Okay so, i've had acne since i was around 13 and I have just turned 18 and nothing has ever worked for my skin. I've tried antibiotics, prescribed creams and even the microgynon pill but none seemed to work. My skin only ever clears slightly when I'm on my period, but most of the time I just have acne everywhere - it's never cystic, and I defo don't have it as bad as some people but it's still bad probably around 15 pimples on an average day but all different sizes. 

Anyways, I started YAZ a week ago and my skin has gone TERRIBLE lol but that's as expected. In addition to this, my boobs have grown (thank god!) about half a cup size and i'm having no emotional side effects as of yet. The worst side effect is defo the breakout, it's honestly so bad! My face is basically one huge spot and they're all so aggressive and sore but i'm praying they will start to clear at the 3rd month. I'll keep updating this when I get a change to any side effects :))

-Kate.

I'm writing this review as someone who has suffered with acne for years, and has recently found relief, in hopes that it will make someone else hopeful & consider hormonal birth control. The hormonal birth control pill was not a solution I'd considered with any seriousness until recently. Sprintec/Ortho Tri-Cyclen may not be the right birth control for you, but it has been miraculous for me in just four weeks of use. Since I began taking it about a month ago, my skin has become less oily, less reactive, and less inflamed. While I'm still getting occasional acne, the size and severity of the breakouts are minimal compared to what I'm used to experiencing. The whiteheads and pimples now are smaller, singular (rather than clusters), and easily treated with Benzoyl Peroxide 2.5%.

Based on my acne type, I believe my acne is related to PCOS (Poly Cycstic Ovary Syndrome) which is a set of reproductive and hormonal symptoms that affects between 5-10% of people with ovaries, and is often characterized by increased androgen production (the type of hormone that is generally related to acne). In me, this looks like very oily skin, inflamed and irritated skin, and hirsutism (hairy chin, jawline, stomach, and chest). My acne concentrates around my mouth, chin, and temples. I also get a little bit on my shoulders and chest. My acne is always worse in the second phase of my cycle--after ovulation and before menstruation. But in general, I experienced new acne almost every day of the month.  My frustration over acne, which got better and then got worse as I entered my mid-twenties, caused me anger, upset, and grief. I've been suffering from acne since I was 13 years old, at which point I was put on hormonal birth control for the first time.

There are other hormonal treatments for PCOS: Sprionolactone is probably the most popular that's available in the US. However, it comes with a number of side effects, and its not a permanent solution. Birth control pills are cheap, accessible, and can be stopped at any point. 

There are generally four classes of birth control pill: the third and fourth classes, which are the most recently developed, are considered the most "anti-androgenic." This means they act to counter or suppress the production of androgenic hormones, like testosterone, that cause acne (as well as hirsutism). In other countries, there are birth control pills that are far more anti-androgenic than those that are available to users in the US. Of the birth control pills available in the United States, ones containing drosperinone--brand names like Yaz or Yasmin--are the most anti-androgenic. However, they are also highly related to depression, which I have had in the past. I didn't want to take that risk. So my doctor prescribed me Sprintec, which is a generic form of Ortho Tri-Cyclen, which contains the synthetic form of progrestin called Norgestimate. It is one of only a few birth control pills that are designated to treat acne in the US and Canada.

Four weeks later, and my skin is dryer, softer, and clear. I wake up and my face is not oily, irritated, or broken out.

I've also decided to take my birth control continuously, rather than cyclically. This means rather than taking a week's worth of placebo pills each month, I skip the placebo pills at the end of the pack (and the associated period), and start a new pack immediately. This means my hormones don't fluctuate. Doctors recommend getting your period at least every three months, which means I'll probably take 9 weeks of the hormonal pills, then one week of placebo pills, which will give me a period once every ten weeks. I'm choosing this over the standard cyclical use of birth control so that there is less fluctuation, and assuming my old symptoms will show up during the placebo week, which I'd like to limit as much as possible. I also take my pill at the same time every evening.

If you're reading this--there's hope for you. Acne sucks. I've cried over it for too long. I feel free at last from the anxiety and hopelessness that it induced in me, and want the same for you.

I'm writing this review as someone who has suffered with acne for years, and has recently found relief, in hopes that it will make someone else hopeful & consider hormonal birth control. The hormonal birth control pill was not a solution I'd considered with any seriousness until recently. Sprintec/Ortho Tri-Cyclen may not be the right birth control for you, but it has been miraculous for me in just four weeks of use. Since I began taking it about a month ago, my skin has become less oily, less reactive, and less inflamed. While I'm still getting occasional acne, the size and severity of the breakouts are minimal compared to what I'm used to experiencing. The whiteheads and pimples now are smaller, singular (rather than clusters), and easily treated with Benzoyl Peroxide 2.5%.

Based on my acne type, I believe my acne is related to PCOS (Poly Cycstic Ovary Syndrome) which is a set of reproductive and hormonal symptoms that affects between 5-10% of people with ovaries, and is often characterized by increased androgen production (the type of hormone that is generally related to acne). In me, this looks like very oily skin, inflamed and irritated skin, and hirsutism (hairy chin, jawline, stomach, and chest). My acne concentrates around my mouth, chin, and temples. I also get a little bit on my shoulders and chest. My acne is always worse in the second phase of my cycle--after ovulation and before menstruation. But in general, I experienced new acne almost every day of the month.  My frustration over acne, which got better and then got worse as I entered my mid-twenties, caused me anger, upset, and grief. I've been suffering from acne since I was 13 years old, at which point I was put on hormonal birth control for the first time.

There are other hormonal treatments for PCOS: Sprionolactone is probably the most popular that's available in the US. However, it comes with a number of side effects, and its not a permanent solution. Birth control pills are cheap, accessible, and can be stopped at any point. 

There are generally four classes of birth control pill: the third and fourth classes, which are the most recently developed, are considered the most "anti-androgenic." This means they act to counter or suppress the production of androgenic hormones, like testosterone, that cause acne (as well as hirsutism). In other countries, there are birth control pills that are far more anti-androgenic than those that are available to users in the US. Of the birth control pills available in the United States, ones containing drosperinone--brand names like Yaz or Yasmin--are the most anti-androgenic. However, they are also highly related to depression, which I have had in the past. I didn't want to take that risk. So my doctor prescribed me Sprintec, which is a generic form of Ortho Tri-Cyclen, which contains the synthetic form of progrestin called Norgestimate. It is one of only a few birth control pills that are designated to treat acne in the US and Canada.

Four weeks later, and my skin is dryer, softer, and clear. I wake up and my face is not oily, irritated, or broken out.

I've also decided to take my birth control continuously, rather than cyclically. This means rather than taking a week's worth of placebo pills each month, I skip the placebo pills at the end of the pack (and the associated period), and start a new pack immediately. This means my hormones don't fluctuate. Doctors recommend getting your period at least every three months, which means I'll probably take 9 weeks of the hormonal pills, then one week of placebo pills, which will give me a period once every ten weeks. I'm choosing this over the standard cyclical use of birth control so that there is less fluctuation, and assuming my old symptoms will show up during the placebo week, which I'd like to limit as much as possible. I also take my pill at the same time every evening.

If you're reading this--there's hope for you. Acne sucks. I've cried over it for too long. I feel free at last from the anxiety and hopelessness that it induced in me, and want the same for you.

Hi! I am an Italian girl and I have been suffering from hormonal acne (especially on my chin) for almost 1 year beacuse of my PCOS. I tried different therapies with topical medication and antibiotics but nothing seems to work  So, my doctor prescribed me Yasmin. I started to take this pill almost 2 months ago: the first month nothing changed (I just had normal breakouts especially before my period), but the second month has been awful, my face is a mess with lot of red and itcy bumps on my chin and even on my neck (where I usually don't have pimples). I called my dermatologist who told me that during the first 3 months skin can get worse (hormones need time to stabilize), so I should stick with it for at least another month to start seeing some improvements. I am very afraid, but if my skin is getting worse before it gets better, I will stick with it! Did any of you experience initial breakout before noticing skin improvements?

I switched to Estro Step after taking Tri-Sprintec for many years because my previous birth control no longer worked for treating my acne. This HAS improved my acne significantly, my only complaint is that my period is no longer regular and is extremely heavy. On my previous BC my period was like clockwork and considering that I have taken Estro Step for 9-12 months I would have anticipated that it would be regular by now! 

If I could give this pill 0 stars, I would. I started this pill after I had mild acne, looking back at it now it’s nothing compared to what I have now. Back pain, feeling nauseous constantly, no energy, constantly tired and worst of all my cystic acne I have gained from this. There is not 1 area or my face that doesn’t have a huge boil like spot on it, it’s made me depressed, given me anxiety, I don’t want to leave my home and I have had to quit my job. I am embarrassed to go out with friends, I used to always be out and always talk to new people but my confidence has been shattered by this pill and no amount of make up can make it look any better. I developed hearing loss in both ears, which the drs have linked to this pill. It has been 6 weeks and I haven’t had any hearing, I have just finished my 2nd month on the pill. Avoid. 

I have a love/hate relationship with this birth control. When I went on it at 19 years old, I had very nice, clear skin to begin with. Going on OTC pills didn't break me out or anything - my skin stayed the same. It wasn't until I tried coming OFF of the pill that I started breaking out. This actually happened twice:

I temporarily stopped taking OTC for one summer while I was switching from regular OTC to OTC Lo and broke out that whole summer. When I got on OTC Lo in the fall, my skin went back to normal. Then, years later, when I eventually stopped taking OTC Lo, I broke out like crazy again. I broke out for a solid 4-5 months before my hormones finally regulated, and then my skin went back to normal.

For me, it's not being ON the pill that messes up my skin, it's the "rebound" or "withdrawal" from the pill that breaks me out, terribly. Yes, it eventually cleared up, but left a lot of scarring and distress in the process. For this reason, I won't go back on BC pills at all.

I've been taking the Yasmin pill for 20 years now. It helped clear my acne a bit during puberty. However I'm now wondering if it's actually causing the cystic acne that I've had for almost 15 years, since it seems to clear up a bit every time I stop taking it for a week (which I only recently started doing). So I'm keeping the score at 3 stars.

I wish I listened to the bad reviews about this pill. I just wasted £30 on this crap. Before starting this pill I had oily skin, blackheads on nose and very mild acne, (mostly in the sides of my face), little acne on arms and a little on my back and it wasn’t too noticeable. I decided to take the pill for 3 months to reduce the oily skin and it hasn’t made my skin any better (my skin has gone much worse) . It has also caused the peach fuzz on my chin to darken slightly as well as my upper lip hairs to darken slightly.  My skin is now not good. It is still oily and I have visible acne on the sides of my face. Don’t take this pill for acne or PCOS BECAUSE FROM MY EXPERIENCE IT INCREASES TESTOSTERONE NOT DECREASES IT. 

I was on the generic form of OTC when I was 20 (got off after 1 year) and 22 (got off after 2 years), and both times it impressively cleared up my acne with few side effects. However, when I decided to get back on it when I was 25, my acne got very bad -the worst for me. Nothing much happened 1 month in (except a messed up period), but the 2nd and especially the 3rd months threw me into a bad depression along with getting painful nodules  and cystic acne along my cheeks and jaw. I remember crying over everything and not being able to control my anxiety, in addition to being saddened that OTC had suddenly did all this harm to me. After 3 months, I got off of OTC and went on a generic of Yasmin. My acne immediately started going away!