I've been debating getting off birth control for years. I'm 29.I've been on it for over ten years due to my acne. I was on Accutane twice and then went straight to BC to keep it under control. I still have acne even after two bouts of Accutane as a teen. I have good weeks/month/days, and then it's back to the usual. Right now it seemed my skin just purged for some reason, including scalp acne and little bit of chest acne.
I gave up gluten two years ago and that seemed to help my scalp acne as well as less break outs with blackheads. Whenever I ate gluten after a period of not I'd break out badly so I figured I had a sensitivity. Now I'm still thinking it's hormonal. Is it even worth going through the horrible skin purge post-BC?? And how did you handle it? I work in event management so I'm ALWAYS around people. I can't imagine doing my job and going through a post-BC purge for months on end.
Do you have a white tongue ? Do you have dandruff ? Have you takemn antibiotics in he past or recently ? If yes to one or more of these, then you possibly have candida or malasezzia (which are fungi; outbreaks of these fungi look like acne, and can be caused by the estrogen in the birth control pills/implants and/or by taking antibiotics) rather than ordinary acne.
Get back to me if you wish for some information, if you have a white coating on your tongue and/or dandruff, as well as what appears to be acne.
9 hours ago, Aussie Scientist said:Do you have a white tongue ? Do you have dandruff ? Have you takemn antibiotics in he past or recently ? If yes to one or more of these, then you possibly have candida or malasezzia (which are fungi; outbreaks of these fungi look like acne, and can be caused by the estrogen in the birth control pills/implants and/or by taking antibiotics) rather than ordinary acne.
Get back to me if you wish for some information, if you have a white coating on your tongue and/or dandruff, as well as what appears to be acne.
I do have a white tongue. No dandruff. And I started taking an antibiotic I still had to clear some of this up because it's pretty bad on my nose and scalp.
A white tongue STRONGLY suggests (I would say "definitely means") that you have candida. The "acne" that you have is most likely caused by candida, and is not ordinary acne. The candida outbreak is most likely caused by the birth control pills PLUS antibiotics. Antibiotics CAUSE candida. BEST NOT TO take antibiotics unless you have a serious (ie, a close to, or life threatening) BACTERIAL infection. Antibiotics destroy the "good" bacteria in one's gut which diminishes one's immune system, and causes outbreaks of candida etc.
You will need to apply apply a topical antifungal to clear what looks like acne. The best topical antifungal for controlling candida is nystatin cream, sometimes sold as mycostatin. Clotrimazole cream can help to control skin candida, but it is not as effective as nystatin.
If you have headaches, unexplained tiredness etc. (which are caused by otbreak of candida in one's gut) I suggest that also you take a oral antifungal, ie. nystatin, which is safe. Oral nystatin will not fix skin problems, but it will control candida in one's gut. Oral nystatin is sold to control candida on one's tongue, so you should be able to obtain it fairly easily - depending on whether you need a prescription or not.
Which country are you in ? I can provide further information on what to apply to control the skin candida (which looks like acne, but is not acne), when I know which country you live it.
If you have a white tongue, you have a candida outbreak (or an extremely rare disease which is VERY unlikely!). Topical antifungals are totally safe and cheap. Testing for skin fungi is very difficult. The best thing to do is to apply topical nystatin cream if you can get it (or topical clotrimazle cream if you cannot get nystatin cream).
The outbreak of candida is caused by taking antibiotics (and by birth control pills).
Skin purging is mostly a myth. All the symptoms strongly suggest that you have outbreaks of candida on your skin, which is causing the acne like symptoms. Don't let the candida "get away". It will go cystic, and be very hard to control.