In addition to avoiding pregnancy, birth control pills have proven to be an effective treatment for persistent acne.
Acne is caused by many things, but one of the most persistent forms of acne stem from your hormones. When your body produces too many hormones, called androgens, your body produces more oil. More oil causes your skin to become clogged and then acne occurs.
Teenage boys and adult woman are the most common sufferers of hormonal acne. Women will break out more about a week prior to their menstrual cycle and they even have excessive hair grow in odd places. Acne occurs mostly around your jaw line, chin, chest and back area.
If you have been on ongoing treatment for acne and it still isn’t working your acne is likely caused from you body producing too many hormones. If this is the case, you may want to get your hormone levels tested.
Birth control pills are oral contraceptives that can be used as treatment for hormonal acne. They contain estrogen and progestin. The estrogen will lower hormones produced by your ovaries. Progestin hydrates your skin cells by retaining fluids and will also cause your tissues to swell. The bad thing about progestin is that it can actually cause your pores to become clogged. Scientists have recently found a way to make birth control pills that have lower doses of progestin so that it can effectively improve your skin.
Androgens and estrogen walk a fine line in working together to create balance to the skin. If there is the perfect amount of each produced, your skin should be blemish free.
Ortho Tri-Cyclen and Estro-Step are the only birth control pills available for the treatment of acne that have been approved by the FDA. Acne can be severe or mild, so it may take a couple of tries to find the right dose of birth control that works for you, however, even low-dose birth control pills have been proven to improve acne. Side effects include melasma and brown, blotchy skin.
In addition to medications and topical creams and gels, your doctor can also prescribe an anti-androgen. Anti-androgens help to lower oil production. A high blood pressure medication known as Spironolactone also contains anti-androgens that can improve acne. Side effects include headache, fatigue, a need to urinate frequently, tenderness to the breasts, and irregular periods.
Corticosteroids can work to reduce the amount of inflammation that generally occurs with acne. It works by telling your adrenal glands to stop producing so many hormones. This is not effective for everyone and in some cases, may even aggravate the acne.
Birth control pills are a daily commitment that cannot be taken lightly. Whether you are taking it to regulate your period, prevent pregnancy, lower cramping or controlling acne, you need to be consistent about taking it daily as directed by your doctor.
Talk to your doctor to find out if he/she thinks birth control will help to improve your acne. Treatment for acne is different for everyone.
Mary Murphy
More on acne and birth control pills here.