--- title: Birth Control Pills Treat Acne in Women, Study Says description: More effective than previously thought canonical: https://time.com/2827680/birth-control-works-in-long-term-acne-treatment-study-says/ author: Hannah Goldberg article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-05T21:18:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:55:25.628Z article:section: Health og:title: Birth Control Pills Treat Acne in Women, Study Says og:description: More effective than previously thought og:url: https://time.com/2827680/birth-control-works-in-long-term-acne-treatment-study-says/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Birth Control Pills Treat Acne in Women, Study Says twitter:description: More effective than previously thought twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Birth Control Works in Long-Term Acne Treatment, Study Says > Sponsored content. 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Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [Hannah Goldberg](https://time.com/author/hannah-goldberg/) ## Hannah Goldberg Jun 5, 2014 9:18 PM UTC by [Hannah Goldberg](https://time.com/author/hannah-goldberg/) ## Hannah Goldberg Jun 5, 2014 9:18 PM UTC Birth control pills are as effective as antibiotics for treating women’s acne in the long term, according to a new review of [clinical studies.](http://www.jaad.org/article/S0190-9622%2814%2901291-2/abstract) The [dermatological study](http://www.jaad.org/article/S0190-9622%2814%2901291-2/abstract) shows that antibiotics are more effective than the Pill for the first three months of treatment, but are equally successful after six months. “This confirms that birth control pills are a good solid treatment for acne, and they’re probably underutilized,” Dr. Steven R. Feldman, a dermatologist at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, told [Reuters.](http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/06/05/us-skin-acne-oral-contraception-idINKBN0EG29720140605?feedType=RSS&feedName=health&utm%5Fsource=dlvr.it&utm%5Fmedium=twitter&dlvrit=309303) “Given the desire to minimize antibiotic resistance and exposure, hormonal birth control could be a good alternative.” Birth control pills may soon be the more benign alternative to some of the antibiotics and harsh topical gels used in acne treatment. Dermatologists are already recommending low doses of birth control for female acne patients, [Feldman](http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/06/05/us-skin-acne-oral-contraception-idINKBN0EG29720140605) said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2827680/birth-control-works-in-long-term-acne-treatment-study-says/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2827680/birth-control-works-in-long-term-acne-treatment-study-says/"},"headline":"Birth Control Works in Long-Term Acne Treatment, Study Says","datePublished":"2014-06-05T21:18:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:55:25.628Z","description":"More effective than previously thought","url":"https://time.com/2827680/birth-control-works-in-long-term-acne-treatment-study-says/","keywords":["Research","Living","medicine","health"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Hannah Goldberg","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/hannah-goldberg/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/research/","name":"Research"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2827680/birth-control-works-in-long-term-acne-treatment-study-says/","name":"Birth Control Works in Long-Term Acne Treatment, Study Says"}}]}] ```