Diane-35 : Oral Contraceptive

5 years ago, I decided to try Diane as suggested by my doctor for my acne. In a few months, it had cleared up almost completely, but I still had acne on my upper back and shoulders. Now, I weigh 48lbs more than I did 5 years ago, with no lifestyle or diet changes. I am always tired...always. I have migraines constantly, moreso when I am off Diane for my menstrual period. The bloating started about 4 years ago, but no doctor had a reason for it, but I persisted and the last doctor I asked sent me for an ultrasound and found two 5cm fibroids in my enlarged (10.8cm) uterus....caused by excessive estrogen. Also, I've got brown blotchy spots on my face and some hair loss. I asked numerous doctors if either of my prescriptions were causing any of these symptoms, and they all said no.....i did my own homeowrk, and found they were wrong! It's my fault for not doing my homework sooner, and not putting 2 and 2 together...so THIS IS YOUR WARNING....to be aware of ANY and ALL possible side effects. Know what to watch for, and stop before it gets this bad!! It's just not worth the havoc your body will go through.

So I've been taking this pill for about 5-6 month's now and there's no noticable difference at all. I didn't have any side effects, weight gain, mood swings, hair loss or anything like that.

My daughter age 18 took Diane 35 for 11 months, it cleared up her acne, but not completely. She was not overweight, did not smoke, or drink coffee or alcohol. It was making her slightly nauseous, but this was somewhat normal for her as she did tend to become anxiety ridden, and was lactose intolerant. So we thought she may have been having other food related problems. As it turned out she had a massive bilateral pulminary embolism which came on quickly and she died within 2 days of her first cardiac arrest. She had no swelling in her legs, the only symptom was feeling tired. Her doctor did not know that when you take this drug that you should come off of it after 5 months or so to see how your skin is. My older daughter was on it as well, as soon as our younger daughter died, doctors tested our older daughters blood and it was also showing signs of clotting. She is off of it now and it took 6 months for her periods to return to normal. Her skin now breaks out occasionally, but after going to a naturopath, we have discovered that she needs to be glutin and dairy free. Cows milk is quite bad for acne. She can have goats milk and goat cheese. My advice to anyone taking this medication is to stop immediately and if you don't, at least have a thrombosis blood test to see what it is doing to your blood. We had no history of thrombosis. This drug has killed my daughter and destroyed my life, and I do not want it to hurt anyone else or have anyone else live this nightmare. My daughter was such a wonderful kind loving soul, creative, and always creating art, poetry, and a friend to all. She asked me to sign her donor card when she was 17, she lives on in 5 children to who her organs were donated as well as 2 children receiving her corneas. I realize that this drug makes billions of dollars for the drug companies and Health Canada has put warnings out, but still has not banned it. France has banned it, and the USA has never approved it. I hope this review helps women to make a better decision that we did.

I was placed on Diane 35 as a last resort before Roaccutane, I have been suffering with mild acne for about 11 years now (I'm 24). I was originally on Yasmin which gave me no major side-effects but was not clearing my skin up adequately. I have very fair, sensitive and acne scarred skin (redness, broken veins) so essentially I'm in a bind, sensitive products are too rich, acne products, too harsh, SPF cream triggers acne. I'm really at the end of my rope! After being on Diane for three months I am seriously considering giving it up, the weight gain and increased appetite (especially for comfort foods) is not doing me ANY justice. Especially since the improvement in my skin is minimal. I am always hungry and emotional, a horrid combination. Before I was able to simply diet, or cut out foods that were bad for me, but I have sugar and carbohydrate cravings every day now. As for the hair loss I have always had thin hair but now it's falling out in droves. Plus I have a very limited libido, so all in all my experience of Diane was not a good one. I'm going off the pill for a while, these side-effects are a bit much.

I am 23 and took this for only 3 cycles. After stopping it, I have encountered the above complications. It has caused so much emotion and physical distress that I really don't feel that having clear skin is worth the long-term effects this drug has caused me, nor would I in good conscience recommend this to anyone. Acne is caused by hormonal reasons and other causes. Instead of getting your doctor to band-aid the situation with more hormones your body does not need, ask for a referral to a dermatologist or blood tests to find out what is causing the acne. This is also not recommended for birth control alone, so all in all, this drug gets a rating of 0 out of 5. I'm putting it as a 1 as is required, but honestly, don't waste your money. It is garbage.

unless you plan on taking this for the rest of your days, i would strongly suggest something else. This ruined my life! I had clear skin for 6 or 7 months which was great (took this for 9 months), but the weight I was putting on forced me to stop using it. Ever since I have developped cystic acne (it was moderate before) along with bad acne on my back which i have NEVER had before taking this. I wanted to warn everyone about this. TRY ACCUTANE!

I used it for 6 months for my irregularities about 8 years ago, yes it help for that matter but I had very fine skin although had light acne problems. These pills left awful looking dark patches which get worse with sunshine exposure and acne problem was not gone either. Since then I have been trying everything to my melasma stains nothing works permanently. Recently I have been using Dan's jojoba oil, it seems they've got lighten a bit. It also worked my other friend who has worse melasma condition. So if you don't really need these pills don't use it for acne because it is not a solution.

only one week after using but my acne suddenly got REALLY bad :(

I started taking this for my skin and I saw no immediate or long term improvements. I took it for three months and after seeing little to no improvement in my skin coupled with hideous mood swings, general depression and slight weight gain I decided to give my script refill a miss.

I would not recommend doing this unless your acne is very severe. I was on it for about 5 months ( for the treatment for PCOS)and now going to see if I can get rid of the weight i've gained and if the cellulite will decrease. I found that I became much softer and lost a lot of muscle tone and all in all the minor improvement in skin that took 5 months is not worth the cons. Only try this if this is your last resort the estrogen was much too much for my body to handle