Girls on Birth Control, Please Help
EDS Skin Care Forums Forum Index » Skin Care and Makeup Forum

free skin care · Tue Mar 01, 2005 4:13 pm

Hi Ladies,

NOW -- my question: My mom and I just recently decide that I should try birth control to try to alleviate my acne. So I've been on the pill for one week and my acne is HORRENDOUS. It has flared up like there's no tomorrow and I am SO wanting to stop them right now.

My doctor told me that switching to another pill right away doesn't help since the new birth control might cause other side effects. He said I should wait it out for 2-3 months to let my body get used to the new hormones.

My question: Has anyone else had this horrendous problem? I am near tears because my skin looks so so awful. NOTHING I do works right now (none of my skin care producs that I love so much). I am really just desperate for help -- if anyone else has had this problem, can you please let me know how long it lasted and how bad it really gets? Sad

Thanks for all your help!
Lisa

free skin care · Tue Mar 01, 2005 4:24 pm

Hi Lisa,
I cannot offer you any advice .Sorry. Doctors haven't got a clue have they. This is obviously causing you real distress and I hope someone can advise you quickly.

free skin care · Tue Mar 01, 2005 4:28 pm

Hello Lisa,

All I can tell you is that the pill kept my back acne free, I never had much problems with acne on my face until recently. That is probably caused by not being on the pill anymore, so I guess in my case it did help keeping my skin with less spots.

Maybe you should go see a dermatologist and ask them if this is a normal reaction to the pill? Maybe theres better brands you could try that would actually help instead of making things worse.

Good luck!
Aga

Aga

free skin care · Tue Mar 01, 2005 4:59 pm

Lisa, which pill are you taking?

free skin care · Tue Mar 01, 2005 5:04 pm

Sorry, also meant to send you good vibes in the hope that your acne clears up asap!

free skin care · Tue Mar 01, 2005 5:10 pm

I'm taking Necon 1/35
Thanks for all the well wishes gals!

Tue Mar 01, 2005 5:13 pm

hello chunlisa.. i'm no doctor but from what i've heard, different people react differently to different brands of bcp. From my personal experience, the pill had actually cleared up my acne but the releif was only temporary. After discontinued use of bcp's, my acne gradually started to reappear (something for you to consider, especially in face of the numerous side effects associated with taking bcp's).. If you're still thinking of using the pill to alleviate acne problems, the brand i used was allesse.. i heard orthotricyclin was also pretty good for clearing up acne..
hope this helps.

free skin care · Tue Mar 01, 2005 9:48 pm

I tried orthotricyclin because they claim it helps acne and it made my skin horrible to. I'm currently using marvelon which has been good for my skin.

I think it all depends on how your body reacts to it b/c we all have different hormone levels and such. My friend says Diane 35 is really good...but then again, what works for my friend may not work for you

free skin care · Tue Mar 01, 2005 10:33 pm

I also had the same problem when i just started dpv(I don't know if it has the same kind of side effects) anyway... my skin looks horrible, i really wanna cry everytime i see my own face!
However, after 2 months ... everything is ok, my acne is gone. I think it probably takes a while for your body to get used to the pill.

Goodluck

free skin care · Wed Mar 02, 2005 2:44 am

Hi

I was put on the pill Dianette for Acne and abcesses on the face. It did work after about 2 months of taking it, and I had spot free face near enough for 7 years. BUT the side effects for me were serious migraines, sometimes for days...I did try to come off it a few times but within weeks the spots were back.

It got to the stage where the migraines were to much so I came off it after 7 years....touch wood my face is fine. I was then told I should only have been on this pill for no longer than 2 years as its very strong!!

You never know it might work for you!

free skin care · Wed Mar 02, 2005 4:23 am

Hi chunlisa, I have had acne on and off for the past 10 years or so and I totally feel for you right now. I few months ago my spots got really bad and I was reluctant to leave the house unless I'd spent time shovelling make-up onto my face to conceal the blemishes...it was really awful.

I recently started taking the pill, Dianette (I think it's known in the U.S. as Dianne ...something like that??), Anyway, I noticed an improvement in my skin after about 2 weeks, and I finally feel like I'm gaining some control over my skin. On the downside, I have noticed that my mood is not quite the same and I suspect that Dianette can have an adverse side-effect on mood.

There are conflicting reports regarding the useage of this pill. Some doctors say that you shouldn't use dianette for more than 2 years....whereas others say that this pill can be used for longer.

So, I've surfed the net for more info and I think another pill that has a much better press than Dianette, is a pill called 'Yasmin' (Ironically....my name also happens to be Yasmin Laughing

). Apparently, Yasmin helps acne but does not have the same restrictions and side-effects as Dianette.

So, in a nut-shell, I'd have a chat to your doctor about your pill and the concerns you have about it. Perhaps you could discuss starting an alternative pill.

Good-luck Wink

free skin care · Wed Mar 02, 2005 6:35 am

I have been on birth control pills (Nordette) since I was 19. I decided to go off the pills because I assume it can't be good to be on them for so long. I found the pills affected my moods and made me too emotional. Now at 40, I have been off of them for 3 months. Mood-wise, I feel more balanced than I have ever felt, but now have terrible acne (who would have thought at 40?). So, I have been using Vit. C serum, retinol, etc. and now I am going through what I believe is the purging stage from using the products because my skin is still breaking out badly. I am staying with the products because I want to give them a chance to work.

free skin care · Wed Mar 02, 2005 8:30 am

Introducing any type of hormone into the body can risk putting someone's system into shock (mentally and physically) until enough time passes for the body to tolerate to it (I don't think tolerating to the mood changes is necessarily likely, though.) But different brands use different amounts of hormones, additives, etc. that definitely affect everyone differently. 2 months or more is definitely too long to wait if you're having an adverse reaction that's troubling you. I'd say a month would be long enough to see if any improvement is coming along. Also, if you really don't like something at that time, it's the doctor's responsibility to put you on something that you're happy with that makes you feel at ease.

I'm currently using Yasmin, which I really like because it doesn't make my skin break out and it also has a subtle diuretic included in it (I haven't looked into it enough to know which diuretic) that keeps you from having the bloated/water-retention side effect. I took Ortho-Tricyclen for years and it never helped me for either of my regulating issues. It was good for a while, though, since it was very easy on my system, but I didn't notice that one having any noticeable effect on my skin, either.

The thing with birth control is, at least from textbooks and every dermatologist I've talked to in my personal experience, that it doesn't so much improve your skin as kind of bring it to a middle point. If your skin is very very bad due to unstable hormones, it will kind of bring them to a plateau; not really make your skin look "good," but eliminate the hormonal effect so other treatments can start from a good baseline. So birth control use for skin, imho, is really overhyped. It makes it more stable, which may or may not be a very slight improvement, depending on the person.

free skin care · Wed Mar 02, 2005 1:08 pm

Thank you ladies for all your advice and candid sharing. I talked to some other girls and I think the concensus is that it takes about 2-3 months for the body to get used to birth control pills. That's a bit strange, but I guess it is something really "different" to add to your body. I will hang in here for a while -- maybe just 2 months (instead of 3) and see how things go. My doctor warned me not to "change" birth control pills at the first sign of a side effect (more acne, bloatedness) because he said every pill will give me that effect. So I guess patience is a real virtue in this scenario.

Thank you ALL for giving me your advice and sharing your experiences. It helps so so much!

free skin care · Wed Mar 02, 2005 1:23 pm

Good luck chunlisa, its a horrible situation to be in, but you have your Mom behind you and all being well, you'll see good results soon.

Thu Mar 03, 2005 5:10 am

Chunlisa - I see you got some great advice here and I hope that you'll see good results with Necon 1/35 soon. I would also suggest maybe PMing Caspers Mum - she is (or at least was) a volunteer counselor at a family planning clinic (not sure what the correct term for it is) and she has a lot of knowledge about the different birth control pills and what their side effects would be etc.

Wed Mar 09, 2005 9:33 pm

i'm so sorry you are having to go through this. nearly 10 years ago, i was in the same boat...near tears - okay - in tears. i remember i didn't go to school a couple days after starting retin-a; i felt like a total freak!

the best advice my dermatologist told me was not to look in the mirror as much. it can be really stressful and traumatic to go through, and the last thing you need is stress thinking about your skin. keep your hands off your face and give it some time. we have all gone through this. i had terrible acne when i was a teenager, and i have no acne scars because i never picked at my face. there is light at the end of the tunnel!

(messing with any hormones initially will disturb the balance of your system. but your hormones will adjust to the pill. good luck!)

Wed Mar 09, 2005 11:15 pm

Hi,
I'm not sure if I can help...but there is a product here in Australia called Tea Tonic.
I believe it might be available in some places overseas. The website iswww.teatonic.com.au
There is a Tea called Complextion Tea, which is renowned for clearing up the complexion of not so perfect skin. Hence the name Complextion Tea. It's a Herbal Tea, which has been specially fomulated by a Herbalist/Naturopath. Some testimonials claim that it's worked more effectively than the Dianne 35 birth control pill.
I hope that helps and that you can somehow get your hands on it!

Wed Mar 09, 2005 11:40 pm

hi sweetie- sorry you have to go through this for the first time. i work at a pharmacy and i have to tell you, it happens to practically everyone. if all you are using the pill for is hormonal balancing and not contraceptives, you might want to ask your doctor NOW about a low-estrogen pill, like yasmin.

when i first started taking the pill, i was in my teens and hoping it would regulate my period and my skin. i had about a month of 'purging' like youre having now, but it was to be expected because i was 15. unfortunately your doctor is right about one thing: most pills will do the same thing as far as your skin. orthotricyclen does not have any different ingredients than any other b/cs. almost all bc pills can help regulate someones acne or cycle.

so i do hope youll give it a few weeks and talk to your doctor about a lower hormone pill. if you still have this problem in a month, id go back and say,'hey, this isnt working for me, and i waited as long as i could, but this reaction is troubling me and i'd like to try something else.' it is your body, and you know better than anyone the effect this is having on you.
good luck.

free skin care · Thu Mar 10, 2005 12:28 am

Lisa:

Nobody's skin would have looked as horrible as mine when I had cystic acne for 3 yrs. I tried everything except acuvue (spelling?) which to me is an extreme medication. But, a gynec. suggested Yasmin, a bcp to regulate it. I went thru the same thing - more flare ups initially. It took me abt. 6 months to clear up completely. When I look at past pictures of my acne scarred face, I'm shocked 'coz my face is red, swollen & distorted.

I believe bcp is the best solution 'coz it targets the source of the problem. When I used OTC solutions, they were always harsh & irritating. In fact one of the reasons I developed eczema is because of acne products (overuse maybe). I think the worst product is benzoic acid. But, regular use of bcp totally removed cystic acne & I only get an occasional pimple or two.

My only advise to you is to get a BLOOD TEST if u haven't already to see your hormone levels first before u start taking bcp.

I hope my experience helps u in making a decision. I'm sure this is only a temporary phase for u. Take it easy.

Automatic Message

If this is your first visit to the EDS Forums please take the time to register. Registration is required for you to post on the forums. Registration will also give you the ability to track messages of interest, send private messages to other users, participate in Gift Certificates draws and enjoy automatic discounts for shopping at our online store. Registration is free and takes just a few seconds to complete.

Click Here to join our community.

If you are already a registered member on the forums, please login to gain full access to the site.