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Hey guys! SO I really want to share my journey with you and hopefully get some feedback too. In January of 2013 I started on Seasonale birth control- after being on Alesse for almost 6 years my doctor said just to " change it up".
I didn't expect any changes as they both are combination pills- which means they both have progesterone and estrogen. The only difference is that Seasonale is an extended cycle pill which means I only get my period four times a year- which I thought was awesome so why not!
About 3 months into the cycle, I started getting extreme and I mean extreme oily skin- to the point where it didn't even make any sense considering I'd always been relatively clear. I also started getting back breakouts and painful ones- along with little red chest pimples. I also started noticing pimples on my scalp, which made no sense!! My face wasn't awful- because I used such a strict face regimen, the " pimples" would just turn into closed comedones or clogged pores. The skin coloured bumps that don't have redness or pain but you can still really see them. All the oil on my face caused me to have blackheads on my chin and nose as well- a lot of them 
.
After changing up my face routine a million times and eliminating anything that could possibly be doing this- as well as stopping wearing makeup, nothing was changing. I also switched laundry detergents, body washes- anything that might have been causing the body breakouts and nothing had been working. About 2 weeks ago I finally realized there was one thing left to check- my birth control.
It just so happened that all of these issues started when I began my new birth control. Now I've always had combination skin- so some oil for sure, and I did have a few clogged pores while on Alesse, but never ever what I experienced while on Seasonale- and never any body breakouts really! I went to my doctor and he put me back on Alesse- and it's only been 2 weeks so I can't say if its making a difference or not yet but I will keep you updated.
My question is- it might just be possible that some birth controls can make acne worse or simply cause it as well. The estrogen levels in Seasonale are 0.3 and 0.2 in Alesse and progesterone in Seasonale is 0.15 and Alesse it's 0.1. Even though this is only a small difference in hormones- it might have been enough to set my skin off! I did some research and if your body's hormones are already balanced- the extra bit of hormone could throw it out of whack! Has anyone else had this issue with any birth control?
Many Birth controls are prescribed because our bodies create too much DHT(Testosterone) and therefore causes more sebum to be produced- and the extra estrogen fixes that. I can't seem to figure out which one it might be and why Alesse- which has lower hormone levels(especially estrogen) was better for my skin? ANY help please!!!!
In general Alesse is supposed to be worse for people with acne-prone skin, and in my case Alesse seriously messed up my hormones and I've been correcting them ever since. But like they say with all birth controls, it really depends on the person. Maybe your hormone levels are a bit different, or your body's just adapted to Alesse? Did your doctor say why they wanted to "change it up"? Cause it seemed kind of unnecessary to change up your birth control if you've been doing fine with Alesse for so long.
I had a similar experience with ortho tri cyclen lo this summer. It threw everything about me out of whack for sure... acne, severe depression/anxiety, weight gain.. etc. I was a mess. This was after only two packs!
Anyway, I got off of it for a while, my symptoms got better but weren't entirely gone. I got on another BCP after (a generic form of diane 35 for my acne).. I'm two packs in and a world away from what I was on OTCLo!
Weird that your doctor would suggest to change randomly if you were doing fine. Going back onto Alesse might help you but it'll probably take a while for it to go into effect since your hormones are messed up now. Good luck!
To answer your question Tatii, I was complaining about some spotting and I wasn't 100% regular, but I would have put up with that knowing that Seasonal was awful- I would have stuck with Alesse. Thinking back now, even on Alesse my skin was oily and I did still have some consistent clogging- although no body breakouts and it was way worse with Seasonale. I'm just so curious as to why they were so different when they have the same two hormomes. I'm thinking of going to see him tomorrow to ask for blood tests to test my hormones so I can actually see where their all at, and therefore I'll know which BC would be better. I'm hoping to see if they can test my estrogen and progesterone levels. Perhaps my estrogen is normal without BC and the little bit of extra throws it out of whack! Which is why with Seasonale it was worse than Alesse because it has 0.3 estrogen and with Alesse 0.2. OR I'm leaning to the other side with my DHT(testosterone) levels- which might be high. I keep reading that when your dht levels are increased that your skin produces more sebum- which may explain my clogged pores(closed comedones) and oily skin and not inflamed breakouts. And Kalinka maybe your right- I'm still getting some closed comedones that show up almost every day and my skin is still very oily- so maybe it will take more than just a few weeks for this go away? It sucks, I was hoping it would almost be overnight when I stopped taking the Seasonale but I guess thats wishful thinking I'll let you guys know if I go for blood tests and what they come back saying!!
Please see my link to good/bad birth controls for acne.
I did and I absolutely love it. I will be asking for the Ortho Cyclen tomorrow instead of the Lo. Now the only thing I'm really curious about why my acne isn't hormonal at all- I don't have cystic pimples around my chin/jaw and their not painful. Instead I have oily skin with clogged pores- those little closed comedones that don't ever hurt, and are skin coloured. Why is this? Could it be that the high level of androgen in alesse gave me some of this- but because theres .5 more in seasonale it made it that much worse? OR is my acne non hormonal related at all? 🙁 I've tried everthing- I wear NO face makeup out of fear of further clogging, and my skin care routine is as NON comedogenic as you can possibly get.
Cleanse- Simple refreshing facial wash gel.
Toner/exfoliant- Paula's choice extra strength 2% bha liquid.
Moisturize- Boscia oil free daily hydration with spf during the day.
Neostrata oil free moisture infusion in the PM.
Could you help me understand why the wrong type of birth controls may be causing my oily skin/clogged pores? Or could it be that the birth control's period are doing harm to my skin? I'm looking for any advice 🙁