5 replies to this topic

[blank?]

I went to my doctor recently to ask about starting to use oral contraception. She mentioned my acne and that it would be good if she could put me on something which would clear it up to prevent the possibilty of scarring on my face and of course, I agreed. In the end she perscribed me Dianette, which I really didn't know anything much about, only that I should come back if I had any problems. When I got home, I looked it up on the internet and I'm sort of concerned about using it.

There seem to be a lot of possible side effects. I never mentioned anything about my skin to my doctor and I have never tried any other sort of treatment. While my acne is very persistent and flares up quite badly at times I would not have thought it was severe (which from what I can gather is what Dianette is used to treat?). So I would have thought a milder treatment would have been a better option.

Basically. my doctor didn't ask me anything about my acne and how bad it is generally or if I've ever used anything to treat it. I'm just worried because, as far as I understand Dianette should be avoided if possible and I feel like I may have been put on it needlessly.

[alicealicealice]

I think it's a hard one to be honest because I've had an awful experience with it over the past year but at the same time I've read many reviews from people who have said it has cleared their skin up.

You can find more reviews here if it helps: acne.org reviews

For me personally it has made my skin worse and created angry, sore, red spots round my chin and top lip where I previously had much clearer skin. They're recurring as well and never actually disappear from the same spot. I do think doctors should be more careful when prescribing this version of the pill because it's not the instant cure people would be led to believe it is and the doseage of hormones is apparently really strong compared to other types of pill. It seems to have just completely knocked my body for six over the past year.

Unless you're in a desperate situation with your skin then I wouldn't have thought it's worth the risk, particularly since you've never tried any other form of treatment. The thing with doctors is that they're not trained dermatologists. They can only recite what their medical books tell them, which I think leads many of them to prescribe things such as Dianette with no in depth understanding of just how strong or detrimential it could be.

[SimplyComplex]

I've been on Dianette for over a year and had no side effects at all. However it didnt help with my acne. I also read bad experiences people had had taking Dianette when i first got put on it but i think you can't always go on what you hear. Everyone had different experiences on it and as i said, mine was fine so don't be worried about taking it, try it and see how it goes.

[Fizgig]

I was on it for 6 months and it helped a lot with my acne but I did have some side effects, including depression and anxiety, so I changed my BCP recently. However, I do know of many people that didn't have these side effects but it's important that you're aware of them so you can look out for any mental or physical changes while you're taking this pill.

[Sahara]

I've been on Dianette for 5mths now. I had moderate/severe acne, and the doctors insisted on going through all the other treatments before resorting to Dianette. I've not had any side affects from it, and it has been the only thing that has made any difference to my skin.

It does sound like you shouldn't have been given it just yet. I went through nearly 6yrs of trying hundreds of topicals from my GP, plus antibiotics, other pills, etc before reluctantly being given Dianette.

[blank?]

So far, I've noticed a couple of things. my skin is less oily anyways, although I'm breaking out about as much as usual, but they seem to be clearing up a bit faster.
Although, I've been really moody. I'm experiencing really low mood and irritability (also probably related to college stress though). I had bad nausea for the first 2 weeks.
Anyways, it's only been a month, so I realise things take time to stabilize. Which is why I'm willing to stick with it for the next 2 months I think, when I have to go back to my doctor anyways. My only worry is that I think any symptoms I've been experiencing may be made worse due to other stresses at the moment, I'm in my final year of college with a huge work load. In the last month, I've gone from an A/B student to a D student (I've never got grades this bad in college, dunno if it's related to the nausea/moodiness interfering with my study though). I don't need any additional stress or moodiness at the moment and I can't afford to let my grades slip.
Perhaps it was stupid of me that I didn't go back to my doctor to discuss my concerns before I started taking it.