin produces a distinctive facial appearance. Hormones, bad sleep, stress, dehydration or not eating enough key nutrients can all leave you looking pale and tired. A mirror can’t tell you whether your ferritin is low – only a blood test can do that.
If a test does show low ferritin, a doctor might suggest iron supplements. But on social media, that message tends to get translated into “buy this supplement”, and the line between medical advice and marketing gets blurry fast. Some brands suggest that any skin complaint can be fixed with the right pill or powder, linking their products to beauty, femininity and body image to make the sale.
Supplements have become a huge business on social media platforms, and there’s a real risk that all this messaging pushes people towards taking more than they need.
Too much iron, taken at once or built up over time, is toxic. At lower doses, that might mean nausea or diarrhoea. At higher doses, it can cause dangerously low blood pressure, a build-up of acid in the blood, and even liver failure.
If you are genuinely low on iron, your diet is a better place to start than a supplement aisle. Iron from food comes in two forms: haem iron, from red meat, chicken and fish, which the body absorbs easily, and non-haem iron, from lentils, leafy greens, oats, chickpeas, tofu and fortified cereals, which is absorbed less efficiently. Pairing plant-based iron with vitamin C – citrus fruit, peppers, a glass of orange juice – helps your body take up more of it. Tea and coffee do the opposite, so it’s worth keeping them away from mealtimes.
Most adults need around 8.7mg of iron a day, rising to 14.8mg for women aged 19 to 49. A varied diet usually covers it. A 100g serve of pumpkin seeds gets you about 8.5mg, while the same amount of beef provides roughly 2.5mg.
If you’re in one of the higher-risk groups and dealing with fatigue, hair loss or unusual paleness, it’s best to see your doctor. A ferritin test, alongside other bloodwork, is what will actually tell you whether iron is the problem.
Chloe Casey is Lecturer in Nutrition and Behaviour, Bournemouth University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence