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Does Birth Control Pills Cause Acne

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Published: 01Jul2009
Word count: 443
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Causes of Acne

The following are the lead causes of pimples and acne:

Puberty and related changes (activation of sebaceous glands or the oil glands) Hormonal imbalance Dirt Skin types (oily skin is more prone to acne) Highly stressful lifestyle Vitamin and mineral deficiency Rare cases of heredity Cosmetics

Link between Birth Control Pills and Acne Demystified

Birth control pills are effective for acne treatment only in the cases where the main cause for acne is hormone related. Sometimes, an excess secretion of androgen from the ovaries is the leading cause of stubborn pimples and acne. Androgen has the property of activating the oil glands that leads to and increased occurrence of acne. Certain combination of birth control pills help by suppressing the level of androgen in the body. Testosterone (male hormone) is also associated with the increase in the activity of oil glands, thereby promoting acne. Oral contraceptives, especially those containing Estrogen and Progestin, reduce Testosterone in the body. Not all types of oral contraceptives are flatly effective on everyone. You need to decide upon the right combination suitable to your physiology. Of course, this has to be done under the guidance of a medical practitioner. In addition, other acne specific drugs, including antibiotics should be used as supplements to enhance the efficacy of the medication, for instance, benzoyl peroxide, alpha hydroxyl acids, and retinoids.

Preferred Combination and Commercially Available Products

Medicinal formulations containing the hormones Estrogen and Progestin (synthetically manufactured Progesterone) are usually beneficial in the therapy. Estrogen helps in maintaining the hormonal balance and regulates the level of Testosterone. Progestin is added to prevent any side effects caused by excess Estrogen. Lower Estrogen drugs such as Alesse should be preferred, as they do not have lesser repercussions related to the hormone. Ensure that the progestins in the medicine are anti-androgenic and not androgenic. Some of the commonly available brands are:

YAZ Ortho Tri-Cyclen Estrostep Yasmin

Birth Control Pills: Last Resort!

Oral contraceptives are resorted to only after exhausting all the other options, due to the reactions of hormone replacement therapy. If you do not intent to go in for contraception, use of birth control pills for acne treatment is a bad choice. The known side effects of oral contraceptive pills are:

Nausea Irregular menstrual cycles Cyst in the bust area Tendering of breasts Heart ailments Clotting of blood Cancer

While taking the risk of above side effects, you should be aware of the fact that oral contraceptive pills do not necessarily treat acne. Therefore, exercise a lot of prudence in adopting birth control pills for acne cure and try to keep it as last choice, rather than a preferred option.

Precision Trials offer physician research based birth control clinical trials and HPV Research.

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