Megan Delgado

About

Freelance graphic designer, based in Portland's Sellwood neighborhood. The spare bedroom is the studio. The bathroom is eight steps down the hall and doubles as the weekly documentation station.

For most of my twenties I treated my skin the way I treat a design brief: identify variables, isolate them, test in sequence. Two prescription retinols, a serum phase that ran longer than any client project I have ever worked on. The approach was sound. The system I was testing was wrong.

At 35, a breakout bad enough to matter hit right before a client rebrand. Nothing topical touched it. Around that time, Cassidy Vreeland, a naturopath friend I had met at a Portland wellness market a couple of years before that, mentioned the gut-skin connection over brunch with the same casual delivery she uses for everything. I went home and started reading. I ordered a probiotic within the week.

That was three years ago. Felix, my partner, built the tracking spreadsheet I now rely on entirely; it has 156 rows. He reads every new label with a raised eyebrow and a logistical question. Tasha Orimoto, a fellow designer who left her agency the same year I did, runs supplement trials in parallel so we can compare notes across our different skin types. Cassidy occasionally texts photos of new probiotic packaging with a one-word verdict before she flags anything to her own patients.

The tracking protocol has not changed since week one: daily supplement use, weekly skin photos in the bathroom eight steps from my desk, same angle, same time of morning before coffee. The photos are unglamorous. A whiteboard above my monitor keeps the current cycle visible so I do not lose track mid-trial. Three years of that documentation is what these reviews are built on.

My background is design, not health. The value here is the tracking discipline and the willingness to sit with a result that contradicts what the marketing says. Skin responds differently between people, and anything that shifted in my photos may not shift in yours. For anything that touches health decisions, a dermatologist or doctor is the right starting point.

Articles by Megan Delgado

• The Spreadsheet That Solved My Skin: My Honest Review of Gut-Health Supplements
• The Skin-Gut Spreadsheet: My Honest Supplement Rotation After Years of Tracking
• My Skin-Gut Spreadsheet: 3 Signs the Problem Wasn't My Face Wash
• The Chin Selfie Spreadsheet: My Experience Testing Neotonics Gummies for the Gut-Skin Axis
• Best High Fiber Foods to Pair With Your Daily Skin Probiotic
• How to Tell if Your Acne Is Caused by Poor Gut Health
• Probiotic Strain Glossary: What Each Strain Does
• Best Probiotics for Cystic Acne on the Chin and Jawline
• Best Probiotics for Adult Acne I Have Tried After Months of Testing
• PrimeBiome vs SynoGut for Hormonal Acne and Better Digestive Health
• Long Term SynoGut Review After Months of Testing for Skin
• My Experience Using GUT VITA for Skin Glow and Digestion
• Why I Use SynoGut for Better Digestion and Clearer Skin
• Best Probiotics for Adult Acne and Digestive Health Issues
• My Skin Spreadsheet Revelation: What I Cut Out After Years of Probiotic Testing
• Gummies vs Capsules: What My Tracking Notes Taught Me About the Gut-Skin Connection
• Beyond the Topicals: Why My Spreadsheet (and My Skin) Finally Pointed to My Gut
• Best Foods to Support Probiotic Supplements for Clearer Skin
• PrimeBiome Review for Improving Skin Elasticity and Gut Health
• Why Probiotic Supplements Work Better for My Skin Than Topicals
• GUT VITA for Bloating and Skin Issues After a Flare
• Best Prebiotics for Skin Health While Working Long Hours
• Best Probiotics for Clear Skin While Traveling for Work
• Is GUT VITA for hormonal acne the answer? My 60-day journal
• SynoGut vs Digestive Enzymes: Which is Better for Your Skin?
• What Happens to Your Skin When You Stop Probiotics?
• My Morning Ritual: Coffee, SynoGut, and Clear Skin Goals
• How to Read Your Face Like a Gut Health Map
• Does GUT VITA Actually Help with Stress-Related Breakouts?
• Why Every Portland Creative Needs a Gut Health Routine
• 5 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting PrimeBiome (2026 Update)
• PrimeBiome vs GUT VITA: My 30-Day Spreadsheet Showdown (2026 Update)
• Is SynoGut the Best Choice for Persistent Hormonal Acne? (2026 Update)
• The Portland Designer’s Guide to Tracking Skin and Gut Data
• My Face is a Digestive Map: 12 Weeks Tracking the Gut-Skin Axis in 2026
• Why My $120 Retinol Routine Failed Until I Fixed My Gut (2026 Update)
• Fiber vs. Flare-ups: My 60-Day SynoGut Spreadsheet Results and the Search for the Skin-Gut Grail
• The $49 Experiment: Is GUT VITA Still the Best 'Budget' Fix for the Portland Chin-Map?
• PrimeBiome Review 2026: I Spent 8 Weeks A/B Testing My Chin (And Won)
• The Spreadsheet Doesn't Lie: My 60-Day Deep Dive into the Gut-Skin Axis
• My Gut-Skin Experiment: What 90 Days of Probiotics Did to My Face (2026 Update)

Disclosure

Some links here are affiliate links, meaning I earn a commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. I only write about supplements I have personally tested and tracked. For how that affects editorial decisions, see the Editorial Policy.