The birth control pill: It kicked off the sexual revolution, millions of women can now get it for free (thanks to the Affordable Care Act) and it can even treat your acne. If you've noticed that your menstrual and pre-menstrual days tend to coincide with crazy breakouts, a birth control pill may do wonders.

"Fluctuating hormones for the week before and during a woman's period can wreak havoc on the skin due to increased acne," says Dr. Elizabeth Tanzi, M.D., co-director of the Washington Institute of Dermatologic Laser Surgery in Washington, D.C. "Birth control pills stabilize the levels of hormones throughout the month so you don't get the wild ups and downs; therefore, it helps avoid breakouts.

Your Rx: If you see a correlation between the onset of your period and when pimples crop up, talk to your doctor. Only three pills are FDA-approved to treat breakouts -- Yaz, Ortho Tri-Cyclen and Estrostep -- but many more, like Alesse, have been clinically shown to improve acne.

It can significantly reduce your acne, it costs less than $10, and holy hell, does it stink: Fish oil supplements may be a cheap way to reduce pimples if you have moderate to severe acne.

A small clinical trial showed 75 percent improvement in those who took fish oil supplements every day. "A diet rich in omega fatty acids, like salmon, is great for the skin, as is fish oil," says Frank, noting that it decreases inflammation. However, fish oil actually made symptoms worse for subjects with mild acne.

Your Rx: "More research needs to be done before I recommend it to my acne patients," says Tanzi. If you are going to try it, try three grams of the supplement daily and give it 12 weeks to work its magic.

So, about that "you are what you eat" thing: There's more. In addition to watching your dairy intake, you may want to consider the glycemic load of what you're eating.

In one study, people who ate a low-glycemic-load diet -- that means low in carbohydrates and low on the glycemic index -- showed improvement in their acne symptoms. Foods earn their status as having a high glycemic load based on on how quickly they make insulin spike. Experts think that an insulin spike triggers more oil production and, therefore, pimples.

Your Rx: "Those that are acne-prone should maximize their nutritional state," says Frank. "Replace these foods [with a high glycemic load] with more proteins and vegetables that are rich in color."

Tanda. Claro. Zeno. No, these aren't the names of galactic overlords -- they're just some of the light- and heat-emitting, at-home devices that have been released in the past handful of years to treat acne.

While many of the manufacturers behind these devices have conducted small studies to support their products' effectiveness, none of the derms we interviewed were willing to go to bat for them.

"I am not very familiar with these types of machines, but they are not the most effective," Goldfaden says. "There are many more effective ways to manage and treat acne."

Your Rx: Experts seem to agree that these devices may calm a pimple in the same way a compress soaked in hot water would -- they just happen to cost a few hundo. (In other words, your hot washcloth trick gets the thumbs-up.)

It's the closest thing we have to a cure for acne: isotretinoin, or Accutane in its name-brand form, which leaves 85 percent of acne sufferers with clear skin after one course of treatment. In addition to drastically reducing oil secretion, this concentrated form of vitamin A unclogs pores, reduces bacteria levels and relieves inflammation.

Isotretinoin's reputation for causing birth defects has dramatically tightened regulations, and it's been linked to clinical depression and inflammatory bowel disease, but the medical community hasn't been able to prove the latter two connections.

Your Rx: Despite the risks, Tanzi and Frank agree that isotretinoin is a near-miracle worker for patients with moderate to severe acne that hasn't responded to over-the-counter products or prescription antibiotics.