4 replies to this topic

[yotshane]

i have like mild acne, but i can see my forhead is about to break out.
how severe does your acne have to be to get accutane?
and how fast will it work if i just have mild acne?
and also, how bad is it for you and what are the risks?
and how do i get it?

[titoziot]

Here's what I've found in reading and talking to my derm about it. I'm 3 weeks in to my treatment, and doing well

Accutane is meant as a last resort treatment for people who have either really severe acne, or those with mild-moderate persistant acne that hasn't been helped by other treatments and causes scarring (which is me).

If you want to be on it, I'm sure you can ask your dermatologist. My doctor told me that she isn't even allowed to prescribe it - it has to come from a dermatologist for US patients. Because I "qualified" for it (because of the scarring), it was covered by my insurance. Which is awesome. My dosage (40mg/day) would cost about $350 per month, but I get it for $5.

Accutane shrinks the oil glands, so it takes a while. Treatment is usually 4-6 months or so, depending on your body weight, acne type and how you respond to the drug. If the first go doesn't work, some people do a second round 6 months or so after their first time (sometimes people still have active acne after the first treatment, that goes away over time). The info part of this site explains about the correlation between dosage strength/length of treatment and side effects. Wikipedia's entry was pretty good too I thought at explaining what the drug actually does, and how it was developed.

My derms also explained the success of the drug has been shown to work best with women who have acne on their chin/jawline area. If I remember right, they said about 75-85ish% of people are cured of acne from the first treatment. And another 10%ish respond well after the second treatment. Treating acne on the back/chest is not as high with the stats. Again, this is from what I remember - don't quote me on these.

The major risk is birth defects while taking Accutane. In the US, they have a program called IPledge that all Accutane takers have to enroll in. It's a series of waiting periods (30 days from first blood test), blood tests and online quizzes (once every 30 days to get the next month's script) to make sure your doing what you need to.

Other risks/side effects... dry skin and lips is probably a given for anyone. Others are headaches, join and muscle pain, blurred vision (none of these for me as of yet).

Also, an initial breakout can happen as your skin/acne react to the drug. This can be nonexistent, or pretty serious for some people. All depends on your skin. My derm said if you don't see noticeable redness/inflammation during the first few weeks, your breakout won't be that bad. I guess it has more to do with how accutane changes your skin (oil levels) than what it is doing to the acne you already have underneath.

Less common, like much less common if you read into it: Depression and suicide. Bowl disorders. These last two are why the original company who made Accutane got sued a dozen times or so. They are obviously serious side effects, so your doctor will ask you about family history of either of these and tell you to stop taking the drug immediately if you experience anything that might be related.

As for the lawsuits against original makers.. Roche or something, is their name. I couldn't find a real case to look at. They were all settled out of court, I think a total of 6 people actually got settlements but there are some pending ones. The original company doesn't make the drug anymore. They say it is because the 5 year patent expired, so a slew of other companies now make generic versions that are so much cheaper, the original company decided to stop manufacturing it. This sounds fishy given the lawsuits - but by the time they did this, they had 5% of the market share. So really, it does make a lot of sense that they would stop making the drug for financial reasons (not because it's a drug from hell as some people say).

That's my take on it. Check around the net for other sources. This website is excellent also. Its a lot easier to find horror stories online than it is to find success stories. But, at the same time, accutane is a serious drug (check out wiki's bit about it being developed to treat cancer initially). Good luck

[Avenger]

My acne was in the mild category when I went to my doctor, quite literally a few inflamed pimples and when I uttered the words "what about Accutane?" to my surprise she said "well let's try you on antibiotics and if they don't work I'll refer you and make reference saying that other treatments have failed". This was on the NHS.

I never bothered going back to my doctor after I finished my antibiotic course because it worked quite well. Quite glad I never enquired about Accutane again either because my skin seems to be coping fine.

[dreamingofclearskin2011]

accutane is a last resort meant for the wrost acne conditions possible..
and even when people have these condistions they sometimes still turn down accutane because yes it does a good job at removing acne but it comes with some of the wrost side effects possible in a drug.. you experience major dry face drip chapped lips depression suicidal thoughts.. and so much more not only that but you WILL get an initial breakout. so your forehead seems how it looks like its about to breakout will more than likely be the first thing to purge immediately! because cutting off the sebaceus glands makes everything on your skin come to a head and once they come to a head seems how the glands are blocked off theres nothing else to come to the durface. thats how it works. so all your acne on your face comes to the surface all at once which means youre going to be covered in acne for a good month. then after that finally heals you are going to have major redmarks from the acne. so i do not recommend acutante esp for just mild acne.. find a good cleanser that will take care of it.. i use hibiclens and it has done wonders on my face cleared my acne in about 2 weeks or less! best cleanser i have ever used. good luck! please do not go on accutane for mild acne.

[yotshane]

thank you so much!!