St John's wort used alone refers to the species "Hypericum perforatum", also known as Tipton's Weed or Klamath weed, but, with qualifiers, is used to refer to any species of the genus Hypericum. Therefore, H. perforatum is sometimes called Common St John's wort to differentiate it from the others.
In modern medicine, standardized Hypericum extract (obtained from H. perforatum) is commonly used as a treatment for depression and anxiety disorders. Several studies have found it to be effective in the treatment of mild to moderate depression, with fewer side effects than many conventional antidepressants.
St John's wort may interact with birth control pills and may reduce the effectiveness of oral contraceptives. However this is not clinically proved because no cases of pregnancy due to contraceptive/St John's wort interactions have been found in the literature despite over 20 years of widespread prescription in Germany. If you use birth control pills for treating acne there is nothing to be worried about. You can continue taking both drugs at the same time.
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