Dianette for acne

[Localher0]

Does anyone have experience of how long this tales to actually have an effect on acne? Asking for my daughter who has just started it as a last resort. She can't take roaccutane so that's a hard no. She's tried everything up till now and nothing has worked, although spironolactone worked for a while and then stopped. She's only 19 and it's really getting her down.

Hats off to you girl getting a Mirena @Localher0 . I've got one and found insertion quite painful. I'm not sure I could have coped with it at 19! But it is a game changer. I wish I'd got it years ago rather than suffering decades of heavy, painful periods.

My experience of this was about 40 years ago, so a bit old :)

However, it was the only thing that ever took my spots away until, some ten years later, I was prescribed Roaccutane and that got rid of them forever. It took probably a couple of months before the Dianette really kicked in (but again, that was a very long time ago).

I took it in the 80s as a teen and it cleared up my horrendous acne when nothing else had worked. Can't remember how quickly, sorry, but it's definitely effective.

Dianette worked ok, but I did end up on anti-depressants. I didn’t put 2 and 2 together at the time. I’m now on Yasmin which works an absolute treat.

Thanks all - will keep you posted. She's only 2 and a half weeks in but there hasn't been a huge improvement yet - just got to be patient I guess...... She did try some cream from Skin + me but reacted really badly and her face was so sore. She says she can't use the retinoids/duac as they make her skin so sore - poor thing as I'm sure they would help. We have an appointment with a different private dermatologist in a few weeks so will report back with the outcome. @toomanyleggings I got some DIM - I'm just not sure about her taking it yet until we've given the dianette a chance to work as otherwise we won't know which one is having the effect. Also not sure about taking it with the pill but will do some research.....

I think the Mirena will be the cause, the dianettes got a hell of a task to counteract the oil caused by mirena. Something taken orally only works till the liver breaks it down but the mirena works 24/7 pumping out progesterone.

Wouldnt a normal coil also reduce periods?

Can’t she just take the dianette back to back without a break? She won’t have periods at all then. I used to do that. The mirena coil will be causing a lot of issues because progesterone is the worst thing if you’re acne prone. When I initially came off dianette they gave me a progesterone only pill and my skin went crazy. As @Cheekyfuckerseverywhere said it’s a big job for the dianette if she’s getting huge progesterone doses. Re the dim like I said before it’s only a green veg supplement so perfectly safe. Worked brilliantly for me but I am not using the pill and I don’t have a coil.

I was on it as a teenager for around 6 months - the max they would allow due to the side effects. My acne definitely got worse before it got better - I'd say it was worse for around 1 month before starting to clear. But after that my skin was acne free and stayed that way even when I came off Dianette and went on a different pill.

Quick update. Back to GP as she was in such a state about her skin. He was AMAZING really took the time to talk through all her health issues. He thinks she has PCOS - something I've wondered about for a while. He says she needs at least 2 months of dianette to see a result but also gave her a course of antibiotics and wants to see her in a month. So right now it's watch and wait.....

Oh I’ve got that. Try a high frequency wand off amazon it’s helping me, I had accutane but then dh died and the stress made my skin crazy.

Im back to normal again now.

I was searching for Dianette posts and came across yours-I was just wondering how your DD’s skin is now, @Localher0 ?

@Shinyandnew1 up until July I'd say there was a little improvement in DD's skin. So that's about 3 months of taking it. In July she had her mirena removed and her skin has steadily improved. It's not yet quite as good as it was before but basically I think the dianette was trying to counter the effects of the mirena and couldn't keep up. With the mirena gone DD has more energy, better skin and has been losing the weight she put on. A dermatologist she saw a month ago said it's unusual but she has seen women with a mirena who develop bad acne that clears when the mirena is removed.

I think now the Merina is out her skin will be able to respond to the Dianette.

I used to take it and even when the GP refused to prescribe it for me if buy it online or when in Spain otc. Not a great idea medically but I just could not stand the acne on my face and body.

i could take the Dianette or a couple of months then have a few weeks break and then resume which kept my skin in good condition - no oil no spots .

eventually I got to see a considerate Derm who prescribed Spironolactone which did the trick .

I have PCOS and acne, had it for years nothing has cleared it completely but Dianette has helped the most (more than Roaccutane I’d say). Epiduo cream is also good.

I was told by a derm to stay away from all hormonal contraception except Dianette and Yasmin - and especially to avoid the Mirena or implant! Dianette makes my periods much lighter and non painful so hope it may have the same effect for your DD.

Dianette takes about 3 months for me to start working

So a little update not sure if I mentioned DD is also on lymecycline so a combo of antibiotics & Dianette. She went to Uni last week and forgot to take her antibiotics with her and after a week of missing them her spots have started to come back. So I'm beginning to think it's the lymecycline doing the job not solely the dianette.
Cue frantic phone call to GP on Monday to get a repeat prescription sent to a pharmacy where she is!! Bloody teenagers.....

@minipie how long have you been on Dianette? I get the impression that the drs only want DD on it for the shortest amount of time.... Also she notices a flare in her week off when her acne comes back really quickly. Did you ever see this
Have you tried yasmin too - I wonder which is most effective......?

I’ve been on Dianette for errrrrr some years. Can’t remember how long. I have tried Yasmin and it wasn’t as effective for me, but with acne people’s responses really vary.

I keep expecting the GP to take me off it (I am 43) but they say as long as it’s helping and I remain low risk for clots (healthy weight, low blood pressure, non smoker, no family history of clots etc) then it’s ok. I get the impression GPs vary a lot in how bothered they are by it.

Yes I did get a flare in the pill free week - I now run packs back to back, no periods and no regular flare ups. Bliss. I must stress I haven’t checked this with a GP though.

yasmin didn’t work for me either. I came off dianette due to migraines and stroke risk.

Is she a healthy weight? If she does have pcos (I have it) an excess of insulin will cause androgens to make her skin oily. The more starch you eat the worse it gets as you produce huge amounts but have low sensitivity to it.

Healthy eating and exercise to make cells more sensitive to insulin helps pcos massively even if you aren’t overweight. I’m 8.5st, if I go to 9.5st my cycle packs up.

Acnecide gel works well but you need a tiny, tiny amount on the skin and it often gets worse before it gets better but it doesn’t last long.

I have coeliac disease and had dreadful acne in my early 20s (now late 40s). Dianette was a game changer for me. My skin changed, my weight decreased and my hair - oh my hair! - went from curly frizz to silky shiny. They were calling it the Barbie pill back then and it certainly had a positive effect on my body. Unfortunately not on my physical health, which has taken years to get to the bottom of. For that, I highly recommend some form of therapy (psychotherapy works for me) and cutting out other things from the diet eg sugars, dairy - see what works for her personally.

Good luck to you both!

Whereas it improved my horrendous PMS symptoms and stopped me becoming suicidal before my period every month.

I remember you had to take it pretty much at the same time each day, there wasn't much leeway for mistakes, if you wanted to rely on it for contraception too. Maybe that's why people got pregnant on it? I was taken off it after 8yrs because I was told it can mess up your liver, because it's much stronger than the ordinary types of contraceptive pills that aren't also for acne. I don't think it took long to deal with the acne bit it was a long time ago so hard to remember. I started taking it a few months off 18 and I know the acne was gone by the time I was 18. Hope it works for your DD

I used this when I was 16. It helped but then I got horrendous migraines

Sorry to bump such an old thread, but which DIM supplement would you recommend? Thanks!