Could it be that ,maybe you need to switch to another brand of birth control pill.

I really don't have any experience with contraceptives.

My daughter uses ortho thricyclin brand name,not generic. And she confirms what you are saying about breaking out after going off the pill.

For what I read ,when you went off for 4 months ,you started to clear.

So maybe ,its time to talk to your doctor about it ,maybe your gynecologist can check your estrogen and testosterone levels,but only so you would know ,I mean ,I dont know if I would take hormone replacement for these 2 .

Even my gynecologist is opposed to prescribing replacement for these hormones.

But not my dermatologist ,she wanted me to take spironolactone?

I said no ,I have hypothyroidism and also I was afraid of all the side effects that the Spiro has on some people.

thanks!

Yes, maybe I do need to switch to another type of BC pill but I don't really understand which type given the fact that the only pattern I see is that it clears up a bit right BEFORE my period which seems to be the opposite of what happens to everyone else....

I've had my hormone levels checked and they found nothing abnormal...

No dermatologist has ever mentioned Spiro to me but I've read a bit about it on this forum...

Hope someone who has seen this seemingly reverse pattern might be able to shed some light!

I really hope that you find someone who can share with you.

The Spiro is mostly for women who have a lot of hair growing , and the dermatologist would probably have to you for it.

But one dermatologist prescribed me this without testing, because I mentioned that my facial hair was growing more , but , that could be because I'm menopausal,anyways when I read the side effects ,I didn't filled the prescription,I got scared.

Also , a long time ago , this lady at the store, mentioned that, it was weird that when she was pregnant she didn't get any Acne, but before she was , she did have acne.

Thanks noche! I always wonder if that will happen to me, I'll clear up when my hormones completely change during pregnancy, who knows! It's frustrating how much of an enigma acne is in my case... :-/

Don't get discouraged,acne is something that can be treated ,pay attention to your triggers and talk to your doctor about it,sometimes they can figure things out, especially if it's hormonal.

Maybe as I said,switch pills,don't get stuck,I think sometimes we over think things because we are afraid of trying new things.

Mizda.....go check the page on dermnetnz.org ,Google anti-androgen therapy , then go to that site.

It gives you some information about contraceptives and other stuff.

i would try spiro. my derm recommended it to me years ago because I always got cystic acne breakouts and the last time when it was really bad she urged me to try that before Accutane. so glad I did only stuff that has kept me totally clear after suffering for 16 years. i was on birth control for a long time like 11 years and all it did was break me out so now i just take spiro and no birth control.

Hi everyone,

New to this forum and planning on reading the many helpful posts but wanted to start by asking the question that landed me here. I am 28 and have had acne since I was 15. The only other health issue I have is some digestive problems (bloating, constipation, etc) but nothing too serious and have never noticed patterns between the two. I've tried an incredible variety of topical creams, antibiotics, birth control pills, natural remedies, and nothing ever really had an effect. A year ago, I decided to go off the pill (Diane) since I had been on it FOREVER and didn't even know what my normal cycle was like or if there were any issues there. I did that and didn't notice any change. So I went back on it (Diane again) about four months later and just then my skin started to clear quite a bit and I got REALLY excited, it was the clearest my skin had been in years, people noticed, and I felt great! But I was frustrated because it left me more confused than ever on where the pill helped or not because with the potential delays in the effects of my actions I wasn't sure what conclusion to draw. During my time off the pill, I did some tests to check for cysts, have had hormone levels checked, thyroid, everything comes back normal.

The new clear skin lasted a couple of months at most and then my skin started getting worse and it has gotten worse than it had ever been, and that's where I am at now - constant new breakouts all over my face and red scars galore cause nothing has a chance to heal since I keep breaking out. The ONLY thing I have noticed is that it calms down A LOT a few days before my period and during my period which as far as I know is the OPPOSITE of everyone else on the planet!

I am incredibly confused about what to do. I have searched for patterns, insights into what causes my acne all my life and never found anything. This is the first time I've noticed a pattern (I'm 90% sure this is a new phenomenon and wasn't the case before) but since it's the opposite of what all the research indicates, I don't know what it means I should do. I think a few days before your period and the first few days of it, the important hormones are at an all time low, right? Don't know if that's the case on Diane too? Either way, any tips given this new insight on what I should try to manage my acne would be incredibly appreciated!

Thank you so much for shedding any light you may have on this mystery!

Hi! This is very similar to my pattern of acne, it actually clears up around my period and I break out towards the middle of my cycle (well, I haven't really broken out since I stopped accutane, but that pattern never changed). Unfortunatley, spiro never worked for me But that doesnt mean you shouldnt try it! Compared to antibiotics and accutane, the side effects are pretty tolerable (at least in my experience). It takes forever in everybody to actually start working, but for some people it never does (as was my case).

thanks for the input (and encouragement) everyone!

Didn't really change anything but my acne is clearing up...(again) trying to not get too hopeful because this up and down has hapened a million times for me but it has been noticeably better for 2+ weeks now... we shall see!

P.S just starting doing facials, those really help i think

Sometimes any change in hormones, naturally in the body or added (BC), can trigger a flare-up. But what you can do is set things up so it doesn't matter what is happening to you hormonally. This means attacking the acne on several fronts at the same time...a multi-pronged approach. 1) make sure your pores are as clear of dead skin and debris as possible by using a BP product or salicylic acid, doing microdermabrasions, getting facials, etc. 2) kill acne bacteria on the skin and in the pore by using BP or tea tree oil product (I prefer a BP cleanser because it is milder and doesn't bleach clothing --- i.e. Panoxyl 10%) 3) eat clean...no dairy, sugar, caffeine, alcohol, processed oils --- this helps to lower inflammation in the gut and on the skin.

Hope this helps!