Coming off the pill - Acne

[tootiredtoclean]

I have been taking the pill (Yasmin) to manage my acne. My and DP are now at a stage where we want to start TTC but I am worried about my acne coming back and how this made me feel before. Any advice would be welcome? I'm currently taking the pill every few days to try and manage any acne but I'm guessing this won't be helping with TTC.

I'm sorry to hijack, can I ask if the Yasmin has helped your acne much?
I'm currently awaiting a referral for DD to a dermatologist as hers is awful and I'm.surprised she hasn't been offered the pill yet.

PS I was told when I was 15 that the best thing to clear my acne would be to have a baby. I didnt have a baby until I was 26 but they were right, I haven't had a spot since and I had been on every available treatment for about 13 years.

I have tried just about every medication and cream they could offer and yasmin cleared it almost completely. I just got the odd spot here and there, no pain, scarring or itchiness. Absolutely recommend it for your DS.

My mum said a baby will fix it as it completely cleared her acne (we are so similar medical history wise, it's scary) so I am really hoping it will for me to. It's just managing it while off and it's also going to be pretty obvious that I've come off the pill too.

My skin was fine for the first few months after stopping it. I do get a few spots now but nothing as bad as i used to. Ask the doctor for a cream just incase. Ive used a couple in the past to help. Zineryt was my favourite but my skin got used to it. I have duac cream now which is good but can dry me out xx

@trying2019 I stopped it last year and they were back in full force after 2 weeks. I hated the comments and how insecure I felt, plus we had a holiday with the IL's so I went back on it again.
I didn't find the creams helped previously apart from bleaching everything but will definitely try again. I don't want to feel like I need to go back on the pill just to manage my skin when starting are family is more important to me long term

I use topical vitamin a, prescription. It’s SO good.

@tootiredtoclean i know what you mean every couple of years i tend to get breakouts and it really gets me down and knocks my confidence.keep trying different things and hopefully youll find something to suit you. I have had antibiotics before as well that helped kick start them to clear so may be an option. X

Just a note to say do NOT use anything with retinol or vitamin A in it whilst TTC or when pregnant. It is toxic to a foetus.

Talk to your doctor about TTC and your acne and they should be able to prescribe you something else. Whether it works or not is a another thing but you don't really have much choice but to stop the pill if you want to conceive.
Nothing I tried worked when mine was bad 6 years ago and I had to go on isotretinoin (so toxic to an unborn baby they make you take pregnancy tests every time you pick up a new prescription). One thing I recommend is to see a good beauty therapist who can advise on what to use on your skin. Turns out mine was dehydrated (even though it was so oily) and every time I used tea tree I was making it worse, I now use a moisturising face wash, some nicotinamide and hydrate my skin and it's a lot better!

I also can't take antibiotics for my skin when TTC as this is something the mentioned before when I was taking them. Yasmin seems to be the only thing that has worked for me.
I will definitely ask the beautician when I'm next there as I also use tea tree so that's something to consider. Thank you

Making an appointment at my GP is ridiculously hard that if I know my options I can just ask them for it online without needing an appointment

@trying2019 to other people I think they think it's a joke but to it sticks. I also work with people with memory loss so you hear the same comments over and over again which doesn't help. On yasmin funnily I get comments about how good my skin looks!

You're story is very similar to mine OP! I've had acne for several years and been on pretty much every contraceptive, every topical treatment and every antibiotic. The last contraception being Dianette which cleared my skin up.

I was so so worried about coming off it (I don't think people who haven't experienced acne can ever fully understand how it feels to have it!!), the first month was fine and I thought it had been cured, and then it came back even worse for around 3/4 months. I went back to the doctors and was prescribed Duac - I was very dubious about it working as it hadn't in the past, but it completely cleared my skin within a month. I then came off Duac due to TTC (although my GP did say that I could stay on it until I actually fell pregnant) and my skin has been clear for the last couple of months. I think it's taken this many months for my hormones to begin to regulate normally from the pill, and using Duac helped "break the cycle" my skin was stuck in.

I also used 'the ordinary' products and fresh aloe Vera left on my face overnight as a mask, which I feel like definitely helped. My suggestion would be to "ride it out" for a couple of months after coming off the pill and seeing if it'll sort itself out (I know much easier said then done!), or, I'm not sure how far into your TTC journey you are, but taking a month out to use topical treatments to see if that'll budge it.

Sorry for the essay - but I know exactly how acne can leave you feeling so couldn't not comment

@pawsin thank you so much. It helps to hear a positive story. We are at the beginning of our TTC journey and would definitely take a month out to get on top of things. I grow aloe vera so can use that too and hopefully it'll help.

@tootiredtoclean I had really bad acne and was on Yasmin for 8 years, I stopped it Dec 2018 to TTC and my skin was bad for about 4 weeks then it magically cleared up! Must have been my hormones rebalancing or something but my skin has been perfect ever since! Still waiting on my BFP though! Good luck