I've always had acne breakouts, but nothing as bad as what happened to me this time last year. I don't know if my hormones went out of whack or what, but I started breaking out not only on my chin and cheeks with painful red inflammatory acne, I also started breaking out on my chest and back. Never in my life had I had body acne, and for someone like me who loves to wear tank tops, this was devastating.

I went to the dermatologist in October, and while she wanted me to start Accutane then, I was too frightened by the possible side effects, so I went for the "safer" Minocycline/Clindamyacin/Retin-A-Micro approach. This was most certainly one of the worst mistakes of 2008. While the acne in my chin area cleared up, I began breaking out horrible on my cheeks with cystic acne, a place in which I previously NEVER broke out. My acne on the body did not clear and overall the acne everywhere was worse. Retin-A-Micro also caused my skin to dry horribly and get sore and flaky and just overall painful.

After 3 months of this routine, I went back into the derm in December and decided I had to take the chance with Accutane. I waited a month since you have to do the pregnancy test a month prior, but finally started on January 21st, or around that date. Obviously I broke out horribly the first couple months, especially on my cheeks, but at about 3-4 months my body acne subsided almost completely. I still broke out on my face occasionally, all the way up to my 7th month. However, I have been off accutane a good 3 weeks, almost 4, and I have not broken out ONCE! I was put on a very high dosage of accutane because my doctor wanted to try to suppress my oil glands as much as possible.

Overall I would recommend Accutane. It is a process, it takes time, and it's no "quick fix," but if you are seeking a PERMANENT fix that is relatively easy, try it out. While on Accutane I experienced the typical side-effects; dry face, dry/chapped lips, dry skin, dry hair/scalp, cloudy/tired mind, joint pain (only in the last month though, & I work out pretty intensely). The dry skin on the face is NOTHING like the pain that Retin-A-Micro caused however. Be educated on Accutane and its side effects, but if it's your last resort, at least give it a try, it could change your life!!

I had such a good experience with Accutane!

I'm 5'1", 120lbs, Vietnamese

Cyst acne.

Start Accutane January 2009

First month 10 mg: bad break out.
Second Month 40 mg: Very dry lips and bad break out.
Third - Six Month 40 mg and 80 mg : Bad symptoms. Everything!

Finished July 2009

See my blog and my photos!

~~My Experience~~
Moderate acne, 40mg daily for four months, 70kg

I had an interesting accutane experience. No IB, and significant improvement by the end of my course. Unfortunately I was taken off it a few weeks early because of depression (not severe though, never remotely suicidal) and a pounding headache. The headaches stopped immediately, although 2 months later I was prescribed anti depressants, and I am still on them now (2 years later).

However, taking accutane was the best decision Ive ever made. I spent four years thinking about whether to go on it or not. My skin is now great. I may still be taking anti-depressants, but who cares? That shouldnt put anyone off. I am now happier than I ever was before I took accutane (perhaps my dose is too high!). Quite literally, the only real problem is I still have slightly dry lips, but then I had dry lips before I started the course, and aquaphor solves the problem anyway. So really, the only 'side effect' of note is that I have to remember to take a pill every morning- something I am very happy to deal with. The anti depressants themselves have no side effects at all, except that they make me last longer in bed. Oh dear!

I would shout accutane's praises from the rooftops. The biggest regret of my entire life is not taking accutane sooner. I took it in my final year of uni when I was 22. I wish now that I had taken it before uni.

Best of luck to anyone thinking of starting it! Dont forget that nearly everyone who has a negative experience with accutane will post his feelings here, but only a small minority of people who had a great experience will. And yet the positive posts still outnumber the negative ones. Get onboard!

23M - 10w post accutane

I had medium bad acne for about 4 years trying tetracycline and other prescriptions as well as both cheap and expensive skin products with no real result.

February this year I went on treatment with accutane. Started with 40mg and worked my way up to 80mg a day for the last days of my 6 month cure. After around 3 days I noticed that my skin was better, a couple of weeks later I was acne free and this continued for the complete treatment. The only side effect was very dry lips (carried Locobase Repair with me at all times) and a bit dry arms, calves and face (used Propyless a couple of times a day for this).

Now as I said I am 10 weeks post treatment. I have not experienced a single pimple and the only side effect is that I can get blushed from time to time when very stressed and/or nervous. An extremely mild problem compared to acne.

I had extremely oily skin, face, hair, chest, back. Regular break outs on face, scalp, chest, back. I did not have cystic acne. I had enough zits to make me very self conscious, and my dermatologist made me try months of topical gels before allowing me to go on accutane.
I was 25(27 now), white male, 6ft, 150lbs, healthy diet, little/moderate exercise.

Doc put me on a 6 month cycle, starting at 20 and ending on 40(maybe 60?)mg.


About 1 week in, my skin became noticeably less oily. Within 4 weeks, my skin was flawless. My skin remained flawless while on accutane, but about 1-2 months after my skin once again, became oily. As soon as the oil came back, i started to get zits again.

My back never broke out again, my chest and face greatly improved.
I did not have a single negative side effect, not even chapped lips. Well, I had dry lips to begin with, and I regularly used chap stick, so maybe without chap stick, they'd be dry.
No depression. I'd say I was actually not feeling so depressed for once in my life. I felt like the curse had been lifted.

While on accutane, I had alcohol, not enough to get drunk though. No side effect.
My blood tests (cholesterol) were all normal till the last one, but I attribute that to the return of the McRib. Even then, it was only slightly raised.


100% positive experience while on accutane. It just was not a 100% cure for me.
I would go back on it in a second.
And price-wise, it was about $3000-3500 total, which was not so great.

;)hi guys my name is eazy from leabnon i'm 18 i just finished roaccutane yesterday ,i'm 72 kg , i was taking 40 mg per day for about 7 and half months .AT the begining of taking the medicine the first month was horrible new acne flare up and my face was full of acne it was 10 times worst .
but at the end of the second month my face begin to clear more and more at the end of the 3'rd month it was pretty clear .

side effects experienced: dry skin,dry eye , dry and chapped lips ,thin hair ,moodiness , and the most awful sweating too much,redness.

after taking roaccutane my acne cleared up and my skin look healthier ,only very tiny tiny scars but now i'm much better and confident .

so my advice is be strong accutane is so horrible but at the end it worth it, and honestly it'll change ur life.

I had pretty bad acne all over my chest and back. pretty bad on my face too. I started accutane when i was 15 or 16. Soon after all my acne went away. I am now 37 the acne never came back i never had any side effects. i have no scars or marks anywhere just perfectly smooth acne free skin for 22 years. accutane was the best medicine i ever took.

I had severe acne throughout high school on my face and my body. After high school I outgrew my acne on my face but still had frequent breakouts on my body and neck. Started taking 6 weeks of tetracycline which cleared me up, switched to accutane and haven't had a breakout in probably 6 months. Just finished my course on halloween.

Side effects
really dry skin
super chapped lips
sore joints
dry eyes, nose

Overall I'm very happy with the results it had on my acne. I wish I would have finished my course back in high school. Life would be nice not having all these scars and serious anxiety to overcome now.

I just finished up my course of Accutane a few days ago. I start back in June on the course with a 40mg dose for two months then up to 60mg for the remaining 3 months. While I only had mild acne accutane has been a blessing to me!

For my entire young adult life I battled with hormonal acne, it would come pretty fierce around my period and leave scars and just never seemed to calm down even at the age of 28 and even on birth control and a good skin care regiment. My derm put me on accutane and said that even though I wasnt a great candidate for it (mild acne) that he would put me on to try it bc it really would change my skin forever...

he was right. My oil is gone, my skin feels tighter, my pores are so much smaller, and i have had no big blemishes or marks since. I can wear NO make up and feel confident, its made a world of difference to me. i cant imagine going back to the skin i had six months ago!

The only side effects I had was occasional problems sleeping, the obvious severely chapped lips which sucked, and dry eyes. THat was it, not even an initial break out!

I love accutane, im so glad i did it. A+++ all around!

24/Male 6', 160 lbs. 40mg x 1 month, 60 mg x 6 months.

I took Sotret a total of 7 months for mild/moderate but persistent face and back acne. In the 3rd-4th month my acne cleared up completely and I stopped getting any new acne. I've been off Sotret for 4 months now and my acne is still gone (no new spots). No persistent side effects, and my hair and skin are getting some of the oiliness back so they're not dried out anymore. Lips are still a little dry.

Overall a very positive experience.