Hi there, I wanted to share my experiences with any girls out there who have used the contraceptive pill to control their hormonal acne and would now like to come off without suffering acne breakouts.
Quick background - I have suffered with spots since puberty. I was lucky that I didn't get them all over, they were always around my chin and nose, but I always had them. Sometimes just small pimples but many times painful cysts. Eventually, the Dr recommended the contraceptive pill which did the job. I was on dyanette for a while and have been in Yasmin for the past few years. I have more or less been on the pill for over a decade. I'm 35 now. A few times during those ten years I have tried to come off the pill but each time my skin flared up. I tried so many things to cure the spots including diet (cutting out alcohol/caffeine/gluten/fructose) and taking supplements (agnus castus/milk thistle etc), but nothing worked. And believe me, I really tried! I always ended up back on the pill.
Then I read about a woman who had had success by weaning herself off the pill. The idea is that if you go cold turkey your body freaks out and goes into a bit of a meltdown. Which is why everyone says to "push through it", as your hormones will likely get over their freak out and settle down, eventually, but in the meantime you've got up to a year with bad skin that makes you feel rubbish about yourself. No thank you! So I thought weaning myself off the pill was worth a shot. For 6 months I cut my pill in half and had half a pill every day. After 3 months I was still spot free, after 4 months I got one little pimple, but I could deal with that thanks to having learnt not to pick (only took a decade to get that) and using a great spot treatment product called Murad. Between months 4 and 6 I got one or two spots but they were easy to deal with and went away pretty quickly. Much more manageable than previous breakouts I had had when coming off the pill.
I am now up to month 6 and haven't had any spots for a few weeks now and my skin looks great. I have recently begun taking only a quarter pill and will do this for 4 to 6 months by which time I will stop completely. I hope I'll be spot free, but if I just have to deal with a spot or two around my time of the month I'm ok with that - that would be a vast improvement!
If possible, I will try and update this post in a few months time. Until then, I'm confident that this technique is working as usually by month 3 I am suffering major acne breakout - so this is a miracle!!
I hope this helps other women out there who, like me, have tried to come off the pill but always been faced with breakouts.
I should point out this process has not been endorsed by a medical professional and I have not discussed my course of action with my Dr.
I'm hopeful for what the next few months will bring.....hopefully not spots!
I came onto the site to share my experience with coming off Yasmin this and found this post - just wanted to say I had completely the same experience. I've been off Yasmin completely now for nearly 4 months and I have no spots.
I tried to come off Yasmin a few years ago and had the worst acne of my life, especially on my jawline and chin - lots of inflamed spots and cysts. I tried to wait it out for things to calm down but eventually went back on the Yasmin when I couldn't bear it any more (about a year after initially coming off it.)
This time around I bought a pill cutter and weaned off gradually. I cut the pills into quarters, taking three quarters for three months, then half for three months, then down to a quarter for three months before stopping taking it all together.
At each stage I had 2/3 spots, which I was really careful not to touch at all (I really think that picking/squeezing is such a big NO as it spreads the infection and inflammation, and then it's hard to break the cycle) With patience my skin always seemed to adjust after a couple of weeks.
I can't tell how much they've helped, but I've also been taking a DIM supplement and evening primrose oil since I started weaning off. Both are meant to be good for rebalancing hormones.
The DIM I would say is especially worth trying, I read a lot of positive things about it, and know other people who have seen a big improvement using it. I use the Cytoplan 'Cell Active DIM' and take one a day before bed (you're meant to be consistent taking it so I found it helpful to take it when I normally take my yasmin pill anyway)
I've also been using a very simple gentle regime on my skin, cleansing twice a day with a gentle cleanser (double cleansing using a good makeup remover balm first in the evening if I've been wearing makeup) and using la roche posay effaclar duo twice a day after cleansing - I've found this product to be REALLY good - Its gentle but very effective. I've just started to use the tinted 'unifiant' version in the morning and I'm loving that too, it evens out my skin and covers redness as well as the other benefits.
Over the last year I've visited the doctor several times for various things and when I've told them what I'm doing most have seemed perplexed or been dismissive, but one doctor said she thought it sounded very sensible, which felt good to hear! At any rate not one of them suggested it could be unsafe (obviously just be wary if you're using it for contraception as it probably won't work if you're taking less than a whole pill! I had the copper coil fitted before cutting down on Yasmin and I've been very happy with it.)
A final note - my skin and hair initially got a lot oilier but is starting to balance out again. I did some research on this and found something about drinking spearmint tea and thought it was worth a shot, have been drinking 2/3 cups a day and the situation has definitely improved, no idea if its the tea that's helped or if it was going to naturally balance out anyway, but just thought I'd share.
I hope this helps someone, I found it very difficult to find accounts of weaning off yasmin when I was considering trying it, funny that when I came on here to post this someone had just posted a similar story 
I've never posted on a forum before, but felt compelled to leave a vote of confidence that this has really worked for me.
x
@Tubbs23 - It's so great to hear that you have also had success with this method, thank you for sharing your story. Yes I agree, the comment from the Dr is reassuring! It's amazing to think that something so easy (albeit lengthy) can solve the problem. I'm so excited to finally be pill free soon after so many years!
I haven't noticed any increased oilinesswith my skin and hair, but I drink mint tea fairly regularly anyway so that may have helped! I'm never too convinced about supplements as I tried that a few years ago and all my spots still came back. Funny to hear that you too are using Roche Posay. I use the suncream on my face almost every day and have been for years. It is the only suncream that doesn't leave my face really oily and doesn't break me out. I'm very fair and so need to wear suncream most days. Another interesting thing to note is that I have been making my own night moisturiser for a few years now as I like to keep my regime as simple as possible using as pure ingredients as possible. It's a blend of hemp oil, shea butter, beeswax, lanolin and some essential oils (german blue chamomile, geranium, rosemary and carrot seed). A few months ago I stopped using it because I read that our skin doesn't need all these products and is capable of balancing its own moisture levels. Well, within a few months my skin looked so dull, sallow and patchy. I stuck it out but it never improved. Began using my cream again and now have much better complexion again. It's such a puzzle trying to figure out what works and what doesn't work, especially because it takes so long for your skin to settle to a new product/routine. I'm just glad I think I have found a routine that works.
I too have never posted on a forum before, but also felt compelled to share this really simple method to be pill free!
I really hope that your spots stay away for good!Here's to clear skin!
Quick skin update:So far, it's still going well for me and I am totally spot free! Nearly done one month on quarter pill and will definitely do at least three months before stopping completely.
I just wanted to give a final update on this post that I made back in June. It's now been a year since I began this journey and I am pill free and spot free. I cannot believe it. I know that a lot of people who come off the pill cold turkey find that things improve after a year, but during that year you suffer with serious breakouts. I had experienced this for myself after just a few months coming off the pill in the past and my skin had been so bad I broke and went back on this pill. Using this method, there is no year of spot hell! It really worked.
At my last update I was at month 1 of using quarter pill. I did this for 3 months. When I came off, I had a few little spots pop up. At first they were just tiny, easy to deal with whiteheads, but I did get one or two real cysts. However, these were suitably spaced out that I could deal with them and I definitely didn't get any sort of flare up. Now, things have really calmed down. My skin is the best it has ever been. I have been completely pill free since about September. My periods are back to normal and regular as clockwork, though I do get the odd period spot - but only, like, one, so it's completely manageable. I have no qualms going out without makeup now - I would have never believed I'd say that a year ago.
I also discovered a serum that a doctor friend of my sister recommended, bought from Holland and Barrett called Vitamin C + Hyaluronic Acid Serum. I use this at night and maybe it's working, or maybe it's a coincidence! It's not expensive and last ages. No need to spend big bucks on the huge brands that hoodwink you that their products are magic.
I hope that helps someone out there who is desperate to come off the pill but scared of having to deal with breakout hell!
Good luck!