Birth control pills made my acne worse.

I know this is not what you want to hear, but I've been on ortho tri cyclen for about 6 years - - - and I still have acne. Some people with adult acne or hormonal acne simply are not helped by birth control. I'll be heading to a derm soon to try and get this cleared up before my wedding and I suggest you speak to one as well if your acne persists.

All of sudden, I started going through minor acne breakouts on my cheeks. As months passed, they kept getting a little worse & they did not want to go away so I decided to go under birth control pills since I was told that it clears up acne. IT WAS THE WORST DECISION I HAD EVER MADE!!!!! I broke out terribly!!! I got acne all over my face & they pimples were all bunched up. I broke out in places I had never ever broken out before. MY cheeks, jawline, temple areas, nose had acne. They were not just your regular little pimples. They were swollen & red & they hurt so bad when I would touch my face or even smile. I was told to just give it a chance & that within 3-4 months of taking the pills, my face would clear up. COMPLETELY WRONG!!! I lasted a little over 5 months taking the pills and I can honestly say that my face was just getting worse. I stopped taking the pill & my face is getting so much better now that im using some acne clearing stuff.

I was on ortho tricyclen lo for about 2 years with no problems whatsoever. At first there was some back acne that cleared up and then I only got the occasional pimple here and there that was just a natural thing for me having large pores and oily skin. Anyway, through a series of events I had to go on an off brand. There are no off brands for the lo type, unfortunately, so I was put on Tri-Sprintec, a step up. People, don't do it!!!!!! If you are on it monitor your moods very closely. I became so full of anger and rage for no reason at all ALL the time. It was awful. Then, I gave it 3 months and ended up gaining 11 pounds in those 3 months after being the same weight for the past 5 or 6 years. I was horrified and asked to be put back on Ortho T Lo. I am back on it now and I am experiencing breakthrough bleeding and back and face acne. It is terrible and embarrassing. I hate it. Within the first week of getting off Tri-Sprintec, though, I did lose 4 pounds, and I'm getting back down where I was. I am on my second month on OTL and the acne seems to just be getting worse. I've also never had breakthrough bleeding with this kind, but now I am. I regret ever going off it, but I think it's a good idea to wait and my face will probably clear up. I hope so!

I've been on birth control for about 8 years. When  I was younger I suffered with the occasional acne outbreak while on the pills. However, one thing that helped me was getting my diet under control. Please remember that WATER is your friend. Water is what will literally cleanse your system of all the things that pollute your system and cause you to break out. I STILL hate drinking water but my trick is to drink a full glass of water or a bottle with something sweet ( a donut, pastry, cookie)it will help. Also if acne is in your family history ask some of your family members what helped them and when they notice flare up. For the most part our skin is usually a reflection of our mood (stress?, breakups?, depression) and most importantly remember hygiene. One thing acne thrives on is oil....packing makeup on and leaving it on through the day causes the poor to be unable to breath and sweating throughout the day will add to the ideal environment for acne. To some it is vital to wear makeup but if you're going to do that then make sure as soon as you're done with the work day and back home you go wash that stuff off and cleanse your face and astringent really helps.  As for those that suffer from nausea and vomiting due to the pill unfortunately I exprience that twice, however I have a possible solution. For me my doc suggested to take the pill RIGHT after a  meal and with a full glass of something, that should counter any nausea. Word of wisdom here, with any medication you should always take some kind of food, meal with it to guard your stomach, you want to keep the medication down, bringing it back up will make you have to start the med. another day. If you really have a sensitive stomach try taking it with MILK, the milk will give your stomach a temporary "coating" or "cushion" if you will while the pill digest. Another thing to avoid (an early mistake) if you missed a pill DO NOT take 2 pills back to back you will throw up and suffer bad abdomen discomfort. Hope I helped.

Hi everyone, 

Hey everyone!

I really love reading forums, I'm just starting Ortho-Cyclen and am very excited since my acne is horrible... I just wanted to give some input for everyone that's on Ortho TRI Cyclen or anything with the letters TRI in it.  Yes, there is a difference between Ortho Cyclen and Ortho TRI cyclen.  There is a difference between Sprintec and TRI Sprintec, and this may be your problem if you're using something that is TRI.  Some birth control is tri-phasic.  If you've ever noticed, every row of pills are a different color.  That means you're getting a different dosage of hormones each row.  To sum it all up, these pills are mimicking what your hormones would be like OFF the pill.  You'll start out high, go very low, and then go back to normal.  This is why you might be breaking out.  With mono-phasic, which would be Ortho-Cyclen or Sprintec, all the pills are the exact same dosage of hormones, therefore you won't be experiencing any changes of hormones since it's always a steady amount.  If you're thinking about switching BC, try finding a monophasic pill.

Also!  It takes 8 weeks for your skin to regrow, or whatever.  So it's going to take your skin a little longer to get used to BC... you may not see results now, but you will later!!! :)

I hope this helps someone!

I've taken ortho tri-cycline as well, I took it when I was about 13. It made my acne terrible too. I haven't been on any other birth control since but it might just be that you need to switch to a different form of birth control.

I'm 20. I wanted to begin birth control, and chose YAZ because I tend to have severe mood swings a full 2 weeks before my period, and I also had very mild acne, mainly between my eyebrows and a couple on the cheeks.

Now, it's been 2 weeks on YAZ: the good news, I have no painful side effects at all, such as nausea, headaches, etc. HOWEVER, I've developed much more acne than I've ever seen on my face. It's so depressing. The reason I'm MOST concerned about this issue s because it's baaaad timing - I am getting married in exactly one month. ADVICE?

I recently started Yaz (less than a week ago) had moderate acne, irregular periods, gyno recommended me Yaz - all of a sudden, I started getting these swollen red bumps all over my face. Would it be harmful for me to stop now? I don't know how long I can deal with this. My job requires me to see people all the time.

I was taking ortho tri cyclen for over 2 years, the entire time I had extremely bad painful acne. Completely uncontrollable! I was on a 4 day camping trip smack dab in the middle of nowhere when I realized I had forgotten to pack my birthcontrol. Since that very day I have not had a single significant breakout! Now, almost a year later I am not on any birthcontrol and my skin is as clear as ever!! I truley am terrified that if I start on hormonal birthcontrol again,my acne will come back :-(

make sure to read the instructions of your birth control becasue a lot of the time if you miss one pill it'll say to take two the next day i think :/

I agree with many other people on this post- BC takes about 3 months for your body to adjust to, so wait at least that long before making any decisions.

When I first started two years ago I don't remember acne, but I was bloated and had breakthrough bleeding. After three months this stopped, especially once I was more used to taking it at the exact same time every day. I was not taking it for acne purposes but as a birth control medicine. I stopped over this summer and have just started up again with the same pills and I got terrible acne in just a few days! I usually have a few pimples a month, mostly in the week before my period starts, but this is all around my mouth and T-zone. It has been 3 weeks now.

I know it's just the hormones doing their thing, and although this is pretty awful I can't recommend strongly enough waiting it out for three months or more before switching.

 

I started taking Ortho Tri Cyclen when I was 16 to help with my heavy periods. Ive never experienced acne, no more than just the here and there random pimple ever few months. At 28 I had my first child and developed melasma. After giving birth and going back on Ortho it seemed to make the melasma worse so I was switched to a lower dose birth control pill called Microgestin. Almost immediately I started developing acne on my chin. Just red bumps that were never pus filled and never came to a head that you could pop but when I say they never went away they never went away. Its like it was just the same raised bumps in clusters of about 7 or 8 (small ones) on either side of my chin, never in the middle. I tried to give the Microgestin an opportunity to get in my system and thought that eventually maybe my chin acne would clear up. It didnt. 6 months later the chin acne was not gone, was no better and was making me feel like c**p about myself. I didnt even want to look people in the face. LIke I said before I have never had acne so this was too much for me. I called my doctor and asked to me switched back to Ortho Tri Cyclen. Ive been on it two weeks and my chin acne has not cleared up as of yet, but just from Google research it appears that it may take a few months for it to get in my system good and start helping the acne. Using bleaching creams for the melasma is more manageable than dealing with this horrible acne that never goes away. Good luck to everyone and what works for one persons body chemistry may do the exact opposite on anothers. Find what works for you!

Did your acne get worse after you stopped taking the pill. I'm having the same exact issue. My acne is ten times worse then when I started the pill!!

Hi eeryone!! I know you may be hearing the best of stories about yaz but I have to say it did not work for me. I had acne on my forehead so I took akamin and that didn't help after that I took doxycycline and that also didn't help, I then got prescribed to the pill, yaz. Everyone said it gets worse before better but once mine got worse it did not get better, I was on it for 6 months not onl did my skin break out bad I gained 5 kilos and they are impossible to lose, I had a good diet it's just because of what's in yaz. I now have a lot of hair that falls out due to yaz and my skin is worse then ever, while on yaz I also went through depression, I'm not trying to scare you because my friend is on it and her skin is perfect and cleared up well! It just depends on the person I guess !