Hey guys! So I haven't been to the dermatologist in a while. (like a year, I get super anxious & very insecure about my face being without makeup on) so I have been avoiding it ugh! Ok but the last time I went she put me on a antibiotic and it kinda sorta worked but I really would rather not be on an antibiotic. She said if that didn't work out very well, she would put me on birth control to see if that would improve my acne. I have read positive things about it clearing up women's acne. My question is if your on BC for your acne, how is it working out for you? I'm really hoping this works for me if I go & get put on it. I'm getting irritated because nothing fully gets rid of my acne (that's not very bad at that, I would consider it mild-moderate?)
Any help/advice i could get from you guys would be very appreciated..thank you!
hello,
i have tried antibiotics as well, would also rather not be on them, they aren't necessary to be honest and its not a long term treatment for acne.
i know what you mean about being self conscious without make up, i still get a bit conscious when i go to have treatment done and everything but i just try to shrug it off but i do understand the anxiety that you feel. I have been on birth control pills 4 times, never really long term but i can give you a low down -
diane 35 - when i was 16, cleared up acne, horrendous side effects so had to stop but i have two cousins on it who are fine. I think it clears acne nicely. but for some reason it has more pronounced side effects than other pills and i was later told you couldn't take it longer than 6 months, because of depression and mood problems can occur.
belara - went on the first time when i was 19, didn't have acne was quite mild, more like clogged pores, but it made my skin nice and glowy. no side effects, nothing negative. not sure why i went off it, but i just did.
second time of belara i was taking another medication(metformin) that was actually making my acne 1000000% worse, the combination was no good. i stopped the belara when i should have stopped the metformin.
third time on belara, i started 4 months ago, it was my last draw to try and see if i would clear up on the pill before giving into accutane(which i obviously didn't want to take) but at this time i was developing cystic acne under my chin and spots on my cheeks which left red marks and all, and it was causing social and emotional problems for me, so i started belara and gave up metformin.
my skin went about 50% worse in month 1, which is expected because its a change of hormones then my body just started changing. my hair never got oily, i can go a week and its not oily. skin gradually got better, less cystic pimples, more mild pimples. to be honest, its only now in month 4 i started to see clearance, my doc told me its 90% better. im not sure but i thought its nice to hear. waiting for 100% clearance still but the body needs time.
ive attached a link to a study of the pill i take, if u go down to monograph and detail aid i think it compares belara to yasmin for acne.
http://www.belara.com/professional/service/downloads-product-information/monograph/
hope this helps.
I used several birth control pills in the past and the best I ever used was Diane 35-ED. I used it for 9 years and although to begin with it was used in conjuction with Roaccutane, it continued to have great results for me. Only minus I'd say is that I had weight gain (although every BC I have taken has had that side effect).
I have used Microgynon 30 ED and that was not the best. It didn't really do anything for my acne, more just for period pain.
I also took YAZ, that didn't do much for my acne.
Lastly, I used Norinyl and that made me break out like crazy! It took MONTHS to recover from the damage of that. Norinyl was the last BC pill I ever took. I don't take them anymore.
Some birth control pills work great for acne, some can make it worse depending on the hormones used. I'm not sure where you are but in the US, Yaz and Ortho Tri-Cyclen are often prescribed for acne. I personally had great results with Yaz, Ortho Tri-Cyclen did nothing for me but everyone is different. I've read that Diane/Dianette is also prescribed for acne but I don't believe it is available in the states. There used to be a poster with the username GreenGables who was very knowledgeable about hormonal treatments for acne. I haven't seen her post lately but you might search some similar old posts, I bet you could find some very helpful information. =) Good luck!
Birth control can work. But I prefer spironolactone. Here's why:
Birth control gives you a level of synthetic estradiol and progestin. The point of birth control is to change your hormonal levels to prevent pregnancy. Sometimes a happy side effect of preventing pregnancy is acne gets cleared up.
Spironolactone on the other hand, is mainly an anti-androgen with weak estrogenic and progestogenic effects. For many women, the anti-androgen effect clears up the acne. The only birth control that is an anti-androgen is Yaz/Yasmin...and guess why? Because it contains drospirenone which is spironolactone Yaz contains about 25mg of spironolactone. For women like me, it's not enough. I needed 100mg of anti-androgen power to clear up.