Hormone changes trigger acne breakouts

During your adolescence, male hormones called androgens become active and stimulate oil glands in the skin, increasing oil production. If this mixes up with dead cells a plug is formed that clogs pores, causing pimples and blackheads.

Hormonal changes that occur during your period or when you start and stop taking birth control pills can also cause an acne flare up.

Although certain birth control pills can be prescribed as a treatment for acne. Birth control pills containing low amounts of estrogen, such as Ortho Tri Cyclen Lo, which is approved by the FDA to help fight acne break outs, works by lowering the levels of serum free-testosterone, the hormone that contributes to acne breakouts. By reducing the amount of this hormone, it helps your skin look better even as it prevents pregnancy.

Nevertheless there are risks involved in taking those pills as it has been reported recently by The New York Times on Health Concerns Over Popular Contraceptives (By NATASHA SINGER, Published: September 25, 2009). Specifically they say the following about advertising of birth control pills for moderate acne and the risks that it is worth noting:

"Birth control pills work by altering a woman’s hormone levels. Researchers have long known that taking a combination hormone birth control pill — which contains estrogen and a progestin hormone — can increase the risk of stroke and blood clots in the legs and lungs. That is because estrogen can play a role in blood coagulation. Indeed, since the introduction of oral contraceptives in the 1960s, drug companies have greatly reduced estrogen doses to decrease the risk of thrombosis, the medical term for blood clots.

With lower-dose estrogen pills now available, the safety debate, continuing for the last decade, has focused on whether the type of progestin in a formula may also play a role in the risk of cardiovascular problems.

In 2001, the F.D.A. approved Yasmin, which contains a novel progestin called drospirenone.

Yaz, which contains drospirenone and a lower dose of estrogen, received agency approval in 2006. For women seeking contraception, the drug is also approved to treat severe emotional and physical symptoms called premenstrual dysphoric disorder and for moderate acne. Because drospirenone can increase potassium levels in the body, it may put women who have liver or kidney problems at risk for serious heart problems, according to the drug label.

Studies on the safety of birth control pills have reported different results on the risks of progestins.

One large-scale study in Europe, sponsored by Bayer, reported that there was no difference in the risk of cardiovascular problems or death in women taking drospirenone birth control pills compared to women who took pills that contained levonorgestrel, a progestin that has been used since the 1970s.

But two other studies on Danish and Dutch women, published last month in The British Medical Journal, found a higher risk of venous blood clots for women taking newer progestins, including drospirenone.

The results of the new studies, conducted on European populations with specific genetic risk factors for blood clots, might not translate to a more ethnically diverse American patient population, said Dr. David A. Grimes, a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of North Carolina medical school. And even if the reported increased risk is realistic, he said, it is tiny.

“My dictum is that a multiple of a rare event is still a rare event,” said Dr. Grimes, who has been a paid consultant for Bayer and other makers of contraceptives.

And taking birth control pills involves much smaller blood clot risks than getting pregnant and having a baby, he said.

But Dr. Frits R. Rosendaal, a professor of clinical epidemiology at Leiden University Medical Center who was one of the authors of the Dutch study, said the reports of an increased risk were worth acting on — by switching to pills containing levonorgestrel.

“Even if the risk of thrombosis is low, why not choose the lowest risk, just in case?” he said.

Last modified: September 26, 2009

Get rid of acne scars and of mild & moderate acne, while moisturizing, protecting, repairing and renewing your skin with BIOSKINCARE

Boosts the production of antimicrobials, unclogs pores and deeply moisturizes skin while replenishing the lipid barrier of the skin and triggers the regeneration of damaged cells while preventing and removing acne scars, keratosis, psoriasis scales and all types of skin blemishes.

Made in the USA. One Month's supply 50 grams = 1.76 oz
50 Gram Bottle: $69.98

Click on your payment of choice

Save at least 20% off price & save on domestic or world wide shipping costs
when you order more than one month's supply

Discount Price Two Bottles: $55.98 each, at checkout within our secure shopping cart.

Natural Acne Gel, Rosacea Remedy & Scar Healing

This gel is an oil free product and is a natural remedy for acne, rosacea, and scar healing with moisturizing seaweed extracts. Best for people with very oily skin conditions. All our products are safe for children, moms-to-be and breast fedding mothers.

Made in the USA. One Month's supply 50 grams = 1.76 oz
50 Grams in One Airless Pump Bottle: $59

Click on your payment of choice

Save at least 20% off price & save on domestic or world wide shipping costs
when you order more than one month's supply
Discount Price Two Bottles: $47.20 each, at checkout within our secure shopping cart.