I'm a 27 year old female. I've NEVER had acne in my life. I've had breakouts here and there but nothing compared to what I'm going through now and I've tried EVERYTHING I can think of. So here's the background story: I had Mirena (IUD) put in in January 2009 and I decided to go ahead and have it taken out earlier this year since you can only keep it for 5 years I just wanted to go ahead and have it removed early. Everything was fine as far as my skin up until September/October this year. All of a sudden I was getting these horrible and painful bumps on my forehead/eyebrow area and then they started forming around my nose and on my chin. I've tried BP, sensitive skin facial cleaners, Clarisonic, Dermatologist gave me an Rx for Clindamycin gel and Tazorac cream. Nothing is helping. It seems like it starts to get better and then I get another pimple! Some of them are regular pimples but most of them are cysts. Also, my periods are irregular. My cycle did a complete 360 in October and I was 3 weeks late (this was around the time my breakouts started). I'm assuming I'm dealing with hormonal acne since I was on Mirena for so long and now that I'm not, my body doesn't know how to function without the hormones it was releasing. I'm looking for ANY advice you all can give me. Anything that's worked for you. I've looked into DIM and Vitex but I've read a lot of mixed reviews. Also, I can post pics of my acne if that will help. Thanks!
Hello,
I know this is an old post, but I am going through the same problem. I am 26 years old and I had Mirena for 5 years. I had to deal with a lot of symptoms including anxiety and acne. At the end of the 5 years, I started having cystic acne (at the age of 25) and I was happy to remove the Mirena. However, I experienced even more acne after the removal. I have been without the Mirena for 6 months now but I am getting pimples where I never used to have some... I can wear makeup and it is not too bad but I like being natural and when I am at home and without makeup, I don't like if somebody knock at the door!
Even if you posted a year ago, I was wondering if your acne improved passed 6 months and what did you do to improve your condition. Since I had to deal with hormonal fluctuations, I did some acupuncture treatments that have helped a lot for the anxiety and other symptoms (my legs were hitching a lot!!). Also my diet is better now ( I am making fresh juice every morning) and I am taking Zinc, acid folic and milk thistle since 2 weeks.
Please, if anybody experienced the same thing, it would be nice to hear about your story, especially if your skin got better.
Hi Lyssa,
I would say that it took about a year an a half to see a more permanent improvement. About 2 months after the Mirena removal, it was catastrophic (according to me). My cystic acne got worse. My topical cream were not working anymore. I suffered a lot... I would say that a year after, it started to be better (so one year after the removal) but I still had bad episodes once in while (enough bad to consider doing accutane!).
So a year and a half after, I was relieved to see a huge improvement. To be super precise with you, today, my Mirena will have been removed for 1 year and 9 months and I receive compliments about how my skin glows, so my best advice would be to stay patient and do everything you can to clean your liver!
Here is what I mean by ''cleaning'' your liver
-exercise
-eat well (fresh juice or green smoothies)
-do some liver flush (look for Dr. Clark's recipe online) **I started receiving compliments about my skin right away after my first liver flush**
-take some supplements for the liver (like milk thistle) and supplement that detoxify the body from hard chemical like MSM
-acupuncture
-probiotics
Believe me, your body is having this reaction (acne) because of the hormonal unbalancing. Your liver had to process synthetic hormone during the time you had your Mirena (or were taking the pill) and stopping this synthetic intake drastically is difficult for the body (the estrogen/progesterone ratio is then unbalanced). I also recommend Vitex to balance hormones (for a good 6 months)
You know what? I am extremely proud of myself. I have been through tough times, I cried, I did hide at home sometimes (because of some nasty cysts that were reappearing at the same place over and over, sometimes between my eyebrow!) and I considered accutane thinking ''why am I going through all this shit, I should fix this problem because I don't know if it will ever go away...''
But believe me, it does! Search, read, try what is working best for you. You will get there. Accutane will just mess up your liver for the rest of your life and is quite dangerous (no offense for people who did it, I know that sometimes we can do it to avoid depression and to start having a normal life again in the most severe cases...)
So yes, I was this person. Completely down and wondering if I was loosing my time with all these alternative medicines, instead of a quick fix. And here I am, a proof that there is hope if you do the appropriate work. Nothing happens magically, you have to put effort for it. Yes, I still have 2-3 pimples here and there, but I really don't care and I truly love my skin! I don't put topical cream on it anymore, only good natural product (like jojoba oil, tea tree oil.,,,)
Please, don't hesitate if you have more question and good luck xox
*UPDATE*
I would like to give an update (almost a year later) since lots of female are struggling with acne after/during Mirena. As I said before, natural medicine have helps a LOT in my situation for my acne but importantly, it helped as well for my general health.
However, within the last year, I still experienced some cysts around my mouth, my jawline and my upper cheek. In average, with a bit of makeup on my spots, my skin looked quite nice. After debating about it, I decided to start Accutane. Sorry about what I wrote in my previous post! To be 100% honest, the residual persistent acne was mostly bothering me when I had no makeup (bed time) or when I was swimming (head in the water). Also, I am 28 and I am thinking that this persistent acne might stay for a while. I read a lot and after my appointment with my dermatologist, I finally decided to try Accutane.
I was very scared about the sides effects first, but I wanted to give it a try. At the same time that I started Accutane, I saw a naturopath to take supplements to protect my liver and my general health. Up to now, I feel great in term of energy and my persistent acne is vanishing.
Every case is so different! Also, a certain amount of acne can bother someone while another person will be fine with it. Personally, one of my good friend was surprised to know that I started Accutane since she has more acne than me and does not wear any makeup. In my case, my persistent acne was affecting my self esteem and was time consumming, that is why I decided to give a try to Accutane.
Good luck and I encourage you to take care of your health whichever treatment you choose to do 
Hi Lolalea,
I got my Mirena removed about a month ago and Ive been dealing with Cystic acne for a few years now randomly, but its definietely gotten worse in the last year. My five year mark was October 2017, but had to wait a couple months for removal to get insurance. Then I saw different doctors and eventually had to get it removed under ultrasound because no one had been able to locate the strings by hand (for a few years - only by ultrasound).
A cyst popped up in a new spot the other day. Before, I only ever got them on the sides of my cheeks.
Im scheduled to get the Kyleena in a week and was wondering if you used any birth control after your removal? Or just let your body return to normal?
Thanks,
Jessica