YAZ : Oral Contraceptive

I have been taking Yaz for 6 years now and it has been great! No negative side effects for me; no weight gain, no mood swings or low sex drive. I believe that Yaz has kept my skin's oil levels under control as well as the acne lesions that occur. I skip my placebos so that I only have 4 "periods" a year.

I have been taking Yaz on and off for around a year. There has been a total of 3 months that I have been off of this pill because it lowered my sex drive significantly and made it a little harder to gain muscle (plus it gave me a a little bit of cellulite even though I workout 3-4 days a week and eat a healthy diet). However Yaz has helped clear my skin and my skin is way less oily. I am 24 years old and didn't start getting oiler skin and acne until I was 20. Yaz has been the only thing that has made a change in my skin for the better. Not only has Yaz helped my skin, but it also has made me emotionally stable. I used to cry for no reason, get upset, snap at people, and was an emotional roller coaster. I take the pill continuously throughout the month, that helps regulate my hormones and makes it so I don't get my periods, it also has helped a lot with my energy levels and my relationship with my husband. The two times I tried to go off of Yaz my oily skin/acne returned, and I was once again an emotional mess. For me the pros outweigh the cons, I'd rather be a happy sane person than a miserable emotional wreck.

With this pill, you have to make sacrifices - whether you have clear skin and artificial hormones in your body, or stay healthy with acne. I took it for 2 years and it was amazing for acne! At the time I've had moderate acne which took 5 months or so to clear up. My skin has not been this clear in forever! Plus my hair became less greasy, I've lost weight, got regular period (literally, I knew every month that it will be coming on Thursday at 2 30 p.m.)...All good until I realized I'll have to take it forever, and I want to have a baby in a year or two so I figured better stop now, hoping I grew out of acne. Three months after stopping Yaz everything was still the same and I was so happy... But in September my acne started getting progressively worse, could be related to back to university. In addition, my hair is now greasy by the end of the day I wash it on and it shredded really bad until these days. My nails got so much worse (they have always been long and hard before the pill), I started getting cysts which I NEVER got before... Lastly, I found a lump in my chest that turned out to be a harmless fibroadenoma and I believe the cause was the pill. I've had panic attacks as well; my period is messed up now, sometimes it won't stop and sometimes it won't come. DO NOT take this if you don't want to take it forever. I am still hoping that I hasn't affected my reproductive ability, but I can only hope....

I'm 23 years old and I tried Yaz for only 3 months because it made my mood swings with my S.O. really bad! I would get angry about everything, snap and yell about stupid little things. So I had to stopped the pill, it didn't help my acne at all. I also was very paranoid with Yaz from all the bad reviews but I tried it with a positive out look. but left with Negative results. only reason I tried it was because it was cheaper then Diane 35.

I'm just about finished with my first pack of Beyaz....and I have to say that this medication has saved my skin. Background: I'm a 19 year old college student and got my first zit when I was 9. I've had acne for as long as I can remember. I have tried, like so many of you, every product (drug store and high end) under the sun, prescription topicals and oral antibiotics - virtually everything but Accutane. My acne has cleared up a bit over the years and I've actually had months where I've been clear thanks to good products...but my skin is smart and always finds a way around them! My skin went absolutely crazy when I started my fall semester of my sophomore year of college (I think it had a lot to do with stress and coming off birth control, Loestrin-24Fe, three months prior) and continued to deteriorate until about a month ago. In my ten year struggle with acne, never had it been cystic in nature - all of a sudden I had huge, painful lumps under my skin that took weeks, sometimes months, to fade (and even then they would come back). I was waking up to two to three more cysts every single day; my face looked purple and I can honestly say my skin had never looked worse. I could barely leave my dorm room, shut out my friends, avoided class, and came home to cry to my mother whenever I could. I have always been someone who has valued my looks and I just did not feel like me anymore. I made appointments with my dermatologist who recommended cortisone injections (which are God's gift to cystic acne patients!) and minocycline (solodyn). The minocycline made my face dead - nothing was healing, nothing was happening, and my skin was simply getting worse. After that dud, I switched dermatologists; as I sat crying in the new derm's chair, she told me that my only other option (considering birth control, minocycline, and heavy duty prescription topicals such as Retin-A, etc., had failed) was Accutane. I registered with IPledge and then..the magic words...she told me I needed to be on the pill for a month. Enter Beyaz - it has been nearly one month on Beyaz and while my acne did get slightly (minor, seriously, nothing scary at all) worse, mostly around my jaw and neckline - which is typical when starting a new pill - my face is virtually clear now. At first, all I could notice was that the skin underneath my acne was different - it wasn't so purple and it was starting to look brighter, softer, much healthier. Then I started noticing a decrease in oil production (I have the oiliest skin...I was up to 12 blotting sheets a day, people)...and then my zits were disappearing! I was still breaking out but in smaller pimples that were nothing compared to the acne I was unfortunately used to. As of now, I still have about seven zits, one bad one, but they are all in the healing process! I will take 7 normal pimples over 20 cysts, for sure! As for side effects, I did experience a bit of nausea and leg cramping at the beginning of the pack. I think I got one headache and was a little tired, but all side effects have subsided (except for larger breasts....which I can't complain about!). I highly recommend this birth control pill...I can only imagine that my skin will continue to improve with time. I looked in the mirror for the first time in months without make up on and felt pretty - only someone who suffers with acne can understand what a huge deal that is. Please try this if you haven't yet and give it some time....It's always darkest before the dawn!

After years of painful hormonal acne and trying all the creams in the world I went to my doctor and she prescribed Yaz (my first BCP). Within the first 3-4 weeks of use my skin already had begun to clear up and calm down with less angry breakouts and pimples that weren't as deep under the skin. The only thing is that my body did not like it one bit! I had severe nausea the whole time I was on Yaz (only a month). And when I say "severe", I mean SEVERE. I also started to feel quite lethargic since starting it. It was so bad that I have now changed pill. I don't know if this will happen with everyone or if it was just too strong for me. Despite this, it did wonders for my skin :) I would recommend this for those with severe to moderate acne but side effects always vary between women. If the side effects such as nausea, tiredness and any emotional changes (no emotional changes for me so far) are too much to deal with, it is so not worth staying on. Get on a different one!

I went on this birth control after I had a bad reaction to a generic brand of loestrin fe 24. My Gyno recommended it since the generic would be free under my insurance. Worst mistake ever! I never had skin issues. The occasional breakout during my period or from stress. Well the fillers in the generic brand did not work well with me body at all. So I made my first appt to the dermatologist (I'm 25) to see what the heck I could do to get my skin back to normal & she suggested yaz, being it's FDA approved to help with acne. Once I started yaz the first month I broke out even worse! Cystic pimples on my jawline and by my mouth! It was horrible. My dr told me I needed to give it time & it was normal so I stuck with it. The 2nd month my skin cleared and looked decent. Well now I'm on the 2nd week of my 3rd pack & I wanna flip sh*t on my dr for telling to stick it out! My face has never looked this bad. I feel so self conscious & cry to my fiancé. I also have had some stomach issues & problems wearing contacts since starting yaz. Stressing from it does not make it any better! I decided to stop taking the pill TODAY. I don't know if I wanna go back on any bc. I want my hormones to balance out back to normal! Hopefully this clears up soon before the holidays. It's hard to deal with painful cysts on your face when you never had acne before! So my suggestion to anyone going on this; do not do it! If anything get your hormone levels tested before choosing any birth control to find the perfect one for you.

Ok I've tried everything: every kind of cream and gel, face washes, natural treatments, laser facials, and even accutane. My acne would calm down for a little and kept flaring back up. Nothing, even accutane, worked. Yaz is the only thing that has worked for me. You have to give it a full 6 months to work and it will completely flare up for the first 3 months. My face has been clear for a long time now and I can finally stop prowling these acne websites looking for a cure. Everyone's skin is different, but if you haven't tried it I highly recommend

I was put on Yaz after I first got my period because it was completely irregular. I don't know why I was put on Yaz and not a standard BCP, but anyway. My skin never had any problems before I started Yaz, and I didn't have any issues when I was on it (for about 4 years). Then I decided, after reading about dangerous side-effects of Yaz, and having experienced some scary symptoms of blood clots in my legs, I wanted to get off Yaz and onto a normal BCP, that didn't mess with my hormones. After I switched off Yaz, I had a SEVERE hormonal breakout. I had clear skin before and during Yaz, with one or two regular pimples, but not real acne. After going off Yaz I started growing hair along my jawline, and I had serious cystic acne on my chin, jawline and neck. SEVERE. It was the most painful and horrible experience of my life. Being 19 and breaking out with intense cystic acne. Horrible. I got tested for PCOS and I don't have it - YAZ had artificially controlled my hormones when I was on it, and going off, I was left with hormonal acne. I didn't want to go near Yaz again, and have been trying to deal with my acne ever since. 9 months since going off Yaz and I am just clearing up, however I now have intense hyperpigmentation all over my chin/jawline/neck. Please, if you are considering going on BCP that helps acne, please don't. They have some seriously dangerous side-effects, and when you want to go off them it will destroy your hormones and skin. Please, PLEASE, PLEASE, if you are considering taking BCP for acne PLEASE DON'T. I hope I can save someone from the same experience I had.

I have suffered from acne since High School. I am now in my third year of college and am unfortunately still experiencing painful breakouts. Like many, I have tried numerous over the counter medication and topical creams, most which helped temporary but never solved my problem. I am now on my Fourth month of Yaz and am happy but not satisfied. I was really optimistic after reading everyones positive reviews on here, however I am sad to say that I am still experiencing many breakouts. During the first month it cleared up my acne and reduced the oil in my face, during the second month my face started breaking out a lot and again in the third month. I was okay with the breakouts because I figured that I should, like many have said on here, wait it out three months but I am now becoming hopeless. It has definitely helped reduce some acne but not all and like I said I have seen a significant change in the amount of oil production in my face.