Actor Hwang Jung-min, once known as one of the entertainment industry's most notable drinkers, has revealed a transformed appearance after two years of abstaining from alcohol, drawing growing attention to the relationship between drinking and skin health.
According to the "2024 National Health and Nutrition Survey" released by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on Sunday, the domestic high-risk drinking rate stood at 13.6%. This refers to the proportion of people who drink seven or more glasses for men and five or more for women in a single sitting, at least twice a week. The monthly binge drinking rate reached 37.8%, indicating that more than one in three adults engages in binge drinking at least once a month.
Amid this trend, the number of people visiting hospitals complaining of skin problems caused by drinking is also increasing. The Korean Dermatological Association analyzed 1,809 patients who visited the dermatology departments of Seoul Asan Medical Center, Korea University Anam Hospital, and Seoul National University Boramae Medical Center from 2022 to 2024, and found that facial flushing patients increased by 46% over three years. The association estimates that approximately one in 40 people in Korea suffers from this condition.
Facial flushing can result from various causes other than drinking, including ultraviolet rays and temperature changes, but alcohol is cited as a representative trigger that dilates facial blood vessels.
In this regard, the recent case of actor Hwang Jung-min has drawn attention. He was well known for his so-called "alcohol-toned" skin, but he began abstaining from alcohol early last year and is now in his second year. In a recently released video, he drew attention with skin that had lost its redness and become brighter, along with a sharper jawline, unlike before.
The reddening of the face when drinking is not simply a matter of constitution but has a clear physiological mechanism. Alcohol is broken down in the body into a toxic substance called acetaldehyde, and the more a person lacks the enzyme that processes it, the more blood circulation is promoted to expel this substance quickly.
In this process, the face, where capillaries are densely distributed, reddens first. When this state is repeated, blood vessels remain chronically dilated and harden, which can lead to persistent erythema, in which the face remains red even without drinking.
Experts believe that abstaining from alcohol directly helps reverse this process. As chronically dilated facial blood vessels stabilize, the redness subsides, and as liver function that had been used for alcohol metabolism concentrates on recovery and detoxification, the skin regeneration cycle also normalizes.
The elimination of alcohol's diuretic effect improves chronic dehydration, which also affects skin moisture and elasticity. The fact that sleep quality often improves as well is cited as a factor contributing to skin recovery.
However, the change does not appear immediately. Experts explain that since the skin regeneration cycle itself typically takes more than four weeks, at least a month is needed to feel noticeable changes. In addition, if erythema has progressed to a state lasting more than three months, it may be difficult to fully reverse through abstinence alone, in which case separate treatments such as laser procedures are sometimes combined.
It is also worth noting that the effect becomes more pronounced when abstinence is combined with quitting smoking or weight management. Although it is difficult to isolate the impact of alcohol alone, the common explanation is that starting to reduce or quit drinking can itself be the starting point for overall health management, including the skin.
