In my previous post about the Best and Worst Birth Controls For Acne, I mention that even if you follow the guidelines for choosing a birth control that is “safer” for acne, hormones affect everyone differently so there actually isn’t a way to know if a birth control will make your acne better, worse, or make no difference at all. Prescription medication isn’t usually that effective for getting or staying clear and it certainly isn’t necessary but if you are considering taking birth control to control your acne, there are some other things you should know beforehand.

BIRTH CONTROL SIDE EFFECTS

As with most prescription medications, there are many potential side effects with birth control: headaches, depression, changes in sex drive, weight gain, mood changes, nausea, breast tenderness, vaginal dryness, pelvic pain, chest pain, heart attack, blood clots, stroke. For me, the scariest thing about birth control isn’t actually the potential side effects: it is the fact that we are the first generation of women who have been prescribed birth control for such prolonged periods of time so the effects of long term birth control use are still unknown. I have a 30 year old friend who has been on birth control for 15 years (which is normal nowadays). She was having severe cramps and when she got checked out, they found bumps on her ovaries that they thought might be cancer. Luckily, they were clusters of cysts that weren’t cancerous but her Gynecologist told her that she is seeing more and more women around that age developing cysts from long-term birth control use. This is just one small example that shows that our bodies are essentially being used as experiments which is fine if the risks don’t concern you and/or the benefits outweigh the potential side effects but to manage a condition like acne does not require this level of risk.

Birth control is not usually a sustainable option

If you take birth control to manage your acne, chances are that you will want to get pregnant at some point. At that point, you will have to get off of birth control and if that has been the way you have been controlling your acne, there is a good chance it will reappear once you get off. I have had so many clients come to me because they are terrified to get off of birth control because they are scared about what effect it will have on their skin even though they are desperate to get pregnant. It is so sad to have to worry about your skin when getting pregnant and having a baby comes with so many of its own challenges. Even if you don’t ever want to get pregnant, consider whether or not you want to be on medication forever to manage your acne and, if not, I recommend finding a solution for managing your acne that is sustainable throughout all of the stages and phases of your life.

Birth control only targets one piece of the acne puzzle

In my e-course, The 8 Steps To Clear Skin, I talk about how one of the reasons most acne solutions fail is that they only target one or two aspects of the acne puzzle and birth control is no exception. Birth control targets hormones but acne is a multifactorial disease that requires a multitargeted approach to get truly clear long term so only targeting hormones ignores the other dozens of potential acne triggers out there. The most common thing I hear from my clients who have been using birth control is that their skin might have improved when they started taking birth control but it didn’t get completely clear. Or maybe it got completely clear but it was temporary. A truly effective approach to managing acne will not just improve your symptoms but will clear acne from the inside out and it will yield sustainable, permanent results rather than be a temporary fix.

Birth control does not deal with the root of the issue

Even if the birth control you choose helps manage your oil producing hormones, the root of acne is a genetic condition called Retention Hyperkeratosis and oil is just one of many factors that make up the acne puzzle. Acne is a really tricky disease (yes, it is a dis-ease) to manage because there is an underlying cause and lots of potential internal and external triggers that can ignite or exacerbate it and all of them have to be managed at the same time to be effective. When choosing an acne program, product, method, or professional, make sure that they are targeting each piece of the acne puzzle at the same time. If the solution you are choosing claims to target oil or bacteria or inflammation, that is a good sign it’s probably not going to work.