Best Acne Treatment. Can Diane 35 be used as contraceptive?

• Berlex Canada does not recommend that Diane 35 be prescribed
as contraception alone.  They recommend the use of alternative
contraception while on Diane 35.  However, Diane 35 is indicated
for contraceptive monotherapy in other countries (e.g. Australia).

Best Acne Treatment. What COCs have the official indication for acne tx?

• In Canada, Alesse, Tri-cyclen & Diane 35 have official indications
for acne in the product monograph.
• Yasmin is as efficacious as Tri-cyclen & Diane 35
 for mildmoderate acne, but not officially indicated.
{Yaz in the USA recently got  acne FDA indication}
• All COCs are generally beneficial, likely due to estrogens effect
on sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) resulting in an
antiandrogenic effect.
  Limited and conflicting evidence does
not support the superiority of one progestin over another.

Best Acne Treatment. COCs: Role in women with acne

• Acne accompanied by mild or moderate hirsutism
• Inadequate response to other acne treatments
• Acne that began or worsened in adulthood
• Premenstrual flares of acne
• Excessive facial oiliness
• Inflammatory acne limited to the “beard area”

Best Acne Treatment. Antibiotics (ABX): Considerations

• Using BP with topical ABX is strongly recommended to reduce
the risk of bacterial resistance!
• Oral ABX are useful for more extensive/severe inflammatory
acne; however, due to bacterial resistance concerns, shorter
“pulse” courses may be preferred over longer-term maintenance
therapy.
• Topical antibiotics are useful as follow-up to an oral ABX course.