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Oral contraceptives, otherwise known as birth control pills, are also approved to treat acne. They work by regulating male hormones in the female...

Oral contraceptives, otherwise known as birth control pills, are also approved to treat acne. They work by regulating male hormones in the female body. Less male hormones normally lead to less acne. 

Oral contraceptives contain an estrogen component (ethinyl estradiol) that is combined with progestin hormones, such as drospirenone (Yasmin® or Yaz®), norgestimate (Ortho Tri-Cyclen®) or norethindrone (Estrostep®). 

Oral contraceptives are taken once a day with a meal. Make sure to take the pill at the same time every day.

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May 18, 2025
Product used: Ortho Tri-Cyclen Lo (Oral Contraceptive)
Nope
Didn’t work just made my period come every day until I stopped
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February 4, 2019
Worked Earlier & Now Doesn't

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!

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November 27, 2017
Horrible product
My acne really wasn't that bad when I started taking Tri-Sprintec. However, when I started, I got horrible cystic acne for months. After time this cleared up a bit but I feel that my acne is still worse than when I started. I'm terrified to switch birth controls though because I don't want the terrible acne I originally had to come back. I really don't know what to do and I wish I never started taking this product in the first place.
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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.
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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.
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October 22, 2014
I wanted it to work so badly
I was on ortho lo which cost 50 dollars a month so after hearing great things about what ortho regular could do for my skin AND it was free i decided to make the switch. The first month i didnt see much difference in my skin I was breaking out a bit but i heard that there was an initial breakout so i figured thats what must have been happening. By month two my skin had erupted with small flesh colored bumps all over my skin! The kind that would just sit there no matter what i did but if i squeezed a hard plug would come out. Determined to believe the whole "it gets worse before it gets better" legend i tried to stick it out. I made appointments with estheticians, had glycolic peels, microderms...you name it. My face was red, bumpy, angry and flat out depressing. After end of month 2 start of month 3 i decided to switch back to Ortho lo...its been about a week and my skin is starting to return to normal. I suffered for 3 months hoping for some kind of miracle skin cure that would never come. I've heard great things for others but unfortunately they didnt happen for me.
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July 9, 2014
Wish I could give it no stars..
I promise you when I say this birth control seriously messed up my face, not to mention my self esteem and self confidence. I have never written a review for ANY product, love or hate. This is my first review and I feel it is totally necessary that I warn some of you. I realize this BC might work for some, including my roommate, but it definitely didn't work for me. I started OTC because i was getting a few breakouts here and there and my roomie went on OTC-lo and got cleared up right away, so why not try it? My doc told me OTC-lo isn't the best recommendation, so she suggested OTC.. First month, a few more pimples here and there.. no biggie, researched the product a lot in hopes to find some good reviews saying how in a few more months it will get better... I'll just fast forward to the 4 month mark... O M G... my acne went from bad to worse. I have never had forehead or jaw acne before and it looked like I had been bitten by a million mosquitos. Im not joking when I say I counted 20 zits on my face at once. I stopped going out to the gym when my roomies would ask, I stayed in my room most of the time, I couldn't even run outside in my neighborhood without feeling self conscious. I went into hibernation mode and definitely lost a few friends because of the no contact. After/during those 4 torturous months, I did my research not only online but into my past and when my skin was the clearest. I realized I was the clearest I have ever been on a mono phasic pill called Previfem (generic version of Ortho Cyclen.) I quickly/hesitantly switched back to Previfem and voila... my skin is almost back to the way it was.... but now I have a bunch of scars to remind me of the literal hell I was in for 4 months. I'm telling you people, be careful with this BC... It not only messed up my face but gave me headaches every day and made me extremely lethargic. Save your time and your money... Monophasic pills are the way to go.
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November 19, 2013
It made me crazy!
It made me sick! Made me crazy I would go frm extremely happy to extremely sad in less than a sec !
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October 30, 2013
Developed Blood Clots as a 21 Year Old College Senior

Cons:

Blood clots

I am 21 years old and it seems that I have always suffered from acne. Even in middle school I remember having terrible skin. I literally tried everything from basically every over the counter acne product to prescription treatments such as gels and creams to oral treatments. Eventually I was prescribed this birth control for acne. It worked well for a while with my skin mostly clear and only a few blemishes here and there. I had been on this birth control for about a year before it drastically affected my life. I am a senior in college and this year I was actually sent to the emergency room and hospitalized for a week from a blood clot in each of my lungs. I am now on blood thinner for at least nine months and would just say I would NOT recommend to anyone a birth control for an acne solution. No matter how glowing your skin may look it is not worth the risk. Trust me.
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July 9, 2013
Horrible hormonal acne.

Pros:

absolutely none.

Cons:

severe depressive mood swings
horrible horrible cystic acne
lowered sex drive

I began taking Ortho-tricyclen when I was 18 years old to prevent and combat any acne I had. i had very mild acne, usually on my forehead and around my chin and was wondering if birth control would help to prevent any more breakouts. However, 4 months into Orthotri, I started to develop cystic acne on my chin. Thinking maybe my body needed to adjust to this pill, I decided to stay on it for a year. Biggest mistake. Now I am left with horrible acne scars on my chin (about 8-9 dark spots) and more acne around the time of my period. Please do not take this pill. I greatly regret it and am desperately searching for a product that will help to prevent any more chin acne.
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