The Morning After Break Out

Learn how a woman is suffering from acne after a one time use of the morning after pill.

Case #: 893

Concern：

I want to ask a question... but first a quick thank you for your advice. I am healthy today because of what you do and I want you to know I appreciate it.

Now the question, about six months ago my wife took the Plan B contraceptive pill. Twenty-four hours later she had a serious outbreak of some sort of acne. It’s still there today and she has tried all the products on the market to get rid of it. I think it's a hormonal imbalance. Please advice on what to do.

Discussion：

Firstly, I'd like to let you know that I can completely sympathize with your wife's current situation. About four years ago, I used the Plan B pill after the contraceptive I used failed. At that time, I was not on birth control, and hadn't been for at least six months. My body was neither used to, nor prepared for the incredible assault of synthetic hormones that was unleashed from the morning after pill. At the time I was not completely clear on how exactly this magical pill worked, and what was happening internally in order to prevent a pregnancy.

Plan A Through Z

The truth is that the morning after pill is really just an extremely high dosage of birth control. Any side effects that you might slightly suffer from during a normal cycle of birth control will usually double with intensity with the Plan B pill.

Birth Control Vs. Morning After

Prolonged use of oral contraception has been known to cause minor spotting, excessive vaginal discharge, vaginal insensitivity, and even saggy breasts. This is why the morning after pill is not to be used as a regular form of birth control in any respect. Oral contraceptives alter our body’s chemistry by tricking out brains into thinking that we are actually pregnant. This subsequently shuts down the ovarian function, ensuring an egg will not be released into the womb.

This type of drastic alteration of the body’s chemistry may greatly reduce the liver production. If the liver is not in tip top functioning order, over time excessive hormonal residue will begin to build up in the body because the liver is no longer able to flush out the high levels of estrogen and progesterone.

Flush It Out

Because your wife's reaction is acne, and it's clearly a reaction to the large amount of synthetic hormones imbedded in the morning after pill, I would highly suggest not trying to fix it with any over the counter face cream. The problem is internal, so you'll have to work from the inside out to really fix it.

In this particular case I would recommend utilizing herbs such as Dong Quia, Mexican Wild Yam, and Salvia Mitiorrhiza. (SEE: Acne Herbal Treatment) These natural herbs will help to greatly reduce the acne that your wife is currently suffering from. Each works great in the aid of skin health and the calming of skin inflammation.

Also, she may consider drinking more water during her day. A minimum of six glasses of water taken daily will actually help her liver to break down, and flush out that residual hormonal residue that the Plan B pill has left behind.