It definitely can help with the skin.

There is no way to tell about other side effects, either positive or negative. I took it for years and I did not have a problem with it affecting weight either direction. After I quit taking it, I noticed that I felt a lot less anxiety/racing heart, shaky feeling. I have heard of others having lots of side effects. I think it is just trial and error.

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Starting the pill (Tricyclen) made a huge difference in my skin (that's what I had initially started it for as well). I did have some side effects, but nothing major. The most noticeable was that my boobs grew a bit (my previously A-cup self wasn't upset about that!), but I also had some weight gain. Nothing major, but it happened (10-15lbs? I'll note that this also coincided with first year undergrad in residence when the meal plan was all-you-can-eat meals, so some of that weight gain was also on me...).

I've never had major cramping, but it made my periods lighter and more consistent, and that consistency was amazing! It's pretty wonderful knowing to the day when your period will start or end. I've heard of the pill depressing people's sex drives a bit, but since I was on it for years before I started having sex, I can't really speak to that aspect - I suppose we'll find out if that's true when the partner and I start trying for kids in a few years!

The one other thing I noticed is that if I take the pill too late at night, sometimes I'll wake up nauseated in the morning - I suppose I give myself mild morning sickness? Makes me nervous for actual pregnancy...

All that to say, overall the experience has been extremely positive, and from a skin perspective, I LOVE how clear my skin is now with minimal effort! It does take a month or two for your body to acclimatize to it and for you to notice any consistent changes, but I've been so happy with it, and I'm about a decade in!

Hello! I'm much older than you (so I use it for its intended purpose) but I mainly use it to prevent periods completely. My gyno assured me it was safe. I get such crazy, horrible PMS I prefer to just not have periods.

Good luck to you and try not to be scared. I experience zero side effects. One word of advice: if the first pill isn't a good fit, move onto another. They're not all the same.

Birth control pills are classified as Group 1 carcinogens. That is the highest classification possible. Go to your dermatologist and try something other than the pill. It's just not worth the risks.

Everyone is different. But my experience with the pill. I got on it for two reason, 1. My implanon was giving me issues on the second year. 2. I was breaking out like crazy. When I was a teen I got put on the pill because of skin and it cleared up. Same thing happened when I got on the pill. I'm 23 and I only get maybe one or two bumps around the time my AF visits. But my skin was pretty bad to begin with so as for it getting worse I didn't see it. I did see improvements after a few weeks. Everyone is different. Ask your doctor all the questions )

I personally didn't care for the birth control pills. No longer taking them. I did go to the dermatologist who put me on two creams that cleared me up in an instant.

I took the pill for most of the first 20 years of my marriage. When I started taking it I noticed an immediate drop in sex drive. When I stopped taking it (my dr doesn't like women over 40 to take it), my face immediately started breaking out again (this did reverse itself with time) but I also noticed a marked decrease in anxiety, which had slowly become a problem for me through the years. I can't prove or document these changes, but I can definitely report the changes in the way I feel, and there is no doubt the pill changed some things. Weight was not one of them though.

LOL! Juuuust in case you go, "Hey, I'm on the pill, after all...."

Like I said, try the stuff from Skin Laboratories. That's like a 3-4 month supply.

You can make your own, then. It's just 20% salicylic acid and 80% non-denatured alcohol (ethanol).

Order the powdered acid online. In the US, you can't buy non-denatured alcohol in the stores (they're afraid drunks will drink it straight). If you can in your country, get that. If you can't, buy liquor with the highest alcohol content you can find. (Here, it's Everclear that you want!)

Use your food scale to mix it--80 grams alcohol plus 20 grams salicylic acid, stored in an airtight container.

Wash your face. Then apply it with a cheap cosmetics brush, starting with where the acne is the worst. Avoid your eyes and lips. You'll probably want to wash it off right away the first time you use it. Use it NO MORE than every other day. Most people find that 2x per week is enough. As you use it more often, you can keep it on for longer--up to a minute and a half. Then rinse thoroughly. Always wash out the brush well, or else you'll be making the peel stronger from the salicylic acid left on the brush.

Totally works, just as well as Accutane.