Aaron Hartman, MDFunctional Medicine Specialist | Clinical Researcher

Birth Control Pills and Testosterone

13 Jun 2025 · 1 min

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A short YouTube segment by Aaron Hartman, MD explaining that acne in many women reflects excess testosterone and noting treatments (combined oral contraceptives and spironolactone) that lower testosterone. He links severe acne to metabolic syndrome, GI/gut microbiome involvement, insulin resistance, and polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) as an underlying hormonal dysregulation.

Chapters

You know, it's really interesting how acne is actually, in many women, an expression of excessive amounts of testosterone. And some of the treatments for this are things like birth control pills, which lower your testosterone levels. Spironolactone, which is a medication used to treat acne in women, lowers your testosterone. If you have an excessive amount of acne, it's associated actually with metabolic syndrome, derangements in your GI tract. This also is a part of pcos, polycystic Ovarian syndrome, which is a hormonal dysregulation where young ladies will have excessive amounts of. Of testosterone with insulin resistance that affects your cycles. And your gut bacteria in your GI tract are a big part of your metabolic function. So acne is something we'll see.