Acne.org Products
Hormonal Therapy
Efficacy
63%
Based on All Available Studies
Strength of Evidence
Note: Improvement significantly increases after 24 weeks.
Hormonal Therapy
Acne.org’s Real World Take
Any brand of oral contraceptive appears to clear the skin about the same amount, regardless of whether it is officially approved for acne treatment. Some people report complete clearing of acne symptoms and others see partial relief. However, artificially controlling your hormones is a serious decision, so it’s best to proceed with caution.
Hormonal Therapy
How to Get It
Have a dermatologist? Make an appointment to get this medication. Don't have a dermatologist? See The American Academy of Dermatology Physician Database to find one.
Used Oral Contraceptives? Rate It:
Choose from 1 to 5 stars
February 11, 2007
Product used: Yasmin (Oral Contraceptive)
Cons:
ummm...it's kind of pricey, but other than that it's great.
I suffered from pretty bad cystic acne from the time I was 13 till I was 17. It really hurt my self image and I tried everything. Any topical you could name, and antibiotics, none of it worked. I didn't want to do accutane because it's so intense and can have some nasty side effects. So i tried this and my skin began improving within the first month, and continued to improve for the first three months of use. I still get zits every once in awhile, but I almost never get major cystic acne, and my face is clearer than it has ever been. I love this product.
January 15, 2007
Product used: Yasmin (Oral Contraceptive)
Pros:
Predictable periods
Cons:
Large mosquito-bite-like acne in areas I never had it before like on jawline, cheeks and forehead. Now i'm not sure whether going off it will cause even more acne or whether I should give it a little longer - any advice??
Works for some but not for me - wish i had gone back on Diane since that never caused me to break out like this.
October 24, 2006
Pros:
I am 22 and have moderate acne. I have been using pro-active for about a yr, it has been minimimally effective. I started taking ortho to prevent pregnancy, but by the beginning of the second month I noticed all my acne was completely gone.
Cons:
My acne was a little worse the first couple weeks on birth control and I don't know if it was b/c of the birth control or not. Also, I noticed my eyes have been a lot more dry, which has not been great since I wear contacts.
Try it. It worked perfect for me and I wasn't even taking it for that reason at all. Take it for two months and see if it doesn't work for you too. Hopefully it will work, but if not you should consider acutane. My sister had really severe acne about 5 years ago and when nothing else worked she took acutane. It cleared her skin up completely. I never see her with acne now and it has been five years, but she did say it gets really bad before it starts to clear up, so keep that in mind and don't give up immediately or get too depressed when it gets worse to start off.
January 21, 2017
Product used: LoEstrin (Oral Contraceptive)
So far, so good!
I've had acne for about two years after the birth of my son. I've always had oily skin with clogged pores but as a teen I only ever got one or two spots. As a young adult my skin never gave me any complaints. However, after the birth of my son my skin got quickly worse and worse until I was waking up every morning with 6 or 7 new big lumps around my chin, neck and cheeks. I also had tiny white pimples all over my cheeks and neck. My spots were red aggressive looking- my face was just a mess and people couldn't help but comment because no one was used to seeing me like that.
I tried prescribed creams, drinking lots of water, going cold-turkey on makeup, taking antibiotics, hot cloth cleanses... they all made it worse. I tried one or two different contraceptives and they did nothing for me. Some made me bleed constantly, others made my face break out even more around my cycle. I was reluctant to try loestrin as I was beginning to think contraceptives were a waste of time, but it was my last attempt at avoiding roccutane treatment.
At first, loestrin made me really sick, for the first few days I was throwing up and had headaches but it soon cleared up. It does make me very tired and has increased my appetite but I'm getting to grips with that.
Anyway, after about four months I woke up one morning and realised, for the first time ever, that I didn't have any spots whatsoever. As I ran my fingers over my face there were no lumps or bumps or boils! Today is my fifth day of the same! I've still got scarring and red marks from previous spots but I'm sure I can start to move forward now. I'm already leaving the house without makeup and taking more pride in my skin. I'm really pleased I have given loestrin a chance and hope it continues! Ps- my periods have been very light, I've been a bit more laid back and I think my breasts are bigger!
November 1, 2016
Terrible for acne-prone skin
Let me preface this by saying I have taken many different kinds of birth control pills throughout my teen and adult years. This was by far the worst bcp for my cystic, hormonal acne. I gave it 6 months in hopes that my body would adjust to the pill, but my acne never got better. It actually got worse! I even tried the monophasic version of this one (Ortho-Cyclen) and the results were no different. The minute I went off of these and switched to Caziant was when things started to clear up. Caziant is by far my favorite bcp for hormonal acne. It's true when they say each pill works differently for each person because I've heard great things about Ortho, but it never worked for me. My acne responds best to desogestrel in a triphasic form. The only positive side effect of Ortho was bigger boobs.
October 27, 2016
Product used: Yasmin (Oral Contraceptive)
Research first!
I had acne when I was a teenager and it didn't improve with time. I tried antibiotics, creams, gels... Nothing seemed to work.A dermatologist told me to try the pill, and in my desperation to clear my skin, I did. Worst mistake ever. I took yasmin and the skin improved, cleared, but I stopped after 3 months and the acne came back MUCH worse! It was so bad it affected me psychologically, I was in uni at the time and I really struggled to leave home and go to class. I hated my face. It was even swollen by the amount of spots! Then I took roaccutane. It's a really strong treatment, it can affect you organs and made me depressed, my skin was dramatically dry, I got my first wrinkles (yay!), my lips were so dry that something they would cut when I smiled. Even so, it worked, my skin was much better at the end, clear. I was left with lots of scars but no marks. After stoping the treatment, a bit of acne came back. Not as bad as before, but it did. The doctor told me that my acne was hormonal so it could only be controlled with the pill. I started taking Dretinelle (basically same as yasmin, which I didn't know). I've been on it for years, and I'm now going off it. I'm stopping today. I'm gonna take some food suplements and look after my diet really well, and go back to topical creams. My skin might not be great but the pill isn't worth it. Plus it stopped working for my skin. The pill has so many risks, ended up giving me palpitations and arrhythmia, and very strong headaches. My sex drive is gone. And something that not many people know, is that even though Yasmin helps clear the skin while taking it, it has an ingredient that makes your skin go wild once you stop. Google it. But honestly, don't take it.
May 10, 2016
Product used: YAZ (Oral Contraceptive)
Bad initial breakout
I'm on my 3rd month and still breaking out really badly! Anyone know how long it will take to work? Its actually made my acne a whole lot worse so i'm loosing hope :(
June 11, 2016
Can take up to 6 months, hang in there
June 3, 2015
Product used: YAZ (Oral Contraceptive)
Great as combination with topical cream for women in 20s
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!
August 4, 2015
My Acne is gone, thanks to Yaz and epiduo! Two months of use and I am finally able to not wear any make up. I barely even use epiduo now. I am now working on smoothing out the scars. I am so glad I finally went to the derm. I wish I would have went sooner!
April 26, 2015
Product used: YAZ (Oral Contraceptive)
started a week ago
for some reason i have been struggling with acne for years to the point where i feel im just disgusting. I've started taking the pill breaking out a bit but it gets worse before it gets better as i have heard. i hope this works because i have given up
December 10, 2014
bad for hormonal acne!
I was having the occasional break out on my cheek and chin area. i went to my general doc and she suggested the pill in order to balance my hormones. It threw my body into such an unbalance. My period was all over the place, my acne had gotten 200X's worse then ever. I kept taking it for 3 months hoping it was just my body adjusting to the pill. needless to say i stopped taking it. my acne kept getting worse every month i was on it. after taking it it took me 6 months to come back to where i was before i started it.
Pros:
it significantly clears up your skin within 3 months, no nausea from the pill (if taken with food), no cramps during your period, and minor if any mood swings, also it doesn't cause you to put on the water weight that other birth control pills do