If you have been on antibiotics and are still breaking out it may be hormonal. My problem areas have been my chin and truly genetic since my mom suffered from acne as well. I have tiny ice pick scars very little on my cheeks from breakouts and red scarring on my forehead and chin from old breakouts. Since high school I had tried diffirin, multiple antibiotics, topical antibiotics, facial peels for the scarring and I'm on my fourth month of this BC and my cystic acne has disappeared!!! I never wanted to take BC but so far this has been the best decision for me at 24 years old I am currently taking BC and using retinA . RetinA is the best solution for black heads by the way if you use it consistently in a couple of months they come out by themselves, my skin is not crazily severe when broken out but it's bad and cystic acne is painful and other zits on top of that especially by your mouth is aesthetically unpleasant. I also decided to start the BC because I started breaking out on my cheeks which had been resulting in the zit leaving a hole aka a dark semi deep scar . I'm happy with my skin try it! Check out my [Removed] I am starting a makeup and healthy skin lifestyle channel, let me know if you have any more questions! [Removed]

My acne struggles started a few years ago. I had pretty severe acne mostly on my cheeks, but also small bumps all over. I tried a different brand first (Minastrin), but it seemed to be making it worse. Some of the other things I have tried are: most drugstore brands, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, liver supplements, oil cleansing, witch hazel, the list goes on. BC was my last option for the most part. I have been on OTC Lo for about 8 months now. The first 2-3 months didn't do much, but starting with the 4th month and beyond, it just got better and better. It has cleared my skin about 90%. I still break out around my period though. But my skin tone is clearer, the bumps have gone away, and the spots I do get are generally smaller and go away faster. Overall, I am a LOT happier with my skin than when I started. It truly has made a difference. My skin looks plumper, feels softer, and does not break out as much with different topicals. I currently take this pill, wash in the AM and PM with CeraVe foaming cleanser (with a konjac sponge at night), moisturize with argan oil in the AM, and use Fruit of the Earth Aloe Vera Gel on spots at night. I use IT Cosmetics powder foundation (I have gone from heavy foundations and concealers to just a powder foundation!) This simple routine has helped me clear my skin up dramatically. HOWEVER, this will be my last pack. This pill has caused me bloating and persistent depression/anxiety. I realize now that this is just a cover and a blanket cure for my skin. If you think you have hormonal acne, I highly recommend looking into supplements such as DIM, Vitex, Calcium D-Glucarate, and Saw Palmetto. All can help hormonal acne by balancing hormones. I am planning on stopping this pill, and incorporating those supplements! Overall, as an acne treatment I give this a 4/4.5, and as a medication a 3/3.5. If you are struggling and need birth control for contraception as well, give it a shot, but understand the risks and realize it is synthetic hormones (this is making me feel less and less 'natural' every day). However, it can be beneficial. In general, it is not a cure, and only really masks the problem for a short time.

My derm put me on this med to help with my cystic acne. It helped, don't get me wrong, but I wasn't completely clear. It wasn't until I started taking it in conjunction with spironolactone that my acne was gone.

I've had acne since I was 10 years old and now I am 26. It made me very self conscious and embarrassed all throughout school. I've tried everything from topical creams prescribed by dermatologists, proactive (for a few years), proactive knock-offs and Murad but nothing kept the acne away. It was a constant and exhausting battle. I have oily skin and ,by genetics, large pores. So the combo of the two was just a recipe for disaster. The type of acne I had were mainly white heads and sometimes cystic acne. I decided to try Ortho Tricyclen Lo last year and the first 2-3 months was just awful. My skin dried out, my chin was flaky and my chin and jawline were covered in pimples. My skin was worse than before but I heard about the first few months of the purging stage so I decided to ride it out. By the 3rd or 4th month my skin did start to improve. At that time I had also invested in a clarisonic mia and I think the combination of the two improved my skin dramatically. My skin is back to being oily but I don't break out like crazy anymore aside from the 1 or 2 pimples I get during my period. I am now on my 7th month of the pill and I have clear skin. The last time I had clear skin was 16 years ago. Wow. I don't know how long I will be on the pill for but whenever I decide to go off of it I hope my skin doesn't freak out and resort back to massive breakouts.

Tried this a year ago and it took about 3 months to really kick in. Then a combination of lots of sun and this bc and i was completely clear. Except like one tiny one right before my period that lasted like a day. I had dealt with moderate acne since I was 14 so this was huge for me. After like 10 months I got cocky and thought maybe I had just grown out of it finally. So I stopped and it slowly creeped back in not too severely at first. Then after a few months, starting at the beginning of this year, it's been horrible. I'm talking two new giant cysts on my face every day. And a breakout of like 5 new cysts on my back every week. I tried eliminating dairy/gluten/sugar, adding vitamins, working out, being very careful to do everything healthy for my skin and nothing has worked. I'm now on my 4th week back on Sprintec and at first it only made it worse. I've been pretty depressed and have been hiding in my house but I haven't had any new spots on my face/chest in two days, skin feels like it's calming down, and my back has been clear since the third week. I believe it will get better because it worked before. That being said, I think bc is something you should reeeeaaally be careful about considering. Do you want to rely on it forever? It works for me and clears me up 99% but also occasionally gives me migraines and mood swings plus I'm afraid of being dependent on it forever. It's a choice of having clear skin and being happy but dealing with the long term downsides.

My first week on it and my face looks better than ever! No side effects, I feel so happy. Not sure why everyone is having issues with it!

I'm 15 and have been struggling with acne for three years, trying anything to get rid of it. I have horrible cysitc acne all along my chin and sides of my face with regular pimples that pop up everywhere else. Along with that I have many deep pimples on my back and neck. I began with drugstore remedies with no results. I took many prescriptions of Doxycycline and Metrocycline before realizing that I was actually terribly allergic to them, breaking out in rashes along my neck and having swollen eyelids. It was a nightmare. I turned to Proactive for quite a few months but it didn't work, it only relieved my acne for the first two or three months before I gave up. With yet another trip to the dermatologist, they prompted me to try accutane. However, I read that large booklet of information they gave me and realized that it's side effects could seriously harm me, more so because I'm female. After turning accutane down they recommended birth control. I preyed that my acne was a result of imbalanced hormones and gave it a shot with Ortho Tri-Cyclen. Today I am two weeks away from starting my third month but I hardly see results. I have more cysts on my chin and side of my face but I was warned that it may get worse before getting better, like most medicines. I don't want to give up on BC and truthfully, I don't know if I can handle having acne like this. I am depressed about how I look and how much energy I have to have to appear normal. I wake up an hour or so earlier than anyone I know to cover my acne, and even then it's still noticeable. It affects my interaction with others and focus during school because I'm too hung up on "my acne is horrible people probably thing I'm gross". Summer time is hard too because I can't enjoy going to a public pool and I try not to wear makeup. I've sadly come to the decision that if this doesn't work then I'll turn to accutane, my last resort. But some of these reviews give me hope. After the three months mark I should see more improvements. It's hard to imagine having a clear face after taking my acne day to day for three years. So please, please, please work Ortho Tri-Cyclen!

I've been on trip cyclen lo for about 2 months now going onto my third month in about 2 weeks, but i do see a difference in my acne scars they have faded a lot recently but the only problem is I've been breaking out a lot on my chin and forehead (more my chin) i just really hope by the end of the third month everything will get better and everything will clear up

This is a low estrogen pill. The benefit of that is that it generally has very few side effects. I had no side effects. However, I took this pill for two whole years and it resulted in 0 improvement in my acne. I learned after the fact that low estrogen pills do not usually help with acne. Also, it is extremely costly for a birth control, as there is no generic. Though I would recommend it as a form of birth control, I would not recommend it in the treatment of acne.

Within the first week of taking this medication, my acne cleared up DRAMATICALLY. A little background information: at age 22, I started getting hormonal cystic acne break outs along my left jawline and forehead. Prior to these persistent breakouts, I had no major problems with acne, just the occasional breakout at "that time of the month". After trying Retin-a for a few months with no progress, my dermatologist switched me to a regimen of a Differin and Acanya. Though this helped clear up my forehead acne, my jawline acne was still very persistent. It wasn't until I did a little research that I realize this type of acne was hormone related. Even though I was already taking a generic of Loestrin, I decided it was time to switch my pill. After telling my gynecologist of my troubles, she suggested Ortho tri-cyclen. Within the first week of taking this medication, my existing acne started clearing and no other pimples were appearing. Mind you, these were the persistent ones: painful to the touch with a large white head. I couldn't be happier with the results! A month into taking this medication, I haven't had one cystic pimple appear, it's like a miracle drug! If you have a similar story to me, definitely give it a try!