Birth Control Pills and Acne
As many women know, birth control pills can actually be an effective treatment against acne. Clear skin via the pill may seem unconventional, but the fact is that even the FDA has recognized and approved low-dose usage of birth control pills for acne treatment. So what is it about the pill that helps clear up your skin?
Acne is mainly caused by the excess production of skin oil (sebum), which in turn is linked to an increased production of androgens (male sex hormones) by your body. For women, a high degree of androgens are produced just before menstruation. The low-dose use of birth control pills has been shown to decrease the production of excess androgens, and thus effectively prevent acne from forming in the first place. This connection between birth control pills and clear skin has been noted both in medical journals and by numerous women who have noticed their skin improve after going on the pill for reasons totally unrelated.
Despite these positive aspects, using the pill to combat acne has some downsides as well. Besides the obvious downside should you wish to become pregnant, there are also side effects associated with the pill such as headaches, nausea, breast pain, occasional weight gain, vaginal bleeding, fluid retention, melasma (dark patches on your skin), and depression. More serious side effects such as breast cancer, heart attacks and blood clots are also a consideration. Birth control pills are not the safest acne treatment out there, but they are one of the only things that target your hormones directly. Treatments such as vitamin B5 and Accutane aim closer to the skin level by targeting oil production, while topical treatments like benzoyl peroxide simply target the oil and bacteria that is already there.
