YAZ : Oral Contraceptive

I started taking Yaz when I was 18 strictly for contraception purposes. I never really had acne before I started taking the pill, maybe a few pimples here and there but nothing like what I'm experiencing now. I took the pill for 5 years and the only real side effect I had was it completely eliminated my sex drive. I didn't realize this until I got off of it 8 months ago, and my libido came back full force. My body's making up for lost time I'd imagine hahah. While I was on it, my skin was pretty much immaculate so that was nice... Plus I never got pregnant so it served it's purpose. After being on it for 5 years I think my body got used to it. I started spotting in between periods, or having periods that lasted for 20-30 days.. NOT FUN. My boyfriend and I decided that after 5 years of artificial hormones, my body needed a break so I stopped taking them. My skin was okay for 2 months, it just got increasingly oily until around the 3 month mark and then BAM. ACNE. LOTS OF IT. MORE THAN I'VE EVER HAD IN MY LIFE. On my cheeks too, which I've never experienced before. 8 months later and I'm still trying to tame this beast, unfortunately it seems to be getting worse. I now have acne on my cheeks (primarily the right side), jaw, and chin. I've tried everything from oil cleansing to antibiotics. Moral of the story is... Yaz works wonderfully for some people while they're on it. But if you ever decide to go off of it you better buckle up, because it seems to be a long ride back to clear skin. I'm praying this pill hasn't caused irreversible damage to my hormones because it's already caused some scarring on my skin. Beware. The the risks do not (in my opinion) outweigh the benefits long term. If my 18 year old self had known what would happen, I would have chosen another route of birth control.

My daughter started having an oily complexion when she was 10 years old. Soon after pimples & redness on her forehead began. We tried every cleanser, cheap, expensive, natural, homemade & only seemed to intensify the acne. I began reading everything I could on the Internet. Cleansers dry out the skin which can actually make the skin produce more oil which in turn produces clogged pores & acne. She then just washed her face with warm water, splashed on face with clean hands about ten times & gently pat dry with clean towel, twice daily or when skin looked too oily. Also important to wash your pillow case every few days until oil is under control. Doctor prescribed different ointments which only dried & burned the skin after only a few days. I then read milk thistle can help so off to the naturopath. She prescribed milk thistle for 3 months. This product actually caused more acne to form down the sides of her face. The naturopath recommended to keep taking it as it's cleansing the liver & toxins. That was a mistake and acne got worse. Stopped taking milk thistle after 4 months. We tried no milk products, eliminating certain foods, increasing certain foods, nothing worked. Her period began when she turned twelve. I knew the acne was hormonal. Acne was on her back, forehead & a few scattered around the rest of her face. By the age of twelve she was very discouraged, self esteem lowering & didn't like what she saw in the mirror. I then took her to the doctor in May & asked for a prescription of birth control Diana 35 or Yaz as they were supposed to be the best for controlling acne & to be referred to a dermatologist. It would take 6 months to get into see a dermatologist. My niece was on a low dose birth control which did nothing for the acne. The doctor prescribed Yaz as it is not as strong as Diana 35. I was concerned about blood clots but the doctor reassured us and said you have more of a chance of getting a blood clot while pregnant then on birth control. She began Yaz at the beginning of May. Appointment for dermatologist was November 30. After a few months my husband and I noticed the oily complexion was improving. She still had break outs but no more than before & used spot treatment to dry them out after washing with warm water & concealer to cover the redness and a mineral powder called Pur with a clean brush to even out the skin tone. Important to wash the brush once a week until oil is under control then monthly or so. Always apply on clean skin. Around 4-5 months the break outs were slowly getting less & oil production. My daughter didn't notice, she just wanted all the pimples to be gone. At 5-6 months she would have the occasional pimple and a couple more around her period. By the 6-7 month her skin looks incredible & no breakouts at all!!! She has been on Yaz for 7 months and couldn't be happier. We went to the dermatologist appointment yesterday and he said to keep doing what your doing because it's working. I asked of it's safe to be on Yaz. He said all medications have risks & you can't let what you hear on the news scare you because it's usually from other underlying issues. I asked if she should be using a cleanser and he said don't waste your money. He also mentioned that sometimes the birth control down the road could stop working for acne breakouts. Next step would be Accutane which would stop the acne all together. He said you want to deal with the acne before too many scars form if you continually have breakouts. Slight scaring will heel on its own with time. You have to be on birth control already to take Accutane. I hope this post helps some girls out there that are suffering from acne. Six to seven months seems like forever but the end result is fantastic & you will see improvement at the 4-5 month, just be patient. Also we asked for Yaz not generic pill which I heard can make a difference. Also want to mention it took a 3-4 months for her mood swings to even out & her body to adjust to the hormones from birth control so again, it will get better. Good luck!

Originally I was prescribed Diane 35 by my dermatologist, but I decided to go with Yaz eventually because it has a lower dose of estrogen as well as a shorter 4-day period. Now I have been on Yaz for around 6 months already. While I don't really regret choosing it over Diane 35, I have to say that I do have very mixed feelings about the results that I am getting. First of all, here are the pros and cons of Yaz for me. Pros: - No weight gain at all - Sex drive remaining there - Gradually lighter period - Increased breast size - Reduction in oil production of skin Cons: - Increased anxiety level - Increased irritability - Mood swings - Breakthrough bleeding - Cystic Acne remaining there I didn't really get an initial breakout from Yaz. For the first few months I did notice some strange things happening to my skin. For example, during the 2nd month for about a week my skin went from super oily to super dry with zero oil production. But very quickly it went back to normal. Yaz has really helped me greatly in reducing the oil production of my skin. Prior to taking it, I couldn't get by one or two hours without looking like a complete oil slick. But now the oiliness of my skin is very normal and in acceptable level, even though I still consider myself having oily and acne prone skin. However, Yaz has so far failed to clear me up. Somewhere from the middle of the 4th month I have started to break out more and now I have been breaking out really badly in cystic acne. I am not certain whether the sudden onset of cystic acne is directly caused by Yaz or other factors though. Emotionally it has been a roller coaster for me in the past few months. Although I don't think Yaz is to be blamed alone for all my anxiety / irritability / depression, I do believe that it plays a part in affecting my moodiness more or less. And I really think that anyone with a family history of anxiety or depression issue should be very very cautious with hormonal treatment. Anyway I am going to stick with Yaz for another 3 months maybe, just to see if my cystic acne will improve or get worse. If it gets really out of control or doesn't have any improvement after that, maybe I will consider switching to another brand, maybe Diane 35, who knows!

*** 02/2017-- I'm leaving my original review from July 2016 at the bottom. I went off Yaz in September 2016, and that time it was for good. I never had any mood problems while taking Yaz, but when I stopped taking it I developed full-blown Panic Disorder. I'm talking about panic attacks everyday, and the constant feeling like something bad was about to happen. My heart rate was a constant 110-120 beats per minute. My life was hell for 3 months until December when it started to go away. DO NOT go on this medication, it SUCKS. I almost had to drop out of my last semester of nursing school because of it.*** July 2016- I do not have PCOS, but I have elevated DHEA-S (twice the normal limit) and slighty elevated Cortisol. I went on Yaz after Ortho Tri Cyclen and 50mg Spironolactone stopped working for me. I've had no bad side effects or adverse reactions. It cleared 95% of my breakouts. I also have a history of migraines with aura. I only had 2 of these migrianes, and they were 5 years before I started Yaz. I'm giving it 4 stars instead of 5 because when I tried to go off it, I had the WORST break out imaginable. I quickly went back on again.

I've struggled with Acne since I was 14. I'm now 24 and have tried everything- face washes, creams, facials, antibiotics, other birth controls, Accutane x 2. Nothing worked. I'd been on Ortho-Tricyclin for 6 years previously which helped clear up my acne for the most part but when I turned 22, my acne started reappearing and getting worse on my cheeks- which was never a problem area I ever had. I went off birth control completely for 8 months, hoping my hormones would balance themselves out- WRONG. My acne got much, much worse. After talking with my doctor, he prescribed YAZ. The first month and a half my acne worsened which dampened my spirits but after the 2nd pack, my skin has cleared up immensely. Hang in there and let YAZ work it's magic. Sure there are some downsides of taking birth control but to me, clear skin is totally worth it!

I'm on my 3rd month and still breaking out really badly! Anyone know how long it will take to work? Its actually made my acne a whole lot worse so i'm loosing hope :(

I took Yaz for 6 months(from april 2015 to august 2015) after my gynecologist recommended it as a treatment for my PCOS. Initially, she told me to only take it for 4 months, but my left ovary still had 5-6 cysts and took it for another 2 months. Yaz did a great job for my ovaries in these 6 months, I got rid of all those cysts(and still cysts-free now), but for my hormonal acne, it was terrible the first 2-3 months. I literally didn't get out of the house for days, I developed big, painful pimples all over my face, like never before; my appetite was over the roof(I gained 2kg in 6 months, mostly water retention I think, because I was constantly fighting my emotional binge-eating feeling lol). After these horrible 2 months, my face slooowly started to be somehow "normal" again, and in my last 2 months I only had a few blackheads on my nose. Once I got off, my acne slowly came back and by november-december, my face was full of little monsters again(no cystic, painful pimples though, but a lot of whiteheads and blackheads). I think Yaz works as long as you stay on it, but you can't really take it forever :) Now I'm on metformin and spironolactone for almost 2 weeks as a treatment for PCOS and insulin resistance. Hope this one works, as now I am treating the cause of all my problems(bloody hormones!!!), not the effect.

I went on YAZ when I was a sophomore in high school in the hopes of it clearing my mild to moderate acne that I had had since 6th grade. It took a couple months to actually help my skin. It never made it worse, but it took a while (probably a year or so) to completely clear my skin. I was so excited I finally had clear skin! I had no problems with it until fall 2015 (my sophomore year of college). I started having migraines that were unbearable, so my doctor wanted to switch me to Aviane because it has a lower estrogen dose. I did a lot of research and read horror stories about people's skin on Aviane so I decided not to take it. Ultimately, I quit brith control all together hoping that I had grown out of my acne and boy was I wrong. I stopped taking YAZ in the middle of October and my skin was okay for a few months. I was taking vitamins and eating clean hoping it would help. Now it's January and my skin is the worse it has ever been. Horrible acne all over my cheeks, forehead, and chin/jaw area. It is so bad that I've decided to go back on birth control. I'm afraid to go back on YAZ because of the migraines and moodiness, so my doctor is having me try Sprintec (generic for Ortho Cylen) to see if it will clear my skin without the horrible migraines. I'm on my third week and my skin only seems to be getting worse, but I'm still hopeful! Overall, I would not recommend YAZ unless it is your absolute last resort for acne. And beware of going off the pill. I know everyone reacts differently to the hormones but for me personally going off YAZ has wrecked my skin. I'm giving it 3 stars because it really does help clear acne, but with that you'll have to be on the pill for the rest of your life if you want to keep your clear skin.

I'm 31 and have battled acne for 16 years. I have literally tried everything except selling my soul to Satan to rid myself of the cystic acne I get around my chin, cheeks, and jawline. Two Accutane courses, antibiotics, topicals, Spiro, supplements, peels, lasers.... I had tried BCP's in my late teens/early twenties but I don't remember seeing the results I have now. I've been on Yaz for 6 months now. I started clearing up within the first 2 weeks. I now have the clearest skin I have ever had. The problem is when I stop taking it, even for the period days (white sugar pill) I will break out. After researching I have found that I can just continue on the pink pills and have a period every 2-3 months, which is what I've been doing now. I will still breakout when I go off- but I finally have control over when that will happen. I gave this 5 stars- it is not perfect but it has given me control again! My skin finally has a chance to heal from the scaring. I also haven't had any serious side effects.

Hello, this is my first time writing any review online but I figured it would be interesting to track my progress on my Yaz journey for clearer skin. I have suffered from acne (more than mild but not the most severe of cases), cheek, jaw, and chin ACNE. My acne began when I was in 6th grade, 11years old. I am now 21 and just ready to freaking live life! My life, happiness, lack of friendships/relationships have TOTALLY relied on my acne. Earlier this year I finally acknowledged the fact that I do in fact suffer from depression due to the effects of my acne. I have tried EVERYTHING!! OTC everything, benzoyl, salicylic acid, neutral washes, organic/natural washes, not using product at all, zinc, evening primrose, omega oils etc etc and I give these products months to work. I have a very healthy diet and exercise multiple times a week, my family calls me a health nut. In August of this year I decided that I was no longer responsible for my acne meaning I realized that my acne was beyond my control, there was something internally wrong. So I started YAZ in August 23 2015. I was put on for acne, oral contraceptive, and to help my heavy flow and cramps. -Month 1: started breaking out mildly on my forehead. Before Yaz, my forehead had been relatively clear, the only clear place on my face. Also my mood seemed to improve, maybe because I have hope that Yaz will help my acne. Periods are sooo much easier to deal with. -At 6weeks: Large acne on left side of cheek, but not too much. Don't know whether to blame BC or its just how its always been. Breast seem to be sore and possibly growing. They kind of hurt sometimes if I don't wear a bra. When the acne is popped they seem to smooth out quicker than before BC. I'll keep this post updated! Hopefully I'll have a success story. -3rd month completed: My skin is really smoothing out! There are finally more clear patches than acne patches for the first time in a while. I still break out, especially before my period (a few jawline breakouts). My temples have been a bit problematic, but I realize when I drink my 3 liters of water a day my temples/face stays clear. Overall I am dealing with scarring. I have also started using the Burt's Bees diaper rash (zinc 40%) and that has been more effective than benzoyl/salicylic acid. I'll see yal next month!