If you're a teen or an adult woman whose skin has just started to break out in acne, you probably feel pretty discouraged. However, acne represents an extremely common problem in women, affecting most teenagers and up to half of all adult women at some point, according to the website Acne.org. It's possible that birth control pills caused your new case of acne, even after one year of use, but you might want to talk to your physician about other possible causes.
Causes
Hormones play a huge role in driving acne, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Your hormones cause your skin to produce excess amounts of sebum, which then can help to clog your pores, forming blackheads and whiteheads. Once those are in place, bacteria can infect the clogged pores, leading to raised pimples that often are topped with white pus.
Effects
Hormonal fluctuations, which are common in women, often cause acne breakouts, especially around the time of your period or during pregnancy, according to the website Acne.org. At those times, hormones drive your skin to produce too much oil, leading to pimples that don't appear under other circumstances. Acne also can appear or worsen if you've just started birth control pills, since the hormones in the pill can drive increased oil production.
Function
Even if you've been on birth control pills for a year already, it's possible that hormonal changes associated with them could spur a bad case of acne. However, that would be unusual. In many cases, physicians use oral contraceptives to control acne, according to the American Academy of Dermatology. The academy warns that your acne might worsen when you first start taking the pill, and then begin to improve. But hormonal changes associated with the pill usually level out within six months.
Considerations
If you and your physician believe that your acne was caused by your birth control pills, even though you've been on them for one year, you can elect to switch to an alternative brand of oral contraceptive. Several birth control pills, including Estrostep and Yaz, have received Food and Drug Administration approval specifically to treat acne in women, according to MayoClinic.com.
Identification
It's possible, though, that your acne was caused by some factor other than your oral contraceptives. You might want to consider whether a new makeup or hair care product caused your acne, since products that contain oil can promote pimples, according to the American Academy of Dermatology. In addition, if you have any other new symptoms, especially weight gain and unusual facial hair growth, you may want to see your doctor to be screened for polycystic ovary syndrome, a condition that can cause acne.
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