During at least the first three months on birth control pills, you do experience some side effects. I know I did! For starters, I gained about 25 pounds and also had some pretty significant mood changes. That’s to be expected because hormones do affect your mood. But the bigger threat is blood clots and that’s something harder to deal with and their risk doesn’t usually go away after just a few months. That’s one of the main reasons I wouldn’t recommend using them for acne treatments.

It seems like many birth control pills on the market today are really hyping the acne treatment aspect of their use. I just don’t know if that’s such a good idea. I mean it is probably true that the estrogen and progesterone in those pills can do great things for a woman’s skin but the pills do have side effects. I’m not sure it would be my recommendation for my daughter.

What I’ve learned is that you really have to be gentle with your skin if you want to prevent those awful breakouts from occurring. One of the things I like to do now is use a homemade facial treatment. I alternate between a lemon and oatmeal facial and a strawberry and yogurt treatment that I make at home in my blender. I try to do this twice a month to keep my skin looking healthy and to complement my other beauty products.

Thankfully, most of us only suffer from acne vulgaris and typical whiteheads, blackheads, papules, and pustules. These can be a pain but they are nowhere near as horrible or as challenging to treat as the more severe forms. You can find good quality acne treatments over-the-counter that will do the trick.

Another acne solution is dermabrasion which involves a rotating wire brush that peels away your skin. Most people need some type of anesthetic because it does hurt and your skin is red and swollen for several days afterward. Even then, your skin will be very sensitive for at least one to two weeks while the new skin layers grow. Plus, you could get an infection that could lead to health problems far worse than acne.

Chemical peels are also a treatment sometimes used for acne. If you’ve never heard of them, glycolic acid, carbolic acid, or other types of acid are applied to your skin. The acids create a “wound” as WebMD so sweetly describes layers of your skin being destroyed. Then when the skin heals in a couple of weeks it should have less acne. Seems like a lot of trouble and discomfort to me.

My last post got me thinking about what treatments are available for acne scars. Some of the most common ones I’ve come across sound awful. Chemical peeling is used and that’s basically burning off layers of your skin. You can use dermabrasion, too, which is another way of removing your skin. It sounds awful!

In some cases, acne can become so severe that you might need to see a dermatologist to clear it up. But once that’s done, you still need to find a good skin routine and stick to it if you want to prevent future outbreaks. That’s the key to having beautiful skin: taking care of it.

I think the other reason my skin was so prone to acne breakouts was that I didn’t realize that drying it out would be a problem. I was sometimes washing my face 3 or 4 times a day with hot water and soap. That couldn’t have been a good combination, even for oily skin. It probably made my skin more sensitive and more prone to acne.