'I ditched the contraceptive pill and broke out with acne - I felt like a freak'
A mum-of-three has shared the emotional toll of breaking out with hormonal spots in her thirties after coming off the contraceptive pill to start a family.
Jennifer Outhwaite, 41, from Manchester, had always suffered from acne as a teen but didn't expect it to return in her late twenties and thirties when she came off the pill when trying for a baby.
Feeling like a 'freak,' the Team GB triathlete didn't feel confident enough to leave the house without heavy make-up and during training sessions when she couldn't, became reserved, not wanting to make eye contact in case her peers judged her for her bad skin.
Now, after curing her spots with supplements, she hopes to raise awareness of the problem that affects so many women when coming off the pill - as one skin expert says 90 per cent of the enquiries at her clinic are from women in their thirties battling acne again when coming off contraception.
Jenny would see breakouts along her jaw line when she came off the contraceptive pill (Jenny Outhwaite)
She cured her skin after taking supplements last year (Jenny Outhwaite)Jenny, who shares her current training for the European championships on her Instagram page tales_of_triathlon, had always suffered from acne as a teenager.
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In her early twenties, she was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome - which can cause acne due to hormonal changes - and her GP prescribed her with the pill.
But she believes it has just masked her symptoms over the years, rather than providing a solution.
"It was fine for a time but that's a temporary fix, not a long-term solution if you're going to carry on having hormonal breakouts and skin problems when you get older," Jenny told the Mirror.
"I think women are often surprised when they come off the pill to find that their skin and complexion are very different and then they are quite lost as to what to do.
"You quite often go through a long process, try to eliminate different things and it can be down to lots of different things - stress, gut health - but it would be good if more was known about why women get hormonal breakouts and what more can be done without having to do things like having to go on the pill.
"It's not a new thing. I could never understand why more couldn't be done, even if it was a different tablet, and not having to put something artificial into your body that messes with your hormones."
Jenny, who works part-time as a HR consultant, has been on and off the pill in between starting her family.
She first came off it in her late twenties to have her eldest child, now 13, and went back on it before having her second child, now eight.
The mum, who lives in south Manchester but is originally from Kendal, Lake District, then wanted to come off it for good after the birth of her third child, now six.
She felt she couldn't make eye contact at training when she was without make-up (Jenny Outhwaite)She didn't want to continue being on it for so long as studies have shown that long-term use of the contraceptive pill is associated with an increased risk of high blood pressure, blood clots, and also increased incidence of nutrient deficiencies such as folate and zinc.
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"I had periods of bad skin in between having children and when I was pregnant, my skin was really clear," Jenny explained.
"Quite constantly I'd have bad acne along my jawline and not really anywhere else.
"It did come in phases, it would get bad and then worse for a few months and then maybe a little bit better.
"But as a general rule, I always had some spots that I was having to cover up and sometimes they were painful."
Jenny wouldn't leave the house without make-up and heavy cover-up.
She was worried about what people would think about her and was even self-conscious about being make-up free around her husband.
"When you're young, in your teens or even early twenties, it's the norm to have spots.
"I was in my 30s and 40s still having bad acne. I think I struggled more with it as an adult than I did as a teenager. It had more of an impact on my mental health and confidence than in my earlier years. I felt like a freak.
"You expect to have sorted it out by then so I often thought people were going to think that I ate badly or people would assume I don't look after my skin, which wasn't the case."
Her spots took a bigger hit to her confidence than they did as a teen (Jenny Outhwaite)
She used to wear heavy make-up to feel confident again (Jenny Outhwaite)Family members would make comments, suggesting she drank more water or to ensure her make-up brushes were clean, which she did.
The mum-of-three, who was referred to a dermatologist to try different creams, spent lots of time and money trying out new skincare regimes, testing new cleansers and toning products.
She tried eliminating certain foods from her diet, cutting out sugar, dairy, and alcohol, while only eating organic produce.
But nothing worked.
Jenny became reserved and when she couldn't use make-up to conceal her spots during her triathlon training sessions, chose instead to avoid others.
"I just always felt very self-conscious. I wouldn't make eye contact and didn't speak to people," the triathlete recalled.
"It's quite a sociable sport. So before and after the session, you would chat and everyone's talking about what races they are doing and how the training is.
"I always felt self-conscious in those situations because I wouldn't have make-up on. It made me reserved and it made me hide away a little more."
Eventually, Jenny, who fits in eight training sessions a week, came across a supplement brand on social media.
After her 20-year battle with acne, she began taking Equi London's Beauty Formula supplements last May and by the end of the month, noticed a huge difference.
The mum-of-three was shocked to find there wasn't more information out there for women experiencing problems with their skin later in life (Jenny Outhwaite)
Jenny is back to her bubbly self (Jenny Outhwaite)And by the end of August, there were no new spots and her old scars were healing.
"I now very rarely get a spot," she added.
"I'm back to my normal self, a bubbly outgoing confident person.
"The thing that's great about taking a supplement is that it fits into my busy life and I don't have to spend ages on a routine.
"People who know how much I've struggled with my skin have commented on how much clearer it is."
Jenny chose to try the product after reading that one of the co-founders, Rosie Speight, had a similar experience with breakouts after coming off the pill, which she was prescribed by her GP at 16 to help with her acne.
When she tried to come off it, each time her skin erupted, just like Jenny's.
Speaking with the Mirror, Rosie said: "I couldn't go back on the pill which I knew would clear them up because we were planning for a family, so I was having to look for alternatives to treat it.
"It made me feel really self-conscious, I was constantly having to touch up my make-up, I was working at the bank in a very male-dominated environment and felt I needed to look my best.
"I don't like wearing lots of makeup, particularly during the day, but felt like I needed to. It was exhausting and applying lots of foundation every day also put extra stress on my skin."
Ella mainly supports women with post-contraception acne (@_myskinstory/Instagram)After disclosing her troubles to her best friend, Alice Mackintosh, who was working on Harley Street as a nutritional therapist specialising in women's skin problems, they worked to resolve her skin issues and later teamed up to create their own products.
Jenny and Rosie are not alone, and one expert who sees women on a regular basis with the same problem is Ella Gorton, of My Skin Story.
She says that 90 per cent of enquiries at her clinic in Manchester are from women in their late 20s+ who have stopped taking contraception after more than 10 years of use.
"Post-contraception acne is predominantly what I help support women with," Ella said.
"It essentially happens due to contraception suppressing natural hormones and replacing them with synthetic ones, then once stopping contraception, natural hormones kick back in and cause a knock-on effect ultimately to the skin.
"Not only this but contraception can deplete a lot of nutrients that as a woman we need and through deficiencies skin concerns like acne can also arise.
"Finally, burdening the liver with daily synthetic hormones puts added stress on the organ and the liver is essential for detoxification. If this isn't optimal functioning then it can be another reason why we see skin concerns arise.
"The difficulty is that specific contraceptives, predominately the combined pill, are prescribed to women for skin concerns too but unfortunately this just masks the problem and doesn't get to the root cause."
Ella, who previously suffered from severe acne and documented her journey with Roaccutane online before starting her own business, says it is crucial for women to be able to make informed decisions before taking contraception.
"Women need to be aware of the pros and cons, however from my own experience and the experience of my clients, we are sold the dream of contraception 'balancing hormones' and 'clearing skin'.
"In the future, I would love to see integrative medicine being at the forefront of skin health because diet and lifestyle can have an incredibly positive impact on skin concerns like acne but it has to be tailored to the individual's needs as there isn't a one size fits all approach."
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