What is the Best Method of Birth Control for Acne?

The cool thing about birth control is you’ve got tons of options. They work in all kinds of different ways, and lots of them have benefits in addition to preventing pregnancy. Take acne, for example. Did you know there’s a method of birth control that can help clear up acne?

If pregnancy isn’t in your plan right now, and you’re also someone with a history of acne that drug store cleansers haven’t been able to clear, the birth control pill may be able to help. Here is a bit of info on some of your options, but for help in choosing one for you, make an appointment to talk to a provider at your nearest The Right Time health center. 

There are a few different pills to choose from if you have acne. That means you have flexibility to find a different formulation if you don’t like the first one you try. Three brands — Estrostep, Ortho Tri-cyclen, and YAZ — might seem the most familiar because they are approved by the FDA for the treatment of acne. This means the makers of these three brands asked the FDA for approval to advertise treatment of acne — but research has shown that other combination pills are just as effective for treating acne. 

If you want to learn more about the pill or other methods that could help with acne, head on over to our method explorer and read the basics about the method, and you can also watch some videos from real pill users to find out what using the method is really like.