In women,
acne can be successfully treated with
oral contraceptives. This article focuses on the results of clinical studies on the treatment of
acne with
oral contraceptives. From the literature, 12 such studies could be traced over the last 10 years. Most of the studies were multicenter, randomized, and double blind. Five studies were placebo controlled. All of these studies were analyzed and compared with each other. Statistically, all placebo-controlled studies showed a better result with the active treatment, than with the placebo. However, the placebo groups also showed an improvement in the
acne lesions. In seven studies, two
oral contraceptives were compared for their effect on
acne vulgaris. All
oral contraceptives studied showed a beneficial effect on the severity of
acne. It can be concluded, based on these studies, that all
oral contraceptives have a more or less beneficial effect on mild to moderate
acne in women. Comparing the various clinical trials, ethinylestradiol/
drospirenone is as good as ethinylestradiol/
cyproterone, which is slightly better than ethinylestradiol/
desogestrel and ethinylestradiol/
gestodene. Ethinylestradiol/
chlormadinone is slightly better than ethinylestradiol/
levonorgestrel, which is as effective as ethinylestradiol/
norethindrone, which is far better than the placebo. Ethinylestradiol/
norgestimate is better than placebo.