About 4 months ago I started taking birth control Since I have had great problems with acne. Normally I hear it is supposed to clear it up, but I know that this must be the problem because I never had any skin problems before. I want to know has anyone else had this problem and does it go away after a while? I dont want to switch pills because that is too much of a risk.

About 4 months ago I started taking birth control Since I have had great problems with acne. Normally I hear it is supposed to clear it up, but I know that this must be the problem because I never had any skin problems before. I want to know has anyone else had this problem and does it go away after a while? I dont want to switch pills because that is too much of a risk.


Birth control can cause break outs. It's a common side effect.

Usually, the skin will stop breaking out after a few months on the birth control. Your body needs time to adjust to the hormones. Wait another month or two; if you continue to have problems, consult your physician.

I recently had three really painful, cystic zits - two on my chin, and one a little higher up to the side of my mouth. I think they were from my pill, Yaz. I tried about everything to get rid of them but nothing at all seemed to change them or effect them in even the slightest way! It was so frustrating. They finally went away after about two weeks, but like you I had always had clear skin before, so I was really upset. Also, I like this pill a lot and have had more serious issues on other pills, so I don't really want to switch. Anyway... since they are gone now, I am going to keep taking the pill... if I get many more flare ups, though, I'm going to have to call my doctor to talk about what's going on, because having clear skin is really important to me!

Good luck -- I hope it clears up for you soon =(
-Mirabelle

I feel your pain; I used to only get pimples if I didn't wash my face before going to bed, other than that I rarely saw them. I started having huge pimples that take forever to go away 1 month after taking birth control. I have tried 4 different pills (giving each 5 months) and all of them made me break out. I got SO sick of having pimples and not to mention the scars, that I stopped taking the pill all together! It has been about two months since I stopped taking the pill and for the past two weeks I have had no pimples at all!

I don’t think I will ever try the pill again just because I used to get around 2- 5 pimples a day that took like two months to go away, right now I am mainly just focusing on getting rid of the horrible scarring that was left behind. It really sucks because I can’t go a day without using concealor to cover up my once beautiful complexion.

I hope you have better luck battling birth control breaking you out, let me know if you find something that works for you!

What bc are you taking? Some pills can break you out while others can help clear you up. Typically orthotricyclen can help with breakouts. I was on loestrin fe for a while and that broke me out terribly. I switched to ortho lo and its finally under control.

I've always had hormonal acne. At the end of my first/beginning of the second month on Loestrin 24fe I broke out pretty bad but now my face has never been clearer. This is my 5th month on it.

I guess it's a person by person basis!