Different progestogen. Uses desogestrel, which in my country (UK) is highly favoured as an acne treatment (instead of Diane35) as it is anti-androgenic, and more so than the norgestimate in Ortho pills. I was put on Desogen for acne and to control my PCOS and it did help a lot. Slightly lower oestrogen content than Orth-cyclen which has 35mg ethinylestradiol, compared to the 30mg in Desogen/Apri. I think this helps relieve some of the water weight that people get on ortho.
My friend was on Ortho-cyclen (called Cilest here), and actually developed PCOS whilst on it, and I believe it is because it can be too androgenic, and the higher dose of ethinylestradioldoesn't always balance this out.
Sorry for my crappy explanation, I hope it is kind of clear though! xx |