Hormonal Treatment for Women

Hormonal Treatment is available to women only.

Androgens (male hormones) play an important part in acne formation. Female also have androgens, they just have lesser of them than the males. Some women might find that they started to have acne outbreak once they stop their contraceptives pills. This is not a side effect of the contraceptive pills; it is just that it might be their contraceptive pills that are preventing their acne all the while.

The result of androgens stimulating the sebaceous glands leads to the increase in the production of sebum which causes pimples.

If topical treatments and antibiotics do not work on females, doctors might suggest contraceptive pills. Many contraceptive pills stop the androgens from stimulating your sebaceous glands result in lesser production of sebum which causes pimples.

Are you ready for oral contraceptive?

A simple checklist:

1. You do not want to have a baby while remaining sexually active.
2. You need oral contraceptives to regulate your menstruation.
3. You are not pregnant. Oral contraceptives have side effects which can lead to birth defects.
4. You are on isotretinoin (Accutane) medication. Oral contraceptives are prescribed to female who are on istretinoin (Accutane) medication as Accutane can lead to birth defects.

How oral contraceptives work?

Oral contraceptives contain estrogens which help to regulate menstruation. It is the very estrogens which help to prevent acne. Estrogens reduce ovarian androgren secretion. They reduce the effect of androgens on the sebaceous glands by blocking the androgen receptors. Less androgens stimulation on the sebaceous glands leads to less sebum production which in the end leads to less acne.

The most effective types of oral contraceptives are those that contain both estrogen and progestin.

Estrostep, Ortho Tri-Cyclen and Yasmin are some of the best brands of oral contraceptives that are effective in treating acne. Yasmin is the most effective of them. Yasmin has estrogen and a progestin, drospirenone which is a very strong anti-androgenic hormone. Drospirenone has a very similar chemical structure to spironolactone which is other hormonal treatment drug for acne.

It may take up to three months before you see any significant improvement on your pimple condition, so be patient.

Side effects of oral contraceptives

• It can lead to birth defect in unborn babies, so make sure u are not pregnant while using them.
• The major concern is thromboembolism (blood clots) in the veins of the legs. If you have a history of venous thrombosis (clots in veins), oral contraceptives is not suitable for you.
• Some mild and temporary side effects include nausea, vomiting, breast tenderness can be expected. They usually go away once your body get used to the medications.
• Weight gain is observed in some patients due the increase in appetite cause by the medication.

Other hormonal treatments

Spironolactone is commonly used to treat fluid retention in patients with liver disease or heart failure. As it has an anti-androgen effect, it is effective in treating acne too. Lower dosages of 25-50mg day are used for acne treatment. It is suitable for women that are incompatible with oral contraceptives.

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