Does The Morning After Pill Cause Acne?
The “morning-after pill” may be responsible for your breakout.
This is a type of EMERGENCY birth control. Emergency contraception is used to prevent pregnancy for women who’ve had unprotected sex or whose birth control method has failed.
This pill is intended for BACKUP contraception ONLY, not as a primary method of birth control. They will contain either levonorgestrel or ulipristal acetate.
Levonorgestrel is available over-the-counter without a prescription; ulipristal acetate is available only with a prescription.
Morning-after pills are intended to help prevent pregnancy if you’ve had unprotected sex — either because you didn’t use birth control, you missed a birth control pill, you were sexually assaulted or your method of birth control failed.
Morning-after pills do not end a pregnancy that has implanted. They work primarily by delaying or preventing ovulation.
People often confuse the morning-after pill with Mifeprex. They are NOT the same. Mifepristone (Mifeprex) is also known as RU-486 or the abortion pill. This drug terminates an established pregnancy — one in which the fertilized egg has attached to the uterine wall and has begun to develop.
Before I explain why the morning after pill causes acne, let’s recap: The morning-after pill (or Plan B) should NOT be used as a form of birth control. It is not meant to be taken often. It’s also not the same as Mifeprex (the abortion pill).
If you’re already prone to hormonal breakouts or acne, you’ll most likely experience a surge in break outs. If you rarely break out, don’t feel left out… there’s a good chance you’ll experience a break out as well.
The Plan B (morning-after pill) drops a high dose of the progestin hormone levonorgestrel on your endocrine system. This can cause fluctuations in your body’s hormone levels, which causes hormone levels to go haywire and cause acne. It can cause androgenic properties as it breaks down in the body, which can potentially lead to acne flare-ups and skin that produces more sebum than usual and ultimately gets stuck and clogged underneath.