Birth control pills made my acne worse.

I started taking birth control expecting a sure fix for my acne, but my acne got worse. It's been 2 months on Ortho Tri-Cycline Lo. My doctor put me on tetracycline and clindamycin. Should I quite taking the birth control? Is it just going to get worse before it gets better or am I having a completely adverse reaction?

Hi, I've never taken ortho tri-cyclen, but perhaps my own experience with birthcontrol may be helpful to you. I started taking Yaz birth control 6 months ago to control my acne. The first three months were horrible, my back and chest acne cleared up almost immediately but my face broke out worst than ever. I usually only break out on my cheeks and once I started taking Yaz i broke out all over my face (chin, forehead, everywhere). I wanted to get off the BC immediately but my doctor told me to give it time because my body just needed to get use to it. and she was right...i am now on my 6th pack and I have not had a breakout on my face for the last two months. not even one pimple and like I said my back and chest have been completely acne free for the past 6 months. I don't know if you have quit taking the ortho tri cyclen yet but if you can handle it I would say give it 3-4 months...Sometimes we want immediate results but it takes time for our bodies to adjust to the hormonal changes. If you don't see any changes in 3-4 mths then I would quit taking them.

I used to have REALLY bad skin!! Out of nowhere I just had a really bad break out that never went away and got worse for a year or so! SO BAD that I didn't want to leave my house. I took Ortho Tri Cycline - Blue and it didn't do anything. THEN I took it with 100mg a day of Aldactone. After all the cleaners, trips to the derm., and tetracyclins etc... the Aldactone worked and my skin cleared up in 3 days!!! It was AMAZING! There are b/c pills that have it but sometimes it's not enough. I don't have to take the Aldactone anymore but I did take it for a few years and it worked REALLY well with Ortho Tri Cycline - Blue. I switched to Ortho TriCycline LO and I broke out. The lower dosage of hormones weren't as effective.

Hope that helps! I know how tough it can be!!! Good LUCK!!

Guest wrote:

Hi, I've never taken ortho tri-cyclen, but perhaps my own experience with birthcontrol may be helpful to you. I started taking Yaz birth control 6 months ago to control my acne. The first three months were horrible, my back and chest acne cleared up almost immediately but my face broke out worst than ever. I usually only break out on my cheeks and once I started taking Yaz i broke out all over my face (chin, forehead, everywhere). I wanted to get off the BC immediately but my doctor told me to give it time because my body just needed to get use to it. and she was right...i am now on my 6th pack and I have not had a breakout on my face for the last two months. not even one pimple and like I said my back and chest have been completely acne free for the past 6 months. I don't know if you have quit taking the ortho tri cyclen yet but if you can handle it I would say give it 3-4 months...Sometimes we want immediate results but it takes time for our bodies to adjust to the hormonal changes. If you don't see any changes in 3-4 mths then I would quit taking them.

i am having the same problem! i used ot have bad acne. then i started using a 2.5% cream of benzoyl peroxide and moisturizing. my skin cleared up completely, but i still had some on my back and chest. then i started taking YAZ, this is my first month on it and face looks worse than ever before, breaking out everywhere! i am still using the same stuff i did before, but it doesn't seem to help at all. so you say after 6 packs it went away on your face??? and another question, did the breast tenderness ever go away? i don't know what to do, i want to get off it right away as well, but my boyfriend keeps telling me to relax and let my body adjsut to the hormones...

My acne is worse than before. I was put on generic Ortho Cyclen, (Sprintec) and immediately noticed my face breaking out. I talked to my doctor and my pharmacist about what was going on and they both told me to wait it out and it should clear up my skin within a few weeks. I have been taking it for about 2.5 weeks now. You say it took 3-4 months for it to work??? That seems so long with as bad as my acne is right now. I'll wait it out though and hope for the best!!! Thanks.

I started taking Yaz and I'm in my third week. I had mild acne before taking it (I started taking it for birth control hoping that the 90% of patients seeing improvement in acne would be a nice bonus) and now my face is breaking out worse than ever and I've started to get pimples on my chest. Gross. I'm going to call my dr. and see what she says about waiting. I'll report back if I find anything out.

I am almost finished with my second pack of Sprintec (generic for ortho cyclen) and my face has been horrible since I started! I have always had minor break outs right before my period, but never 5+ pimples on my chin at a time like I do now. I'm hoping I can wait it out and it will eventually get better. I just don't know how much longer I can give it. I am beginning to scar on my chin, and it's very bothersome! Everything else seems fine.. no other side effects so I am not wanting to switch becuase I am afraid another pill will cause side effects worse than acne. HOPEFULLY WITH TIME IT GETS BETTER! If not I'm thinking about using Yasmin. Thanks for the posts... it's nice to know I'm not the only one dealing with this!

I started taking birth control expecting a sure fix for my acne, but my acne got worse. It's been 2 months on Ortho Tri-Cycline Lo. My doctor put me on tetracycline and clindamycin. Should I quite taking the birth control? Is it just going to get worse before it gets better or am I having a completely adverse reaction?



The birth control may not be working because tetracycline is an antibiotic and if you read your birthcontrol antibiotics can cancel your birth control.... most antibiotics do.......

Hey yall, I just came by to give my word in about sprintec generic birth control...after being on and nearly passing out on yaz several times during my first three days on it, i quit and started taking sprintec...the first month i took it, my skin broke out worse on m chin...i would wake up every morning to 5 disgusting cysts with heads on my chin that id have to wash off with exfoliation..after the first month though, my skin was slowly getting better...whenever my period week came, my skin would actually be at its best..all my red post-acne marks seemed to even lighten as my skin cleared up!! the third month was the best and my skin was the clearest it had been and i rarely got active zits..but then i moved onto my college campus and ever since then my skin started getting random painful cysts right before my period week..this continued for the last 3 months of the 6month trial i went on sprintec...so i had rated it as a pretty good birth control since it helped me lose a lot of weight and it cleared up my skin and i probably broke out on campus cause of the dietary changes, exercise changes, water changes, etc...but i recently stopped taking sprintec after a 6month use and my skin is reeking havoc..idont know what to do its really depressing me....but yeah sprintec's not bad so no worries ladies!!

I've been taking ortho tri-cyclen for 4 months now. I started in late August just for the purpose of birth control. I had very mild, under control acne at the time... but over the course of a month, it got so worse that it was embarrassing to be in public. It only spread on my face though, no where else. On top of that, at least once every 2 weeks I would vomit and be so dizzy and nauseated all night. And my mood swings got so terrible too, I'd cry over anything. Now it's been 4 months, my acne is better, but not GONE, and the mood swings haven't lowered. The only good thing about the pill is the vomiting and nausea went away, and I'm protected birth-wise. I wonder if this is the right pill for me? I just want this unnecessary acne that STARTED with this pill to be gone! And I don't want to be so emotional and depressed! Does anyone else get this way too? Thanks.