YAZ : Oral Contraceptive

These reviews helped me a lot so I thought I'd share my experience. I had severe hormonal acne + pustules all over my face, specifically on my cheeks and jawline, when I got prescribed yaz. The first month was absolutely terrible and I broke out all over my forehead, back and chest... I was literally scared to leave the house. In the second month, it was just as bad but new pimples weren't surfacing as often. Month 3: up until the 3rd week I had small pimples on my face and everywhere else had cleared up (nothing as bad as month 1) but it wasn't till I completely finished my 3rd pack that my face cleared up. I'm now in the middle of month 4 and my face is completely clear!!!! I can go out in public without makeup and finally feel confident, which was NOT the case 3 months ago. Also, I have experienced no side effects except nausea during the first 2 weeks of starting the pill and bigger boobs :)

I am 18 and I suffered from cystic acne for a long time, which left scars on my face. I tried antibiotics for years and a different type of birth control (Microgestin Fe), which didn't help much (if at all). My doctor switched me to Yaz. I just finished my third pack and my face is spotless. It began working almost immediately. By the middle of month 2, my face had almost cleared up completely. I get a few small breakout spots while on the placebo pills, but I NEVER get any cysts. I have a few mood swings on the placebo pills and my boobs are swollen and a little bit sore all the time. I have grown two cup sizes, but I have had no weight gain other than that (which I am fine with haha) and no other serious side effects. I would definitely recommend Yaz for acne.

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!

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 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.

As someone who suffered from acne since 13 (I am 29 now) I've always utilized these reviews and now that I've finally found something that works- I have to share my experience. Most of my acne has always been in the chin area- moderate with severe cysts at times. I tried everything- every antibiotic, accutane, every topical. It wasn't until I started getting ovarian cysts that my doc wanted to put me on YAZ as it could regulate my cycle and help my frustrating adult acne. I am taking name brand YAZ, not generic. I can't say that months 1-5 were easy but I am SO SO glad I stuck it out. Now my skin is better than it has been in my ENTIRE life. Month 1 Side Effects - Emotional unbalance, there were a few weeks that I felt like a crazy person. High anxiety, feeling like there was always something wrong. Some light muscle soreness which went away after a few days and never returned. This was my first time ever taking BC. Skin- OK. Better than previous months but not drastically different. Month 2 Side Effects- Ocular migraine (my first ever). Awful experience!! Skin- AWFUL. Started breaking out more than I have since my early 20's. Mostly around jawline'huge, deep, cystic pimples. Month 3/4 Side Effects- Still breaking out a lot, same as previous month. Month 5 Skin- Acne finally starting to get a tiny bit better. Getting less and less cystic acne in chin area but starting to get a TON of tiny pimples on neck and under jawline. Also getting a lot of these tiny pimples/whiteheads on forehead/cheeks (where I never get acne). Month 6 Skin- Haven't gotten hormonal acne in a month!! Acne on neck/lower jawline starting to disappear. Month 7 Skin- Wow! So happy I did't quit. My skin looks better than it ever has. Everyday it seems to get clearer and healthier looking. Still some trace amount of surface acne on neck but becoming less of an issue each month. To recap, it wasn't until month 6 until I started noticing any real changes I could for sure attribute to YAZ. Everyone who says after 3-4 months it should work'everyone is different! Hold out and see because the pay off is great.

I didn't start getting acne until a year ago. I could totally tell there was a change in my hormones. I started to slowly get acne worse and worse. My doctor first tried epiduo and an antibiotic. The epiduo worked great for my comedonal but nothing was stopping my cystic acne! Antibiotics don't work for hormonal acne, you must have something for your hormones. After two months of YAZ and Epiduo my skin looks so much better!!! I have started only using powder make. Before I would not let anyone see me with out liquid and powder. I cant wait until I can feel comfortable make up free! Combination is key!

I am 22 years old and have been dealing with pretty much every kind of acne for years. I have tried everything you can buy in the store and nothing really worked (I read that a lot of drugstore acne products put stuff in that makes you break out so you keep buying their products). When my face is broken out, I don't want to leave the house and I am constantly thinking about my skin to where I feel absolutely depressed about it. So I saw a dermatologist and he put me on clindamycin (probably not great spelling) lotion in the day, adapalene cream at night, and doxycyline for a month to help with the initial breakouts they sometimes cause. It worked fantastic for me for like a year and a half and then my skin randomly started breaking out again really bad. I went back to see my dermatologist and he put me on a bunch of stuff that didn't work and I was dealing with even worse skin for a long time without solution. He finally put me on ziana a month ago for the nighttime, onexton for the day, and ampicillin tablets. Since I was trying to avoid accutane (which was my next option), he also recommended that I change my birth control to one that helps acne so I switched to yaz immediately. The first week was pretty bad because the onexton hurt (it burned, itched, made my face red) and the ziana made my face flakey and dry when I woke up in the morning. My doctor told me that these products can take up to 4 months to be effective and that they oftentimes make your skin a lot worse before it can get better (it has to bring up all the acne and bacteria up to the surface to get rid of it which takes time). I broke out pretty badly the first week and the beginning of the second, on top of that my face was flakey so I couldn't really wear makeup and I was just bummed (even though I knew that's how some of these treatments work and it's probably a sign that it's working). I've had a few side effects that were not unbearable and also went away as my body and skin got used to the medications. I was expecting that I would have to deal with it for months. Honestly, with the exception of accutane, I have been on every pill and and cream there is. By the end of week two and miraculously it was crystal clear. I never thought i would ever be someone to not wear makeup, and I have been (even on dates! That is how clear it is). It's still a little dry, but I started using a really gentle moisturizer (4 dollar ponds) with both the ziana & onexton and also using a lot less of the product. When I first got the onexton, I put a lot on because I wanted to make sure it "really worked" and that was such a mistake because it was VERY painful. I have been using a pea sized amount with moisturizer of both and it works better that way. When I was having my initial breakout, I would desperately read these reviews to have hope and I made a pact with god that if my acne clears up, I will share my experience to help others who are going through the horrible issues acne causes. My advice: don't use too much, don't exfoliate (ziana is an exfoliant and that's why there is flakey skin at first. It also makes your skin super thin so you can't pick and have to be very gentle), be careful in the sun, avoid any other harsh products, and hang in there! You might have an initial breakout, you might not. Either way, it depends on the person when your skin clears up and if you give up before 4 months, you could miss out on a chance to see the progress, my breakout was so bad that I wanted to stop and I read these encouraging posts and figured that I was going to have acne either way (if I was off the medicine or if I was on it) so I might as well suffer through breakouts while I'm treating it and it's worked for me. If you give up before a few months, you haven't even let the medicine do it's job yet and there isn't a single acne perscription that says if can get rid of your acne before 4 months (otherwise I would have tried it). Don't believe me? Ask your doctor. Don't give up, bug your doctor and ask a million questions. As soon as one didn't work, I got another, and kept going until I got something that works for me. I hope everyone finds what they're looking for and hangs in there :]

I've been on Yaz for 4 1/2 years and it really does work -- totally eliminated body acne and my face is pretty good, not perfect, but nothing that can't be remedied with a few applications of benzoyl peroxide. I tried going off it though, and I was so greasy and acne started showing up in bizarre places. I'm back on it now but hoping I'll outgrow my acne by the time I actually want to get pregnant? Maybe I'll have other things to worry about at that point?