Ok, I never write on this kind of stuff but I am going to because my experience with YAZ has been amazing!

In high school I had the worst break outs EVER and my dermatologist tried everything for me! I went on birth control when I got to college (yaz) and ever since then my skin has literally been PERFECT. If I miss a couple of pills during the month I do break out a bit but otherwise it is great! I think I may have just had a hormone imbalance or something.

I will also say that it took a good 3-4 months before I really started to notice a difference which makes sense because thats when the birth control starts becoming the most effective for the other reasons people take it.

Definitely stick with it and give it a try.

PS. It's especially great if you like to drink because you lose a lot of potassium from alcohol and can get leg cramps but I never do because of the yaz! haha

Everyone's bodies react differently to birth control, so what works for some may not work for others. I think the best thing is not to get too caugh up in what other people say about it, just try it and see if it works for you. Personally I've done great with yaz so far with no side effects. It also just takes time for your body to get used to new b.c. But that's just my experience, you don't know if something works for you untill you try it. If you get bad side effects then switch to something else.

I am almost done with my first pack,
so far so good. My skin isn't clear but it seems like less new breakouts, and quicker drying up of zits. A lot of people said it takes time to see results so I am hoping that my skin continues to imrpove.

Whoa if you are already seeing results, you are on your way!

Laurenbee03,

I'm glad to hear you started Yaz. I have taken Yaz for nearly a year (when I had insurance), and I have hormonal acne. I don't believe that my acne got any worse when I started it, and I do believe that it did take some time to start working. I truly believe in Yaz, though I will say for me it is no cure, and I do still get pimples every once in a while..but needless to say I'm not sure I know one single person who never gets a pimple. I recently went off of Yaz because my insurance coverage ended when I turned 22. I stopped taking Yaz for 2 months and my face was fine, but then it hit me overnight..acne that is, and it got BAD. BAD! Worst I've ever had acne in my entire life. I have heard that this is common when you stop taking BC's. And I totally know what you mean about not wanting to go out at all, because that is exactly how I felt. I decided that it didn't matter how much Yaz costed without insurance, because no amt of money was too much to pay to clear up my face, so I decided to refill my prescription and pay for it outright ($70) later and 4 days into my new pack, my skin is already subsiding! And trust me when I say my breakout was bad! We are talking tons of those small, little red bumps that are all clustered together that nearly look like a rash. Give Yaz a fair try and see how it works for you, I can tell you it works for me and I will continue to pay (70 bucks) until I get back on insurance, that's how much I can't live w/o it.

Wow am seeing a lot of negatives here. I have been on YAZ for 2 months and for the first time in a long time my face is clear. Its great. My PMS is gone as well.

In response to those who like Ortho...they may be cheaper, but they give me migraines for the entire length of my period.

So, I guess it's just depends on how a person's body handles it. My doctor did tell me to let her know if I had crying episodes with it, but so far none and its been two months.

I will stick with Yaz for now.

good luck to everyone!

Yikes! I'm a bit nervous to start Yaz (I begin in two days - and I've been on Spiro for about 2 weeks) after seeing all the negatives here. But we all know, different people respond differently to different medications. I'm making the switch after Loestrin 24 Fe caused nodular acne on my chin and jawline. Read my blog to track my results. Good luck to us all! Hormonal acne is no fun!

I went on Yaz last year and was on it until this July, It cleared me completley i went out with no make up for the first time in my life, it was great! i went off of it for a month because i ran out and it took me forever to get back to the dr., so now i've been on for month a half and my face has been breaking out like crazy do u know why?

I am on my 3rd week of my 3rd pack of yaz. When i started i was getting these little clogged pores and bumps and some larger zits all over my jawline and some on my forehead. When i started yaz my face broke out horribly! I could see all the little bumps coming up into giant zits. Now my forehead is almost clear and i have a lot less little bumps and clogged pores, but im still breaking out pretty bad around the jawline and mouth area. Less little bumps, but still some, but there are more inflamed ones. Im going crazy here trying to figure out if my face is clearing or not. My husband and mom keep saying it looks better, but i just keep seeing more zits coming and coming. Plus my face is still so oily. I think its slightly less oily, but still much too oily. im so miserable. Last week i thought it was clearing up. One side of my face was almost clear, but then this week its all broken out. Has anyone else had this sort of acne and had luck with yaz? I need some advise here. I know some people said they started seeing clearing skin 4-5 months in. Has anyone started seeing it clear and then it got worse again? Im so confused. I dont wanna stop the yaz if its gunna eventually help, but i cant just let it get worse and worse. Im so confused. My skin is very senstive so all acne washes and face products for acne are too harsh adn make my face red and irritated. I use philosophy purity made simple face wash and philosophy oxygen peel once or twice a week and sometimes i use a charcoal mask. I am 26 and started breaking out about 2 years ago right after my wedding. Before then i never had acne problems and i never wore makeup. I just dont knw how to deal with this. HELP!! Other than the confusion of my skin i have had no bad side effects from this pill yet. Not even migranes like i had on ortho lo.

Hello? Why does no one ever answer my posts on these boards?

Sorry Sarah, have you been able to pinpoint why you started breaking out two years ago? Had you just begun bc pills? I am asking that because you said you had just gotten married. Your question might be hard to answer because everyone reacts differently to bc pills. It seems like a fair trial is about 6 - 9 months although some women take a year. You will certainly know within that time whether or not it's going to work for you. My daughter is on Yaz but I think Yasmin actually worked better for her acne. It made her an emotional wreck though so no thank you. Yaz is better for her emotionally. She also takes 100 mgs. of spironolactone with it and she just completed 5 months on that. She would like to cut down on that though because of the side effects. She's been on Yaz since about May. I would say that this 5th month on all of that is when she has seen the most progress. Early on, not so much. She also had a couple of vi-peels and gets monthly laser treatments which has been helpful. I hope that helped a little. Keep posting...

I went on Yaz because of PMDD. I got happy, my skin was not. It was a nightmare when I stopped taking it. I was told to wait at least 3 months for the pill. Some things get worse or take a lot of time before it gets better.

Please clarify.... It sounds like you went off after 3 months? It can take over 6 months to see results in some cases. DD just completed 6 months and her skin is now noticeably improved and soft looking.

I am so lost with this pill! I started on BC 8 months ago with Trinessa. I know this is what started my acne problems. (never had any before) I tried Yaz for a month but I was so upset that it was getting worse, that I stopped. I did notice smaller cysts on yaz, but there were still a lot of them. Does anyone know if that means it was working. I am also on Doxy but it doesnt seem to be helping. I get pimples all along my laughlines and jawline. I need to be on BC, but I got so fed up that I tossed my pack and now I'm wondering if I was too hasty!

Trinessa is what was prescribed for my daughter a few years back. It made her acne go nuts and she quit after 5 months or so. By then it was so bad that she tried Accutane which made it so much worse!!! When she decided try the pill again she went on Yasmin and then added spiro and that was the silver bullet. Now she is on Yaz and spiro. The other combo worked better but Yasmin made her too emotional. Once you have had a breakout, healing is very gradual. If you were seeing smaller cysts on Yaz that means progress in my head. I would work with a derm to get some advice. Perhaps an antibiotic (short term!) to get some healing underway. I view an initial acne outbreak as an infection in the skin that needs to be gotten under control. Also, would give you an emotional break. Just make sure to take lots of probiotics afterwards to restore the flora in your system. DD is about 6 months into this regime after going off of Yaz last winter. Big mistake. She is so much better now and just dealing with the aftermath - scars etc. I am also a big fan of peels. I think they can work wonders along with the right internal meds. Good luck and let us know how you are doing.

I have tried taking Yaz two times, but can't make it through a month. It makes me so fatigued and moody. And during that month I break out worse (and also, the most recent time, I had a 2 week "breakthrough bleeding" period.) My doctors say I should give it more time if I want it to improve the acne but I blame it for making me feel miserable. For the month I took Yaz, I pretty much lived on the couch and did the absolute bare minimum for everything in life. I didn't connect that it was caused by the yaz either, so I just felt like a loser - and the moodiness made me very depressed on top of it. I forgot to take my Yaz one day and the next day mysteriously felt much more energetic and good. Maybe it's a coincidence, but I'm convinced it's not for me and won't take it anymore. It was like those worst 2 PMS days multiplied and spread out over a whole month - acne, crying, fatigue, and all.

This post has been edited by lemonlover: Nov 6 2009, 02:41 PM

I am just starting my forth yaz pack now. My acne is noticably better, but i have a lot of scarring from the initial breakout. I started breakingout right after my wedding. I had been on ortho tri cyclen low for 5 years at that point with no problems, and then all of a sudden it just started going crazy. i was also losing more hair than normal in the shower too. I went off ortho lo to see if it would help adn i think it started gettting worse. so now im on yaz. I am seeing a great improvement in my acne, but i do have a lot of scarring from the initial breakout. I am also still getting breakouts too. I am wondering if the breakouts will ever totally stop? Or maybe yaz just isnt strong enough to totally stop them? I just saw a dermatologist and he put me on doxycyclene. I really dont wanna be on antibiotics unless its totallt nessecary, so i am waiting. Im just wondering if anyone else has had this experience and if their acne eventually cleared all the way. They are driving me nuts. I eat so healthy, which is hard cause i looooove food, but i will do almost anything for clear skin. I just dont wanna put my body thru more antibiotics. Im allergic to almost all the antibiotics they give you for acne and im a little nervous i will be allergic to this one too, plus they are so bad for your body. I also am pretty positive that its my hormones causing it since yaz has improved it. I just want the rest of the acne to clear up before i have any more scarring. I use to have such pretty skin. This is so hard. It makes me so sad.
Thanks for replying. 6-9 months sounds like such a long time. But since its getting better so far maybe it will clear soon? I hope!

I would say that if you are seeing a lot of improvement and only just starting your fourth pack, then you will do well on this pill. Just my opinion, of course. but you could very well just clear up without anything else. You are wise to avoid the antibiotics especially if you are clearing just as well without them. Doctors are quick to jump to that because that was always the next traditional step after topicals, etc. etc. We are more enlightened now . It irritates me because few if any will caution you about the importance of intestinal flora and how antibiotics screw that up. I do think they are helpful sometimes but should not be used long term. If you are not clear at 6 months, consider adding spironolactone. It was the silver bullet for my daughter. She has just scars remaining now. I know it sucks and you sound like me long ago. DD handles things much better than I did. Consider a vi-peel or other peel. I think they are great and go along way towards regaining normal skin tone. Keep your chin up and get good at makeup. Six months will come and go in a whisper.

Thanks so much for replying. It helps to hear other peoples experiences and how it works for them. I had a bad experience with microdermabrasion about 2 years ago that left my face all red and raw and veiny. Ever since then my skin cant handle any kinds of acne washes or anything. I can only use very gentle products on my face which makes it hard to deal with this acne issue. So im really hoping that the yaz clears me up. Otherwise i just dont know what to do anymore. I really hate wearing makeup on my skin. I have a very care free life style and having to put on makeup to go camping or to just run to the store is a real pain. I use to have beautiful skin and never wore makeup. My face seems to be getting clearer, but it is still very oily. Less oily than before yaz, but still oily. Does anyone know if this will eventually dry up more? I am starting my 4th pack now. I have to drive at least 2 hours one way to get to a dermatologist, so its a huge pain having to go to the dermatologist to deal with this especially when they dont have any answers for me. This is so frustrating!!! I will keep in touch with my progress.

yaz is being discontinued!!!!!