My beautiful teenaged daughter has recently started suffering from pretty bad acne. I asked a friend which products had worked for her daughter, and she recommended putting her on a low-dosage birth control pill. Her daughter's skin cleared up beautifully once she was on the pill. I know girls often take the pill for reasons other than contraception -- heavy periods, cramping, irregular periods -- but I hadn't heard of it being used for this application. Does anyone have experience with this?
Proactive is truly miraculous. I have had acne all my life, birth control or no, and finally in my forties I have clear skin.
The risks of birth control are too high.
I was on Yaz before getting pregnant and I plan on getting my tubes tied. I also plan on going back on Yaz because I have bad acne and that was the only thing that took away my acne. I didn't gain weight it also helped with my periods. I also took several different types of medications for my acne and it didn't help. Birth Control was the only thing that took it away.
Try Proactive first. It's worked for me and many others.
yes when i was a teenager there are some b/c pills that do help this ask the dr. about it . it help me with all these syptoms plus zits. although sorry to say i can't remember what the name of it was all i can is that it does work. from a mom that once knew
Birth control pills absolutely worked for me! I don't have bad acne, just one big, painful cyst during every period. My dermatologist told me to go on the pill!! Just talk to the doctor about side effects or potential problems.
Yep! I was on it from the age of 16 until I got pregnant just to keep my acne in check. I believe I also used Ortho Tri Cyclen. My suggestion is to get an appointment with a dermatologist (a regular doc will often try other options that are not always as effective first) and explain that you would like to use BC to help try and clear it up. They may make her try other things first, but push for the BC...it truly did wonders for my skin!
I took birth control for many years primarily for acne. It does help for some girls but not for everyone! Make sure before you have a doctor prescribe birth control that they check your daughter thorougly. One thing I found out just about 1 year ago is that I have Factor V Leiden which is a blood clotting disorder. This together with birth control could have been dangerous (which it wasn't for me as I didn't have any symtoms my whole life) but I was now advised to not use specific birth control pills anymore (including the one I had used to treat the acne/cramping).
Use Ortho tri cyclen. I have used it for years for acne and it does help
I was on ortho tri cycline for it and it made me gain weight so i stopped taking it. I found that my acne was caused by an allergy to the chemicals in the products so I switched to natural stuff and I don't have a problem anymore/.
The only time I've been on birth control was to help control acne. Different brands have different levels of hormones, so they'll all be a little different. A few are FDA approved to help control acne.
Your best bet is to ask your pharmacist or her primary care provider if they recommend it.
Birth control pills may be linked to certain cancers, so I'd really find out the pros and cons before you consent. There are several other ways to control acne without using hormone-based approaches. A good dermatologist can recommend low-dose antibiotics (such as doxycyclene which is FDA approved), antibiotic lotions such as Benzaclin or Duac.
Unfortunately, in my mid-30's, it's still a struggle for me because of hormonal fluctuations around my period, so I know a little more than the average person. I'm also a recent cancer survivor, so I choose to deal with my acne topically instead of using any medications since we don't know what caused my cancer (Hodgkins lymphoma).
Good luck. If it were my daughter, I'd not use BC pills as an acne treatment unless all other resources had been exhausted.
Personally, it wasn't until I was on the pill that my acne cleared up when I was 18 yrs old. Prior to that i was constantly called "pizza face," I had one boy friend who said he had trouble looking at me because of my acne. So I agree with the application, just also understand that it opens up a few other worries for you as a mom.
Good luck with your decision.
two good reasons not to...being on the pill for long periods of time can make it very hard to get pregnant when you finally decide to and two stroke. i wouldnt want to risk these two things happening for the posibility of loosing a couple pimples.
I had 2 friends do this in high school. It worked miracles for one but did nothing for the other.
I have read some at least some kinds of BC help with acne (because it alters the hormone situation).
Make sure your daughter doesn't pick at her acne, or it will scar. I would discuss the BC with the family doctor.
