I take a mini pill for contraception. Last year the usual type I have wasn't available (there were shortages due to issues with production) and I had to try a couple of alternatives, none of which agreed with me - despite them supposedly being pretty much the same - and after a few months I went back to my regular pill.
During the time I was taking different hormones I started to develop what I've since discovered is known as 'the mask of pregnancy', a type of skin pigmentation around my mouth. It is particularly noticeable on my upper lip and is a very neat patch of darker skin, leaving me with a subtle and not flattering shadow moustache. I also have less noticeable greyer areas down the sides of my mouth which look like shadows and are quite aging.
The research I've done just seems to suggest that I have to wear sunscreen and cover it with make up. Make up isn't an option to me, I have rosacea which is mild but is triggered by make up (no matter what I wear my skin eventually rebels) Sunscreen is only to prevent it getting worse, and though I do generally wear sun screen I would like to be able to get a little bit of colour on my skin as I'm very pale.
I am thinking of trying out different contraceptive pills to see if there could be any improvement with different hormones - but I'm also worried that could make it worse, and some things I've seen online suggest the changes could be permanent. Has anyone else had this and found a way to deal with it?
I did read that if the changes are caused by pregnancy that they tend to lessen after mum has had the baby, but that's not much help in my case!
Before anyone suggests it, last time I tried non hormonal contraceptives was a disaster and not something I want to go through again.
Would really appreciate if anyone has any experience, I'd never heard of this being a side effect before I had it (another joy of being a woman!)