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Hello everyone!
I've searched the net and this site for a few months now...reading about just about everything related to acne. I'm honestly at a complete loss right now and after battling with acne for the past year, I have made a doctors appointment next week to go on Accutane, even though it does not sit right with me at all, I don't know what else to do at this point.
I was on the Nuvaring for 3 years with absolutely no problems, maybe a little anxiety but my skin was pretty much flawless. Before the nuvaring, in my teen years (I'm now 23), I never had perfect skin and usually had a pimple or two- nothing I was ever too concerned about. Last March I broke up with my boyfriend and decided to stop the Nuvaring because I didn't like the idea of putting chemicals into my body for no good reason. My skin was fine for the first few months, but come October, my skin EXPLODED. I had acne like I've never had before in my life. When this started happening, I was teaching English over seas and thought the breakout was being caused by being in a new country, eating new food, washing with different water, etc. Anyway, I wanted to get back on the Nuvaring right away to deal with it so I did. This time around, the Nuvaring did NOTHING for me. The entire year I was abroad my skin was an absolute mess which was really unfortunate because I spent a lot of my time being antisocial because of it 
I had pimples all over my cheeks and couldn't cover them up with makeup. I kept telling myself the Nuvaring will work because it worked so well for me before. I went to see dermatologists who prescribed me minocyn and doxy and neither of them worked. I was also given epiduo and stuck that out for 3 months but that was also another disaster that did nothing for my skin except leave it scarred and greasy. I was in Korea so there was a huge language barrier with the dermatologists and I couldn't wait to come home and see a dermatologist who actually spoke English! That's pretty much the fist thing I did. The derm told me to stop the Nuvaring and switched me to Alesse because it's suppose to clear acne even though I now know that is not true for many, many people. I've been on Alesse for 2 months and I just stopped mid pack because 1) I don't know how it's possible but my skin has gotten so much worse and 2) I've started losing my hair like CRAZY and I think birth control has something to do with it.
Anyways, I'm just wondering if there's anyone out there who had acne both on and off the pill and if they broke out even worse when they stopped it or if it actually ended up improving their skin. I've cleaned up my eating habits and lifestyle a lot because of acne so I'm hoping that going off birth control will go better for me this time around. I'm drinking spearmint tea, taking evening primrose oil in hopes of improving my skin rather than making it worse by going off BC.
I don't want to try another BC. I'd rather stick it out now and get through it while I'm 23 than go through it in a few years...because I will have to come off BC eventually.
I would love to hear any experiences you ladies have had and am crossing my fingers that I'll hear some positive ones!!
Hey! Your situation sounds pretty similar to mine. I originally went on BC for my skin when I was 17 and it made my skin flawless. I went off it and the next time I went on my skin went crazy, and stayed crazy for about two years. I decided to come off it completely about two months ago. My skin was pretty bad on BC, and since coming off it, my face has definitely improved. I have broken out a tiny bit on my back, neck and chest, but this is under control by washing/treating twice a day.
If I can suggest anything, it's getting on the supplement bandwagon. I know you're taking evening primrose, which is good, but I'd also suggest fish oil, zinc and magnesium powder. I take a few more, but those seemed to help my skin a lot. Like you, I've also cleaned my diet up. I don't eat sugar, dairy or anything high GI, I eat lots of greens, and drink about 3 litres of water a day. I've also started drinking green smoothies (check out Kimberly Snyder), but it's too early to tell if that's making a difference yet. Also - coconut oil! I take around a tablespoon of this internally per day. It's amazing stuff. I can't recommend coconut oil enough.
I've also found that not picking at my skin at all has improved my skin around 70%, as well as exercising and de-stressing.
Unfortunately I've had to go back on the pill for birth control which I'm not happy about (I can't get non-hormonal BC where I live - copper IUD, diaphragm )
You might want to check out my log (link in my sig) which lists all the products and things I tried.
Good luck anyway! I was pretty successful coming off so it's definitely possible
And let me know if you have any questions, I'd be happy to help out.
Wow- thank you so much, your post is so encouraging!! I'm just so fed up with the pill and it's so great to hear that someone's acne improved after stopping it. I definitely plan on getting the copper IUD should I need birth control in the future!! I'm going to check out your log after this post 
It's funny that you mention coconut oil because I just recently started cooking with it and using it as butter on toast...so I will definitely keep that up! I'm really into green smoothies too, and juicing! I forgot to include that I'm also taking zinc but I will definitely be looking into getting some fish oil and magnesium. I'm also exercising and trying to stay stress free but it's so hard to be calm when your dealing with acne!! But yeah, I should do yoga or something. I feel like I'm living a pretty healthy lifestyle- healthier than it's ever been, but the pill is the one toxic thing I'm still putting in my body so I'm hoping when I eliminate it, my acne will be eliminated too! It's so frustrating...Can I ask you how long it took for your face to clear up a bit after you stopped the pill?
That's ok! When I was planning to come off I was so scared because all I ever read about women stopping the pill was negative!
Sounds like you're doing everything right! I'm sure that'll make your transition coming off it easier
Mmm, I started to notice a difference after about two weeks, and then after four weeks there was a definite difference (only getting a couple of pimples a week, or being completely clear for days at a time). I guess that's about the time the supplements would've started to have an effect too. I still get pimples, but I don't break out like I did when I was on the pill. My acne has probably gone from moderate to mild. I guess you have to expect that you'll break out to some extent while your body gets back to normal.