Why Take a Contraceptive to Treat Your Acne?

re: Why Take a Contraceptive to Treat Your Acne?

Magnolia — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 02:07:36 GMT

I've always been kind of puzzled about acne. I still get about one pimple a month -- you guessed it -- right before my monthly cycle. I had it a bit more as a teen but back then, we just lived with it and tried to keep our faces extra clean. Invariably I'd have a breakout just before some performance (I was in the school chorus) and there would be a giant red blob right in the middle of my forehead or on the end of my nose. If nothing else, it developed in me, a sense of humor. You've got to appreciate the irony of the timing of acne breakouts. ALWAYS when you REALLY want to look your best, there it is. I thought when I went through menopause it would go away. Unfortunately (or not!!) I am still going through my cycle and my hormone levels are quite normal. I am 55 years old and the only one in my circle of friends who hasn't gone through the change. I'll take acne over hot flashes any day! Has anybody got a tube of Erase?

re: Why Take a Contraceptive to Treat Your Acne?

katherine_mayfield_25 — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 22:54:20 GMT

I used to take a combination of contraceptive pills with antibiotics (tetracycline, I think) for acne and they really worked! However, since my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, I decided I would rather have acne than half a rack (or none at all). There are claims that even though contraceptive pills increase a woman's chance of breast cancer by half, it also cuts a woman's risk of ovarian cancer by the same percentage. Since the ratios getting cancer remained the same whether I took them or not, I decided not to and sure enough, the acne returned.

I do believe diet is a factor. However, I know people who live on greasy hamburgers (sandwiched in a refined white flour bun, of course), trans-fatty fries and corn sugar-laden sodas and never get a blemish (or get fat, for that matter), but I believe certain people are just more susceptible to "bad" food and break out.

re: Why Take a Contraceptive to Treat Your Acne?

mmc88121 — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 21:26:20 GMT

Yet Another Zero for the pharmaceutical companies. They think just because they make money on it they can use it for what ever it just might help. They do not look at the cause of the problem, only the symptoms. Acne is 99.99% of the time caused by diet, if you are eating correctly for you body you will not have acne.

mmc88121

re: Why Take a Contraceptive to Treat Your Acne?

Josh Rubin — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 21:09:07 GMT

We have five detox systems in the body: skin, liver, kidney, colon and lymphatic system. Anytime there is an issue with one of these, as well as it being more chronic, you will start to see issues with the skin. I would do some lab testing to see if you have any “kinks” in your metabolic pathways.

2. Most of the time when there is heat in the blood, the Chinese believe this can cause cystic acne. Acupuncture treatment for acne involves both distal and local points.

Lung Heat patterns may be treated by using points such as Large Intestine 11 , Large Intestine 4 and Lung 5
Stomach Heat patterns may respond to acupuncture points such as Large Intestine 11 Stomach 44.
Toxic Heat patterns may be treated with points such as Du 14 and Large Intestine 11
Blood Heat patterns may be treated as with Toxic Heat, with the addition of Spleen 10
Damp Heat patterns may be treated like Stomach Heat patterns with the addition of points such as Spleen

The lesions themselves may be treated by a technique known as "surrounding the dragon," in which needles are placed superficially about one inch apart to surround the area where the acne is present and retained for about 20 minutes.

Ear acupuncture, in points corresponding to the Lung, Stomach, and Endocrine system, may prove useful as well.

Herbal Medicine may work as well:
Herbal medicine focuses on Heat according to the differential diagnosis, while reducing the inflammation and attempting to prevent the formation of new lesions. A combination of herbal medicines taken internally and an externally applied solution is preferable.

Lung Heat may be treated with formulas of herbs such as Pi Pa Ye and Sang Bai Pi.
Stomach Heat may be treated with proper supervision using combinations of purgative herbs, such as Da Huang and Mang Xiao
Toxic Heat may be treated with combinations such as Jin Yin Hua and Lian Qiao
Blood Heat may be treated by using herbs such as Sheng Di Huang and Mu Dan Pi
Damp Heat may be treated with combinations of the herbs used to treat Toxic Heat, along with other herbs, such as Yi Yi Ren and Tu Fu Ling , to drain Dampness.

These are just generalizations and recommendations. I would find a TCM Practitioner to work with.

re: Why Take a Contraceptive to Treat Your Acne?

Joan McGovern Tendler — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 20:51:25 GMT

This is very bad news. There are many blogs devoted to women who are suffering from the effects of Yasmin, which has the same type and amount of synthetic progesterone as Yaz. However, Yaz is taken for 3 more days per month, increasing exposure to these chemicals. Also, acne can be caused by a zinc deficiency, and birth control pills lower levels of zinc, so taking birth control pills for acne could be very problematic!

re: Why Take a Contraceptive to Treat Your Acne?

Russ Bianchi — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 19:40:00 GMT

Like swatting a fly with a tactical thermo nuclear war head...what could these people be possibly thinking?!

Hmmmm, maybe they are trying out some of their own approved mind altering drugs, irrespective of BAD side effects?

This is ill conceived (pardon the pun) at a minimum, and gross ethical and empirical medical, if not criminal, negligence at worse.

The Hippocratic Oath explicitly states: "First, Do No Harm".

Obviously, no one in Big Pharma, or at FDA, has a clue what we are talking about here.