Body acne with IUD?

Question

I've had relatively bad acne on my face for years now. Over the course of the past year, I've managed to clear it up pretty well just by changing my face wash/routine. I think it's hormone related but I'm not entirely sure. Luckily though, I've never had a problem with body acne. I'd get an occasional pimple or two on my chest or shoulder every once in awhile, but they mostly went away on their own and were few and far between. About a year and a half ago, I got the Skyla IUD inserted. Ever since then, I've had increasingly worse body acne, mostly on my shoulders but also on my upper back, upper arms, and chest. For the past 4 months or so, it's been really bad. I've also been very stressed so it could be related to that, but I'm just curious if anyone has had a similar experience. I've been considering having my IUD removed early because my body has had some other not-so-great reactions to it. Could the hormones in the IUD cause me to suddenly have acne in new places?

Answer

Acne is often the result of a change in hormones, which is why many girls break out while on their periods. The skyla could definitely be a contributing factor, but your body could become accustomed to this over time. I have a Paragard because it's hormone free, which I wanted for acne among other reasons. If the skyla is causing too many problems, you may look into removing it and it would be pretty likely that the acne would clear.