Oral contraceptives help women with hormonal imbalance disorders, such as hirsutism, which is caused by elevated androgen levels that can be decreased with OC use. Oral contraceptives help women with acne by reducing the levels of androgens that are causative. Oral contraceptives help women with menorrhagia by regulating and lessening the menstrual flow. OCs protect against dysmenorrhea, a common problem among adolescents, by regulating menstrual flow. And, probably due to their suppression of prostaglandin synthesis, OCs may alleviate PMS symptoms.
Oral contraceptives eliminate mittelschmerz, because they prevent ovulation.
Oral contraceptives may provide protection against benign breast disease, by inhibiting breast cell proliferation during the first half of an ovulatory menstrual cycle. There's also a decreased risk of benign breast disease the longer a woman uses OCs. This may be the result of thickening of the cervical mucus attributable to OCs, since viscous mucus is less easily penetrated by spermatozoa and bacteria. Oral contraceptives provide protection against some of the most common cancers in women, including ovarian cancer, the most lethal gynecological cancer in the United States. Research indicates women who have used OCs for 12 or more years are 80 percent less likely than never-users to develop this deadly disease, perhaps the result of the suppression of ovulation and gonadotropins by the pill.