for many women even if their periods are regular you need some type of hormonal balance in order to help control the acne. i have patients who tell me that they never had acne as a teenager now they are in their 20s 30s and sometimes even 40s and all of a sudden they are starting to get acne and invariably this acne is in the lower face. not the teenage form where it's in the middle face and forehead but really along the jawline and the lower face and even along the submental along the neck and the jawline underneath a little bit as well. this acne can be very difficult to control with the treatments that we use in teenagers. so i still use antibiotics by mouth and topical treatments such as the retinoids retin-a and tazorac benzoyl peroxide things like that. but when i add an oral contraceptive or another medicine called spironolactone or aldactone; that's the same drug in the brand and generic name that often works really well to control their acne and make anything else i do work that much better. but it does need to be under the supervision of your dermatologist.
will birth control pills clear up my acne?