Do Oral Contraceptives Help with Acne?

Acne can be tough. It’s hard to find someone who hasn’t been affected, either their own personal struggles someone in their lives. For females dealing with acne, one of the options is birth control pills. Many want or need birth control, but others find help with their acne.

Oral contraceptives help some people with acne, but they can also stimulate it in others. Why? Because birth control pills are hormonal replacements for what happens naturally in your body. And there are numerous combinations of birth control pills, so just like the skin care products and medications used to treat acne, there’s no “one size fits all”.

Remember that acne begins with the oil glands. It’s the overproduction of oil that leads to clogged pores, inflammation and sometimes, deep cysts. Your oil glands are stimulated by hormonal changes in your body. This is why some experience “flares” of acne during or immediately after their menstrual cycle. The idea behind using oral contraceptives for acne is that they take over abnormal hormonal fluctuations that are triggering breakouts and make things a bit more stable. However, sometimes, changing things can trigger acne to flare. This explains why some women experience terrible acne that they’ve never had before during a pregnancy. Others become pregnant see their acne calm down as their bodies and skin take a break from the month to month fluctuations of their menstrual cycles.

The answer to the question is that sometimes birth control can help with acne. The FDA has approved three different birth control pills specifically for the treatment of acne. There are potential side effects, some of which can be serious such as blood clots. You need to discuss oral contraceptives in detail with your medical provider before you decide if they are the right choice for you.

* Acne Before and After Pictures