140 replies to this topic

[WhateverItTakes]

I would recommend accutane, it was a very difficult process to go through emotionally, but God got me through it! and i no longer worry as much about how I look. I know the suffering people go through that have to deal with acne and its something alot of people dont understand. But there is hope!
I pray that anyone who take it will have a good experience and get through it and remain strong! Good luck!

[devendralover]

I have been Accutane free for almost 2 years now and my skin still looks great. Sure I get the occasional small pimple around my time of the month but it goes away within days. Accutane is definately a tough process but well worth the outcome in the end.

[koolaid2]

I have just finished my first 4 months accutane cycle, I am 17 years old now and it has changed my life. Before accuatane I tried everything including BP, but nothing worked so I was put on accutane. The first 4-5 weeks were really tough, my skin was so dry that I felt embaressed to go to school, my lips looked like I had been through the desert with nothing to drink. 4 months later my skins is still dry, but nowhere near as bad as when I started and at the time of writing (24 hours after last pill) I do not have even one pimple on my face! Yes, my skin is still slightly red in some areas, and yes I have some scars but other than that, my face is clear!!! My back on the other hand side, is much better, but still has scars and pimples, but I'm hoping this will fade with time (no new pimples for now anyway).

Accutane has changed my life

[kim musson]

ok well i have had spots since i was about 14. i tried everything! i must of spent hundreds of pounds on every over the counter thing you can get to laser treatments to all the pills and potions i could get from the doctor.
some things worked sure. i had a few years spot free but they always came back.
luckily i never had bad acne but i had stubborn spots all the time.
it used to be my forehead and then they moved to my chin and above my mouth and older i got the more self concious i would be.
i was happy wen something from the doctor or from the counter worked but then after 6 months to a year they would slowly come back.
i then moved to New Zealand and after few months again the spots came back and it gets you down. u feel awful and that everyone is staring and as i was in a new country and new job i felt really out of place.
so after a few months of feeling crap about myself ( a ex bf who i was dating at the time didnt help with his useful comments on what i should do to clear my skin up hence he is a ex now) i saw my flatmate who skin was getting so clear and she told me she was on roaccutane. i always been put off this drug mainly by family saying my skin wasnt that bad for such drastic measures but seeing how good my flatmates skin was and speaking to a few other friends who had been on it, not that you could tell as their skin was so perfect i decided to give it a go.
it was expensive as i dont get health benefits over here and in UK it would of been free but it was worth every dollar!!
i was on it for 4 months and just finished the course now and my skin is clear!! its amazing.
i dont need to cake myself in make-up now and i cant wait for the summer and not have to worry about covering my spots up all the time.
im heaps more confident, i can stay at my mates and bf's house with out being worried that i scare them in the morning.
sure the side effects look scary on paper but they are rare. i got dry skin, dry lips and a dry scalp. all things that are very easy to treat. use a good moisturiser and jojoba oil on your skin, use a good lip balm i love lucas paw paw and use a anti dandruff shampoo to help ur scalp. easy!
dont expect results straight away.
i saw nothing for 3 months but u just need to carry on and in 3rd month my skin cleared up. i may still get the odd one but thats fine!
my advice is sure try other things but dont waste years like i did looking for a magic cure when there is one right infront of you! if you get offered roaccutane, take it as it will change your life!!

[justlikethis]

YOU GOT TO BELIEVE

Hi everybody ! So first my name is David I'm 20 years old right now and I live in Canada. I'm french so please be cool about my english smile.gif

I've been fighting against acne for about 8 years. I took Accutane 3 times and I'm here to tell you that even how bad your acne is or how down you are, you can go through and get out of this and I know how bad you can feel ! So here is my acne story:

I first took Accutane when I was 13 years old. I had really really bad back acne. I had on chest and face too but my back was really really bad and painful. I took accutane for 5 months and it calms down my acne. I still had acne but it was not so bad and I didn't really care at that time.

Second time on Accutane: 17 years old. Now it's more about my face and I feel really bad about it. Again, I took accutane for 5 months and it worked good. I really thought I was done with acne after that... I had some pimples but not SO bad. I could live with it...

1 year and 6 months later... Acne comes back again on my face... I took Accutane for a third times. This was too much for my body I think... My skin had a really bad reaction... My face turned REALLY BAD. I never had so bad acne on my face and feel so down... I was totally down and all my life was shit... You can see one thread I post in there in 2009 about how bad I was feeling : http://www.acne.org/messageboard/negative-...74#entry2581174

Here are some pictures I took at that time (Sorry about quality these have been taken from an iPhone):

http://i45.tinypic.com/332cnzc.jpg
http://i46.tinypic.com/sowu1h.jpg
http://i45.tinypic.com/2lsgmmp.jpg

Every time I washed my face, it was bleeding and all my face was really hurting... I was not able to see my dermatologist because she was really busy... When I finally saw her she told me to immediately stop Accutane and I started Cortisone. This really helped and this is how I looked 1 month later:

http://i45.tinypic.com/rviwqp.jpg

Quality sucks but my face was really red and I still had some pimples...

1 year later... I'm here right now and my face is really good ! I still have some redness sometimes and little pimples but nothing really bad. You can see :

http://i45.tinypic.com/9kru48.jpg
http://i50.tinypic.com/m99m4y.jpg

I'm really happy to have been through all that shit and I hope for all of you that you'll get clear soon. Everyone can go through and don't despair !

YOU GOT TO BELIEVE

I hope my story has been helpful for you or at least gave you a little bit of motivation.

[TaneLover]

Hey everyone!

I promised myself that if I had a positive experience with Accutane, I would share my story with you all. So here it goes:

For most of my life after puberty, my acne has been mild or moderate. I used proactive when I first got acne at the age of 13. When I got to high school, I eventually used different combinations of topical medications prescribed from my dermatologist such as retin-A micro, benzacline and other benzol peroxide medications, and evoclear. My acne was controlled for the most part with these treatments, but eventually they would wear off and I would need something different or stronger.

During the fall of 2008 of my freshman year in college, my dermatologist prescibed me benzacline to take at night and a doxycycline antibiotic that I took once a day. My acne was not very bad, but my previous treatment was wearing off and I needed something different. Eventually, I stopped taking the antibiotic in early January of 2009 due to a lowered white blood cell count (my cell count went back to normal when I stopped the antibiotic). During that month, I also stopped putting on benzacline at night because my acne was virutally non-existent. I basically had little to no acne from January until late Septemeber of 2009. All I used was Aveeno Active Naturals foam wash in the shower and Aveeno Active Naturals Moisturizer (really good products if anyone wants to use them).

When my acne came back in Sept. 2009, it came back slowly but suredly. It got progressively worse in October and November, but I did not see a dermatologist until December. The derm I went to recommended accutane as the best chance to get rid of it, but like most people I was very scared about accutane. So, I just got a prescription for a topical treatment called Aczone. I honestly just didn't use it very much because it dried my skin too much when I first used it.

In January of 2010, my acne got really bad....I mean really, really, really bad. It was far worse than it had ever, ever been before in my life. Pimples basically covered my entire forehead and temple areas on the sides of my face, and eventually spread to my cheeks and chin as well. Every day was an absolute nightmare to wake up, especially since I would look at my pillow case and it would be covered with spots of blood and pus from the acne on my face. I would go look in the mirror in the morning and virtually see new pimples every day with the ones already on my face bigger than the day before. I basically never wanted to go out, and virtually never did except to attend my classes. By the third week of January I started taking a relatively new drug called Solydyn, which is a form of minocycline. This drug took over a month and a half to start producing any positive effects. It decreased my acne just a little bit, but not by much.

Since this drug was basically doing very little for me, I started to research accutane. I read a lot of posts, including on this site, about people's experience with accutane. I also researched and learned the common and possible side effects as well as how the drug worked to rid the body of acne. I was a little scared about taking it still, but I was ready to give it a try.

During my spring break in mid march of 2010, I finally went to another dermatologist and was prescribed accutane. I stopped taking Solydyn and started taking accutane on March 18, 2010. I used the generic brand Clavaris during my entire treatment. The following list is my dosage for the 6 months I was on the drug:

Month #1: Clavaris 80mg
Month #2: Clavaris 80mg
Month #3: Clavaris 80mg
Month #4: Clavaris 80mg
MOnth #5: Clavaris 80mg
Month #6: Clavaris 40mg

I also would like to note that I applied aczone at night during the last three months of my accutane course to help reduce the redness and scarring from my acne. Aczone and accutane combined helped, in my opinion, to reduce the scarring and redness on my face.

Side effects:
I luckily did not have too many side effects while on accutane. I did not get the initial breakout while taking the drug. After about a week on the drug, I started to get dry lips...the lips became very dry and I used a chapstick a lot to combat some of the dryness...Dr. Dan's chapstick is a good one made for accutane (but only use it a couple times of day because it can thin the skin on the lips due to the cortisone in it). I would also occasionally get dry skin on the tops of my shoulders, my forearms, and above my eyes under my eyebrows. I also sometimes got a small to medium size rash on the back of my upper arms. These were the only real side effects I had, and they all went away about a week after I finished my course of treatment on accutane.

My experience while on accutane:
It took just one month on accutane for my skin to basically clear up entirely. It was amazing to see how fast the drug worked for me because I was expecting it to take a few months like it does for most people to see the benefits. After that first month, I basically had one or two small pimples every couple months during treatment. It literally was a miracle drug for me.

Post accutane experience:
I took my last pill in my 6 month course of accutane on September 14, 2010. I am proud to tell you all that it has been almost three weeks off of the drug, and my skin is looking great! My face is 100% clear. Accutane literally turned my life around for the better. My self esteem has greatly improved now that I can go out into the world without worrying about acne. I am very thankful for accutane, and for taking it. I only wish I had taken photos of my acne and the improvements I had with the use of accutane. However, I was just too embarrassed to keep any photos of myself with the acne.

How this story can relate to you:
My hope is that this story touches people out there suffering from the dreadful effects of acne. If you are someone contemplating whether to take accutane, I hope you can find comfort in this story and all the other posts here. Accutane is not for everyone, but don't negative images of accutane influence you to go months or years trying other treatments that either don't work or don't last just to avoid taking accutane. In the end, you have an important decision to make about how to treat your acne. Don't let fear control the decisions you make. Taking accutane was a risk I took, and it ended up changing my life for the better. Whatever choice you make with regards to treating your acne, I wish you the best of luck.

[Siava]

Another friendly reminder to read the original post. The posts that are visible are from members that have finished a course(s) of Accutane.

[HappyHarry]

I began to get spots when I was around 14. At first, I was pretty much the same as every other boy in my year at school. I had a few around my nose and that was about it. Things gradually became worse, so I bought some face wash products. I used these, in combination with drinking lots of water, and improving my already healthy diet. I saw some improvement. After a few weeks, things went back to before, and my acne became more and more severe.

I began to become rather self-conscious. I had always been popular with my peers, extremely active (I play a lot of rugby), had a good diet, drank plenty of water, and had no other health problems. Other than my face, I was perfectly happy. I went to the doctor and was prescribed some retinoids. These worked at first, and I was looking forward to having clearer skin.

After a few months, these failed to work effectively and I became a bit desperate. My acne had become really bad, I hadn't had a girlfriend for ages, and I became obsessed with washing my face, hoping that would work. I even took creams to parties! Things were not going well.

I was finally prescribed Roaccutane by a dermatologist. He said that I should have been given them far earlier, as my acne was so severe I would probably develop scarring. This news did not go down well as you can imagine, but I stuck to the course. I was given 30mg per day for 6 months. It took around 5 months to notice a difference if I'm truly honest. My skin dried out in this time, and I began using moisturiser. I realised that acne is not due to hygeine or diet. It is down to inheritance unfortunately! Water, exercise and diet obviously help too. Boys are more susceptible to acne too.

I finished the 6 months, and was given another course, this time at 35mg. You may hear of people taking ridiculously high doses (e.g. 60mg+) for short periods of time. This is nonsensical, as it takes a long time to affect your subaceous glands. Also, high doses will increase the side-effects exponentially. The dose is calculated according to your weight. I weighed around 70kg, and was 5ft 11'.

After 12 months, I had noticed a substantial difference. My skin was clearer but quite dry. I did sometimes notice creaky joints, which is a side-effect. I had a further 3 months course and I'm clear! My skin is smooth and my self esteem is sky high. I am now 18 years old, have had a beautiful girlfriend for 15 months, and am in first year at medical school.

Taking Roaccutane at a fair dose over a long time has had a dramatic, and positive affect upon my skin. I still drink a lot of water, wash my face twice a day (exfoliate at night), use toner, and then moisturise. I can shave without bleeding acne. I can talk to people without feeling self-conscious about the condition of my skin, and I generally feel good.

I hope that by sharing my experience, I can help any of you.

P.S. I apologise to any Americans for my spelling. I am from the United Kingdom, so use British English!

[kazuya]

when i first started taking accutane and signed up at these boards, i promised myself i would post on this topic once my course finished!i did a 4 month cycle at 80mg 3 times a week and 40 mg 4 times a week. the drug has worked wonders!!!! im now almost two months post tane, the flushing and redness have reduced, and my skin is looking amazing! its glowing i couldnt be any happier so far, and i know it will only get better too!

one thing i will add is that about two months in i started noticing hair shedding. hair loss was my number 1 fear before starting accutane too. i was mortified and faced with a difficult decision. continue with my course and risk continued hair shedding, or quit and hope it will go away.
despite the advice on the board, i had hope and continued with my course. and im glad i did!!!! the shedding continued up until almost the end of the cycle, but i stuck with it. i took a bunch of supplements to hopefully counteract the hair loss, and who knows if they did, but the hair loss has completely subsided! i feel blessed!!! my supplements included silica, biotin, zinc, and vitamin e. i also used baby shampoo.

i love accutane, its given me confidence back. if youre on accutane and experiencing hair loss, dont be afraid to take a risk and continue, it could be the best decision you ever make.

i hope that i dont have to return to these boards one day, but best of luck to everyone here!

ps. post tane i have been using this cream called cicalfate by avene, it has made my healing time decrease as well as easing redness and scarring, overall making my skin look very healthy and glowing! i highly reccommend it

god bless you all

[c'est la vigne]

Some posts are now invisible. Please read the guidelines for posting in this thread.

[DaveC]

I am 34 and went on a 6 moth dose of claravis 80mg a day... i had moderate to severe body acne. my face was always pretty clear. I suffered for 15 years and wish I knew about accutane years ago.
the only draw back was the cost, I didn't have insurance so it wound up costing me about $4000.
It was worth every penny though, I was just fed up with having acne and feeling like a freak.
I couldn't take it anymore, i never felt comfortable wearing a bathing suit or getting intimate with a girl. It really took a toll on my self confidence.
It's been 2 months since I finished my treatment and my body is perfectly clear. My skin is silky smooth and soft, not a blemish. It's amazing!!!
The last 4 months of treatment were a bit rough, my skin was incredibly dry, but it was a small price to pay. I did have joint pain too, I had to stop lifting weights and going to the gym as a result.
This is only temporary though, joint pain is totally gone now and I am back at the gym.
This drug IS the cure for acne, i don't care what anyone says!!

[jennifer36]

I'm 19 years old, and after having extremely persistent moderate acne for 7 or 8 years, i went on accutane. I tried prescription topical treatments but I have very sensitive skin that dries out easily and is prone to eczema, so I had to stop these. I went on birth control pills in hopes to get rid of the acne but that did not help much, maybe a little at first but it went back how it was. Finally my doctor put me on accutane.

I started at 40mg/day for the first month, then 60mg/day for two months. At my final checkup my doctor gave me another 80mg/day for 3 weeks. I've now been off accutane almost 2 weeks.

From the beginning there was an improvement, although I did have many side effects. First of all, my lips got so dry they would crack and bleed. Every time I tried a new lip balm it would work for a few days then stop working, so I started cycling through them all. I used Carmex to deal with the bleeding/cracking though, the most effective, but smells and tastes terrible. My skin became so dried out that I used a moisturizer for dry skin all throughout the day. My eczema went out of control, in small patches all over my body. I had joint pain, severe at times in my wrist, more frequent migranes, and general fatigue. Also, my nose was so dry inside that i would blow my nose and 90% of the time it would be full of blood. Gross.

Positively, accutane has almost entirely cleared up my skin. I work in a retail store, and have to deal with customers all day, so it's nice to be more confident. People I work with have even been complimenting my skin and how clear it is. I'm almost 2 weeks post accutane now. At the end of my treatment I had one small pimple on my forehead, which has vanished. I have had two small pimples on my cheek since i stopped the accutane, one at a time. I currently have one now. My skin is so sensitive that I cannot use hardly anything on it. I use "The Soap Works" creamy clay soap morning and night, and oatmeal complexion soap when my skin is too dry. I use a rich moisturizer 2x daily as well. Occasionally I do an oatmeal and honey mask for dry skin which helps too. I did notice an increase in acne scarring while on accutane, but that is fading quickly since my treatment ended. Also I reccomend chamomile tea soaks for this, as well as spot treatment of pimples since it is a gentle anti inflammatory, and it has improved my general skin tone/texture. I have noticed the dry skin going away a bit, the dry lips are no longer cracking, but they are still peeling, and my eczema is going away.

All in all, accutane has helped me almost entirely clear up my acne. I am a little disappointed it's not entirely gone, but what it is now is so much better than before. My skin would never be 95% clear if it wasn't for accutane. I do reccomend this drug to anyone whose willing to deal with the side effects.

EDITED,
my skin's gone back to almost as bad as it was before the accutane, not even clear for a year. oh well.

Edited by jennifer36, 01 October 2011 - 09:57 PM.

[KitKate]

I just finished my course of Accutane, and this drug has given me a freedom I've never felt before. I had very persistent moderate acne, complete with cysts every now and again, for ten years. I broke out every single day - big, tender, sore spots that were impossible to hide.

After some time in college, I couldn't live with it anymore. Everyone else was clearing up, and I was getting worse. I tried changing my diet, multiple times. (I eat extremely well anyway.) I tried everything OTC and everything my derm would give me. It took TWO YEARS of trying all the derm's other pills and creams and garbage before he agreed to give me Accutane.

I didn't clear up quickly. I had a bad initial breakout in my second and third months of treatment. My side effects were annoying, but tolerable: sandpapery lips, blood when I blew my nose, dry eyes, flaky skin and occasional rashes on my hands.

So I carried tissues. I moisturized and used eye drops and dragged lip balm everywhere and stayed out of the sun because my skin was sensitive. And you know what? I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I'm CLEAR! I haven't had a big spot in awhile - I just get rare, "normal-person" zits, not big painful swollen lumps. My skin doesn't hurt anymore. I feel clean!

The best part? When I'm out with people now, I'm not constantly excusing myself so I can check my makeup. In conversations now, I don't angle my face to hide my "bad side." I'm just LIVING, being myself, and even though I have to work on my self-image after having it warped badly for years from this awful condition, I feel like when I look in the mirror now, I actually see ME - my features, not just my skin.

It still surprises me when I catch my own reflection now, and I don't know how long that will last. My skin hasn't looked or felt anywhere close to this good since grade school. I thank God for this drug and that I was able to take it. Nothing else I've used has been comparable, and I would urge anyone suffering as I did to at least consider trying it.

[SLR711]

Wow, so relieved and thankful to be posting here after finishing my course, rather than in the Negative Experiences thread!

I have never had perfectly clear skin, except for one summer when I ate a vegan diet - my skin was glowing and clear then and I would suggest to anyone suffering from acne that they give the vegan thing a try if their lifestyle allows for it - but other than that stint, which I couldn't keep up, I've always had acne, and it got really bad by the end of last school year. So I went to a new derm at the beginning of the summer, who took one look at me and said, "You need accutane."

After doing a little research online, I was highly reluctant to take accutane, as you can probably imagine. I talked to my regular doctor about it, and she said that derms don't prescribe accutane lightly, that they usually prescribe it in cases where there's a risk of scarring, and that I probably needed it.

So I took her advice and started accutane. For the first two and a half months, my skin looked worse than it ever has in my entire life BY FAR. If I had been at school, I don't think I could have dealt with it. Other than that, the only ("only") side effects I experienced were very dry lips (you must carry aquaphor on your person at all times! you do NOT want to get caught without it!), and, later in the course, dry skin on the rest of my body (nothing some lotion couldn't mostly take care of). My hair was also dryer, which actually was awesome - it had more volume and I had to wash it less! But the worst thing I had to deal with was depression. I think the medication exacerbated already-existing but manageable emotional problems, in a way that was noticeable to the people around me. I did not stop taking the pills or take fewer of them because I believed - rightly, I think - that I would feel better the faster my skin cleared up. The depression lifted after the first month or month and a half, and I've felt back to normal ever since then, but it was pretty scary for a little while there.

So, anyway, I stopped taking accutane over a month ago, my skin looks better than it has at any point since puberty aside from my vegan summer, my acne scars are fading every day, my skin is soft and normal (neither oily nor dry), and I look basically flawless with a dusting of mineral foundation. It's a good place to be! Oh, and I wash my face twice a day with Philosophy Purity Made Simple, and moisturize with Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream (comes in a tub). During the accutane I used that cream and washed with a Cetaphil gentle cleanser.

Good luck if you decide to take accutane! I'm glad I did it. If you are in school, however, I would recommend starting your course in the summertime; the terrible acne and mood swings would have been pretty overwhelming to deal with in college.

[Willa]

I am 30 years old, female, and have had moderate to severe acne since my late teens.

I took Accutane for 6 months to clear up persistent and scarring back acne, face acne, chest and throat acne. I went off of it the end of August and was almost 100% clear in August. By September I was 100% clear. Zero acne. My skin was fantastic. Flawless.

In December, I started getting one or two small pimples on my face and back. I started to fall into despair. Did I really only have three wonderful months before it all started coming back?

My derm had told me repeatedly that picking at my acne was a huge exacerbator for acne, making it much worse and that I wouldn't ever be truly clear if I kept picking at the pimples.

So. When those little pimples showed up in December, I refused to pick them. I just left them alone.

They disappeared in about a week, and I was 100% clear again.

Now in January I have a few pimples on my chest, back, and face. I have not picked them, I have not touched them. They are almost entirely gone, just one on my back that is tiny and one on my face that is a little red, but hardly noticeable. YES!!!!!!!

I am pretty sure this is hormonal acne, related to my period, now that I'm off birth control, etc. It is NOTHING compared to what I'd had one year ago, so hideous my back looked like I'd been shot with birdshot.

Accutane was a godsend. Before Accutane I'd tried antiobiotics, which worked a little, but not for long, Clearasil, birth control, Retin-A Micro, and BP. Nothing worked for very long or very well.

I'd have acne travel down my arms, so I couldn't wear sleeveless shirts, let alone a bathing suit. I never let my back or chest show.

I started on 40 mg and went up to 60 about halfway through.

My side effects were VERY dry skin and VERY dry lips, and a rash on both my hands. Also, very dry hair.

At the end, I only had to wash my hair once a week, it was so dry. Amazing.

My face was so dry, flakes and powdery dead skin would drift off like dust. Peeling and flakey.

I tried everything, got very expensive products that did nothing to help, for my face and my lips.

Then, as a last resort, I tried regular old Vaseline on my lips. It worked like an absolute charm. That cheap tub of Vaselin worked perfectly, completely saved my lips, and so much better than the expensive stuff.

My face was also horribly, horribly dry and nothing was really doing the trick. So, finally I smeared Vaseline on my cheeks, chin, forehead, nose, my whole face. Ta daaaa!! Miracle cure. Made my face perfect and soft.

So as not to look like a greasy freak, I would smear my face with Vaseline at night before bed and that took care of it for the next day, pretty much.

I really recommend Vaseline in this manner for anyone fighting extremely dry lips and face.

And, that's pretty much it.

Accutane saved me. I recommend it 100%. It's changed my life.

I'm now back to oily skin and hair so greasy I have to wash it every day. My skin is still sensitive like it was during Accutane though, I think, since I washed my face with an astringent and my face went crazy red and painful, like a burn. So I don't use any products on my face.

I pray that my back, face, chest and neck (and arms) will continue to be 99% acne-free. If I have to go back on Accutane again, I will.

If you are suffering from persistent and debilitating acne, I recommend this. Please do try it! it is a powerhouse.

[Chopper]

I just read Willa's post and my experience was very similar, so I decided to finally post my Accutane experience.

I'm a 33 yr old female and struggled with moderate facial acne with a noticeable hormonal component since I was 16/17 yrs old. The only treatment that seemed to work was antibiotics, but I always hated the thought of being on long-term antibiotics, and whenever I quit taking them my acne came back. I just decided to live with it for 16 yrs, until winter 2009 when my back exploded with very painful cystic acne that covered the majority of my back.

I couldn't pinpoint any significant lifestyle change that could have accounted for it, so I decided enough was enough and took the Accutane plunge. I started on 80 mg/day (I weighed 64 kg) and continued for four months (April to August 2010). I was fortunate to not experience an IB and was mostly clear after the first month, although it took my back a couple of months to start clearing (my derm said that's typical). I was completely clear at the end of my four month course. My major side effects were dry everything, significant hair thinning/shedding, noticeably decreased healing time, and very prominent muscle/joint/back soreness. It was all manageable.

Thankfully, ALL of the side effects slowly subsided after I finished my course. I am about 5 months post-Accutane and everything is back to normal, including my hair, which took the longest and, thus, worried me the most. I had made peace with the fact that I was just going to have dry/thin hair for the rest of my life, which I now know was unnecessary.

About a month ago, which was four months post-Accutane, my face slowly began breaking out again. I would classify it as mild acne, so it was about half the strength as my pre-Accutane acne. Discouraging, sure, but it's all relative. It definitely seemed to coincide with my period, just as it has all of my life. My back has remained clear, thankfully.

It's sad having to go back to worrying about my skin, but if my acne does not worsen, it is definitely something I can live with. If it returns to it's pre-Accutane strength or my back breaks out horribly again, I will consider doing another round of Accutane. My fingers are crossed that it doesn't come to that.

In all, I would still recommend Accutane, even though I am generally very anti-medication of any kind. There seems to be a lot of variation in how well it works for people, which is to be expected. If you've tried everything else, are living a constrained version of the life you deserve to live, and are in general good health, I think Accutane is definitely worth a try.

[Fred Q]

I decided to take accutane after I tried everything in an effort to get rid of my acne. I took it and experienced the following side effects: dry skin, dry hair, chapped lips, constant drowsiness and minor lower back pain.

It cleared me up completely, and now 1.5 months post I haven't had one legitimate pimple since the beginning of month 3. All the side effects went away 2-3 weeks after my last pill.

It's definitely a long journey, but worth it.

If you've tried everything to no avail, then I would suggest considering accutane.

[stanno]

Well, I took my last pills this evening. I've been on a relatively low dose of 50mg per day for 4 months, making a cumulative dose of 90mg/k. Maybe that was because my acne, although persistant and cystic, wasn't too bad when I had my prescribing appointment (at the end of a long summer outdoors whch has always helped my fac e clear up).

What can I say? The proverbial IB started within 4 days but only lasted 2 weeks. From that time I started to heal, and have been totally clear for well over 2 months! That makes this the longest time without spots in my entire teenage/adult life. ALL my spots have gone - blackheads around my nose which have been there for ever, spots on my arms, back, bum and outer thighs which were always present and sometimes turned cystic. But mainly my face - it's totally clear, and that's an amazing concept.

Side effects. All the usual drying stuff but nothing too bad. An increased lethargy resulting in sleeping longer and deeper at night (no bad thing). Some joint pain in the 3rd and 4th months, including lower back ache and nasty hip joint pain which made me hobble around for 3 or 4 weeks but then subsided. Blurred vision at times due to dry eyes and contact lenses, but managable. Interestingly, my dandruff has cleared up completely, and there has been no noticable hair loss (one of my main concerns at the beginning).

Another interesting thing - the scarring on my face has improved noticeably. Many of the pits seem to have filled in to some extent - even the huge ones left by massive cysts. Not sure why this would be but it's very welcome! I never suffered badly from red marks and so that hasn't been an issue on way or the other. My skin also feels tighter. No increase in wrinkles which others have mentioned.

All in all, I think I've got off lightly. I'm glad I did this in the winter months - I cycle a lot and didn't want to be exposed to the sun for hours on end. My training has dipped slighty from previous years - I'd say I'm down 5% in performance. During the hip pain period I had to lay off running completely, but I'm back on it again. Cycling and fixed weights haven't been a problem at any stage.

Would I recommend accutane? Yes, definately. Do your own research, but please bear in mind that you won't neccesserily get a balanced view, either here on Acne.org or on the web in general. There is a very vocal minority who (may) have suffered long-term side effects who tend to dominate any discussion of accutane and who will tell anyone who is prepared to listen all manner of horror stories of how it will screw you up permanently. PLEASE, don't let this put you off. Try and stick to the most objective stuff you can find and, of course, your dermatologist, who should be able to give you a balanced view and answer any concerns.

I was personally put off accutane for several years because of these very horror stories, which any google search will throw up. IMO this gets muddied by the litigation in the US - there are issues of on-going compensation claims which clouds the issue. My only regret in this whole experience was that I let these stories influence me and delayed my treatment. I could have been clear years ago, instead of messing about with ABs, topicals, diets, etc, all of which I tried and none of which made the slightest difference - they just made me feel even more useless and helpless.

But finally, it's your decision. For me it's been one of the most positive experiences of my life. I truly feel like a changed person, no longer sculking in the shadows, avoiding eye contact, always worried about how my concealer looks. If, six months down the line, my acne comes back then I will seriously consider a second course. And if, in a few years time, I discover that I've developed a long-term side effect (which would put me in a tiny minority) then it would have been as a result of my own reasoned decision. I won't be bitching.

Edited by stanno, 30 January 2011 - 04:15 AM.

[pushingthelimits]

I finished my full course of Accutane over 6 months ago and I haven't had a pimple the ENTIRE six months. Its AMAZING. I truly cant tell you how happy I am to have finally found a cure! Derm put me on 120 mg of claravis (generic accutane) for about 8 months. I would take 2 pills one day, one the next, and so on. The first couple months acne was slightly worse. Then is started to really clear up. Now all I use is Purpose face wash to wash my face (with a small facial loofah from walmart) and Burts Bees Day Radiance cream for moisturizer. I swear my face couldnt look any clearer! Its awesome. Wish I had posted earlier, I just have been so busy living my new life acne free. woohoo!~

[Warrior of Acne]

I absolutely loved my experience with Accutane (generic: Claravis)!

My 1st month I started out at 40 mg to adapt to the drug. Then, the 2nd I was on 60 mg, and 3/4/5 I was on 80 mg. I weigh 75 kg.

I really do not feel I need to type out the whole thing again so here is my success story (with pictures and my side effects):

http://www.acne.org/messageboard/Accutane-...06#entry3018006

By the way, this thread was made about 2 weeks ago. My derm originally had me on a 6 month course but I did so well we stopped at 5 (2/1/11 instead of 3/1/11). I cannot recommend Claravis enough! My skin is now baby smooth and I will be starting a topical retinoid soon to maintain my results.

EDIT: I also should mention I only payed $10 every month for it. With my insurance it was an amazing deal.

Edited by Warrior of Acne, 05 February 2011 - 11:25 PM.