(ignore rating)
I've been on Alesse for almost 2 years, although I never used it intending to specifically clear up acne - I simply used it for birth control. My acne got really bad while on this pill but I figured it's ok because as a form of birth control I was happy. My sister has been on OTC for about 2 years and her skin has cleared up dramatically!! She used to have extreme acne. The last time I went to my doctor she suggested I try OTC because as per usual my face had mild breakouts. I look forward to seeing how this pill works for me, and I will update and let everyone know how my skin is.

ive had acne since i was 12. i was on diane 35 for over a year, and during that whole year i never got acne, but ive heard some nasty bad stuff about it(a cbc television special) where a woman said she got a brain clot because of it. so i went off it. i then tried alesse and thats the worst pill in the world for acne. i broke out so bad and i think ill be living with scars now. i went to the doc and told him my problem, but he didnt care and put me back on alesse. it got worse so i went to the walk in and waited 2 hours to switch my prescription to otcyclen. does anyone know how long it will take for it to begin clearing up my skin?

Cleared up my acne in 2 weeks :):):):) !!!!

I'm 20 years old and I've been on OTC since i was 15... when I was in high school my skin looked great! I was happy with the pill, but then I started to break out really bad at 19 and I was still on OTC. I went on Dan's regimen and my skin has cleared but I would like to go off of it because it makes my skin sooo dry! I tried switching my pill to Marvelon... BIG MISTAKE!!! It made me depressed and moody and I had a few other bad side effects. My doctor has perscribed me to go on Alesse because she says its lower hormones and that may help my acne?

I started on OTC Lo and stayed on it for 9 months. I switched off it b/c of occasional breakthrough bleeding, but only now realize how great my skin had been while on it. Instead I tried Yasmin, which was great for the first 2.5 months. The 3rd week of the 3rd month I began developing tiny bumps on my forehead. It continued to get worse over the next two months. It spread all the way down to my stomach. My doctor switched me to Estrostep, which hasn't really helped. I've been using every acne wash, cream, etc. possible--to no avail. Am switching back to OTC Lo in hopes that it will work for my skin again...

LOVE IT!!!!

I have been on ortho-tri cyclen for about two years now, and started taking trinesa. I must say that both brands are very effective. neither one of them made me gain weight, or got me pregnant! So either one girls, they work!!!!!

I was on OTC for about a year and it worked wonders on my skin. I never had a major acne problem, only a few zits here and there. Either way, my skin was BEYOND PERFECT for that year. THEN, my doctor told me they came out w/ OTC LO and that it had the exact same efficacy, only lower hormones. She sad that the price for OTC was gonna be upped too. So i took it. Immidiately afterwards i started noticing little tiny zits on my cheeks. They soon developed into HUMONGOUSLY red and painful cysts that wouldnt go away. Also, even if the acne went away, i was left w/ red scars all over my face. This all started 2 years ago. I stopped taking OTC LO a year ago and my horrendous acne persists. I am devistated. I tried all kinds of topical acne antibiotics and even Retin-A. NOTHING works. Anyone else experience something similar?
I wish i never took OTC LO. I LOVED reg. OTC.

I have only been on Ortho for about three weeks. I have noticed some improvement of my skin in certain areas, but i recently broke out. The only other side effects i noticed was that my breasts got bigger. My dermatologist told me it would take about three months to see the effects on my skin...

I'm 19 and i've been on it for about 15 months now. I'd just like to say that so far it has been great. I was on alesse for about 6 months first and it was terrible. my face had never been so bad. I had fairly mild acne prior to alesse but it just made it terrible. my face was covered and nothing would heal. I went on Tri-cyclen and it cleared up. Not instantly, but definitely went down to a few pimples here and there to none at all now. I've also had no other side effects with Tri-cyclen. no irregular bleeding, no major mood swings and my periods are as perfect as I could hope for, no pain and quite short and much lighter than before. I had a terrible time with alesse, my period would be barely there and it would come on the second week of pills(a very weird and wrong time). My doctor switched me to Tri-cyclen and everything has been great! as I said my acne was not severe prior to BC but tri-cyclen definitely cleared it all up.