my parents have decided they want me to start birth control. they know i am stuggling so hard with acne so they think this will be the best decision. my mother called the doc and the doctor perscribed some for me. so my parents are picking the pill up soon, so i will be starting it later today. im not sure which type of birth control it is. there are many kinds out there, but ive heard alot of successful stories from people who were using Yasmin. do all birth control pills work for the face? i am just so desperate it kills me, i was crying on my bed about my acne last night and how its destroying me & little by little i am crumbling inside. i pray to the lord above that this will work. its my only alternative. if this doesnt work, then i seriously will have no more help & will offically give up.

You should find out what kind it is. Some kinds make acne worse like what Alesse did to me. I'm on Yasmin and it really works. I would try and change your prescription if it's not a pill that helps acne very much. You don't want to have to go on a pill for 3 months or more to see if it works and then if it doesn't, have to switch to another kind. Your body doesn't like things messing up it's hormones which equals more havoc on your skin. Just a suggestion.

I'm on orthotrycyclin and it didn't do anything to me but make me fatter. I'm off it now. My husband likes the idea of flirting with destiny. We haven't gotten pregnant this far, and I hope I don't! It didn't help/hurt my acne at all though.

Hey Barbie_doll have you tried any drugs made specifically for acne (accutane) becuase I wouldnt recommend going on the pill if you have acne.

Why do you not recommend going on the pill? I feel the same way because I personally have had a lot of problems with the pill, but I have heard that it can be really helpful for most people, especially yasmin and diane 35. I am curious why you feel this way about it...

why wouldnt you reccomend it? i've heard it helps, but i am not on yasmine or diane 35, i am on a different one i forget the name, i believe it starts with a D.

Oops thats not exactly what I meant. Its just that the pill wasnt made for acne, it was made as a method of birth controll. It most likely isnt going to be as effective, and saying that if the pill doesnt work your going to give up, well I just wanted to tell you not to get your hopes to high.

Just curious! Whats gonna happen if a guy takes birth control pills for pimples??

i have been taking OTC Lo for a month plus 1/2 a week and i noticed a HUGE breakthrough after my first cycle.. i also cut out dairy this month, and cut out all facial products except for a pH balanced cleanser and pure aloe vera juice as a toner after a steam (over a pot in the kitchen with chamomile flowers 2x a week)

i have also taken 4-5 grams of B5 suppliment daily, but am not sure that it is doing much.. i think it was the OTC Lo that began my drastic clear up because it happened right after my 1st cycle on BCPs began..

good luck..

Birth control pills can both cause and clear up acne. It's all about balancing hormones. BC's high in progesterone tend to cause acne. BC's have two types of hormones. Progesterone and Estrogen. There are at the very least 25 different BC's on the market. They vary in the type of Progesterone used and the strengths of both the Progesterone and Estrogen. The most common BC prescribed is Ortho-Tri-Cyclen (which comes a lower dose now - called OTC Lo) which is the only BC pill that has the indication to be prescribed for acne. Trial and error on different BC's is not uncommon. Often times women will try three to four diffent BC's because of the side effects. It's really not unlike a mix and match of loose candy. So if the first pill you try doesn't have the side effect of clearing acne talk to the doctor and see if he can adjust to a different BC with a different Progesterone or vary the strengths.

Acne is a part of life. Don't beat yourself up about it. If your parents are making the decision for you then I'm assuming you are fairly young...12-15. Your hormones are starting to go all out of whack and you may just have to tough it out through puberty before you balance out hormonally.

From the tone of your post you need more than a cure for you acne. Believe me, acne will more than likely end up being one of the easiest problems you're going to encounter in your life, and giving up because of it will only make the tougher times coming up easier to give up on too. It's not the end of the world.

As for the what will happen if a guy takes the pill. It will increase your estrogen level and you will develop more feminine characteristics. Higher voice, body fat being distributed differently, possible sterilty, emotional upheavel, lower bone density, and I'm sure countless others.

The body weight in particular is a evil cycle of estrogen, especially for women 35+. Estrogen hormone stimulates the storage of fat. Estrogen is also stored in fat. So it makes the body store more fat, then in the new fat more estrogen can be stored, yet again creating new fat stores. Women with lower muscle mass especially have a hard time burning off the fat stores. This is why there is a weight gain taking a BC pill.

Off the topic a little, but someone mentioned Accutane. Accutane is a very scary drug. I don't know if doctors still have to do this, but at one point in time they had to have the patient sign a consent form saying they understood all the side effects and potiential risks in the future. Aside from the possibility of causing birth defects if someone were to get pregnant, you have the possibility of severe depression, hallucinations, and suicidal thoughts. This is a drug that causes birth control pills to fail. You have to use two forms of birth control while on this medication.

barbie doll, have you considered a drug called Spironolactone? it's called Spiro for short. I'm hopefully going on it as soon as I get an appt. with an endocrinologist (to test potassium levels, cuz this drug has some risk in that area).

But it has similar effects to a BC pill. It blocks free testosterone, which causes androgens, then more oil, thus acne. Yasmin actually worked great for me in regard to my acne, but whoever talked about estrogen and body fat was right!!! I didn't mind the weight gain too much as it didn't make me look all that different, but I'm an athlete and it affected my performance, so I'm going to have to stop taking the pill.

Hopefully Spiro will block the acne hormones without causing the "fat" hormones... we'll see.

Good luck!

I have been on Ortho Tricylen since the end of May. It took about 2 months of that and Bactrim, but I am 99.9% clear. I still take the Bactrim for about 4-5 days right before I'm ready to start my period. This combination along with Azelex topical has made a dramtic change for me.