56 replies to this topic

[brando6827]

Hello, I am currently on my last month of tane, I have taken 80mgs everyday. My face, back, and chest cleared amazing the fourth and fifth month, but after my fifth I failed to get my prescription filled in time and I was off it for about 12 days, within those twelve days, I already started to get cysts and red marks and some chestne. I was pretty confident that it was going to go away forever because my father was on it years ago and it worked wonders for him, but mine already came back in 12 days, so I am doubtful this last month will prove anything. I'm going to ask my derm for different meds for two months and another treatment following it.

[360cbh]

Hi everyone. To let you know my experience, I had bad acne as a teen (well since 12 yay) and subsequently was prescribed accutane at 16. (For free because i live in the uk, I cant believe you have to pay for it in U.S it is insane) Anyway after about 6 months I had no acne and then at about 21 it came back but nowhere near as bad but bad enough that i went to the GP and got some lymecycline and dalacin. In about a month the acne went but i finished the 2 month course and it was all good. Then after about 2 weeks the acne resurfaced (arrgh!!) so i used the dalacin which I had left (dalacin is a lotion) and amazingly they cleared up. Then after 2 weeks they came back (ARRGH!!) so i went to the GP and he said hmm ok heres some lymecycline but I don't think we'll need the dalacin. 2 months later and no improvement so I think that antibiotics are shitty and I'm going to get the dalacin on tuesday. (for free)

[Jutta412]

Yes, it came back three months after I completed a four-month cycle. Full force. The only thing (knock on wood) that didn't return was my bacne--- but my neck/scalp/face acne is raging full force right now. Especially little hard super-deep pimples that are ALL OVER THE PLACE AND NEVER SEEM TO HEAL...
I'm a 30yr old female, BTW. Not a testosterone-raging teenaged male.

[28girlwithance]

I was on Accutane for about 5 months and my skin was awesome for about 1 year. Now it is coming back.

The annoying thing s that my Dr. wants me to try all other options again (antibiotics, topicals, etc) before going onto a second treatment. I am so worried about scarring again!


I am now trying cephalexin and retin-A. I worried it will not work though because doxycyclin with differin did not work before.

[SEVEN_SECONDS_AWAY!]

my friend took accutane for 6 months, than her skin was beautiful, after one year she start it to get acne again unfortunately her acne came back and worst. i though that maybe if she takes accutane for a second time it would finally completely kill the acne. so she took it, twice, everything went 100% fine. after two years her acne came back, not so bad like it was before. but she still has acne again. now she won´t take accutane again because the side effects are pretty shitty you know. i just think that it´s ok to handle the side effects 1 time or 2 times, but not 3 times! is just too much. now she is going all natural, eating healthier, using topical creams etc. her acne is getting better but...she just won´t take accutane ever again.

i just guess that for some people accutane cured their acne forever but for some people don´t. i guess my friend was the unlucky one. is just sad you know, because accutane seems to be the best solution to cure moderated to severe acne. but you know sometimes some things don´t last forever.

[fredjones]

omg reading this thread depressed me

then i realized that all the people who had accutane curing their acne forever probably never came back to this site but all those who have had acne come back came back to this site

[biggs881]

omg reading this thread depressed me

then i realized that all the people who had accutane curing their acne forever probably never came back to this site but all those who have had acne come back came back to this site

Nevertheless, about 20% of people use Accutane again after their first course.

[28girlwithance]

I was on Accutane for about 5 months and my skin was awesome for about 1 year. Now it is coming back.

The annoying thing s that my Dr. wants me to try all other options again (antibiotics, topicals, etc) before going onto a second treatment. I am so worried about scarring again!


I am now trying cephalexin and retin-A. I worried it will not work though because doxycyclin with differin did not work before.

It has been a little over 3 weeks, my acne is CLEAR again!! yay! The cephalexin and retin-A is working!!

It did not work before accutane, but it is now. I highly recommend trying this combination.

[kidtech]

Hello~~ I am back here on this forum..how sad...here is my story. I had acne since I was 18 or so, and it got pretty bad when I was around 26 after I met my wife(I am 30 right now). I always thought it was the stress that got me into this acne mess...but who knows? Even until now, i still don't know why I have acne. My dad used to have bad acne when he was young, so I guess it may have something to do with the genes? I had try PB, Antibiotics many times before, but none of those stuff really work. So I decided to request my doctor after I found out about accutane from my coworker. I had moderate acne as the doctor said 2 years ago. So i was prescripted for 40 MG for 2 months, it worked quite well after couple of outbreaks in the beginning for couple weeks. So I went back to the doctor to get another 2 months. All I had was dry lips and acne scar from the previous outbreak.....but it is such a big relief that my face was grown out of acne. The reason I took accutane because I wanted to look the best on my wedding last August, and it did helped me alot. I am still glad that Accutane did help me go through all that. So after six months which is 2011 Feburary, I started to have sign of outbreak... I immediately go to my doctor to ask for some accutane, but then he only gave me 10mg for a month as he said my acne is very mild. The doctor said my acne problem will eventually go away, and he gurantee me that I will have no acne when I am 35...but know whos.. some people here get outbreak even when they are 39, 45...... Anyways, my acne started to go away pretty quick in less than 2 weeks. Now it is May, and my acne is back again just last week. There were more than 5 small pimples last week, and now there are 3 papules this week on my face. I am going back to the doctor again tomorrow to get more accutane. My advice for now is... Accutane does help with your acne problem, although acne may come back to haunt u again. I will probably come back here to post some update either I am cure or not. Good luck to everyone.

[MobileBeauty_]

I had acne for 6 years on and off. I tried everything from Dianette, Homeopathy, chinese medicine, anti biotics and finally Roaccutane. Everything worked but the Acne always came back in the end. Roaccutane worked best my skin was clear (Odd spot once every 3 months) for over 18 months and now i am breaking out again. Its not as bad as it was but still have about 5 plus spots on my face going to take roaccutane again. Hopefully that will be it.

[ignition]

I took my last accutane pill in september 2009 and still acne free. Was on a dose of about 10000 mg

[atf487]

I'm about 12 months after taking my last pill of accutane. My skin is sort of back to normal, in that it is oily again but there aren't that many spots. I sometimes get them but they're always very small and go away quickly, and are usually brought on by irritation from shaving.

I do think I have rosacea though, as my skin is still quite red all of the time. Depresses the shit out of me

[mediasandy]

I began getting breakouts in the 3rd grade & have had problems of one sort or another ever since (I am 45 now--that's 36 yrs.!!). My acne began worsening in my early- to mid-20s & has continued like that ever since. 1st course of Accutane I was 23. Just finished my 5th full course at 45. I need to go back on it about every 3-5 yrs. I do fight breakouts off and on in-between, but when they start to get uncontrollable, I go back on it.

Don't know if this will ever end for me. It is really hard. Most women in their 40s do not have any acne, much less a face-full. The first 4 courses, my skin broke out the entire time I was on it but then, 1-2 wks. after the course was over, it was flawless. This time, my face is covered with about 15 "sores" over a week after completing the 5-month course. Most of these began showing up a couple of days after I took my last pill. Very, very discouraging & scary/depressing.

[insurgent]

It's been almost a year since my last treatment with Accutane in 2011. I had a lot of white heads and a few pimples that are swollen and red back then, and Accutane was my last resort to treat my acne when the antibiotics and facial creams that I’ve used in the past did not seem to completely clear up my acne. My treatment lasted for five months, and after the first few months, my skin cleared up really well. For me, the medication was like a miracle drug—the ultimate answer to treating acne without having to starve myself from gorging down sugary foods and drinks. Well, I was wrong. Dead wrong. My dermatologist gave me false hope too. He said that Accutane treats 80% of the people with acne or something along that line. For the next two months after my treatment, there were some tell-tale signs of acne, and I started freaking out. My acne got worse again and I had to visit my dermatologist once more. He told me that it was normal for some people to have acne again even though they have completed their Accutane treatment. I was dubious. I thought it was total BS—whatever he said. However, after looking at some answers from Yahoo Answers and from this forum, I kind of believed it. But I still don’t understand why Accutane did not cure me completely. I thought it was the ultimate, badass drug out there that you would use if all else fails. I reflected on this and I remembered someone saying “You can control acne but you can’t cure it.” I guess it’s true.
If you still get acne after your Accutane treatment, this might help. I’ve been looking into ways to help control acne and I realized that your diet plays a major part in it. What you eat can affect you in many ways. Check this out: http://www.acneonlin...that-cause-acne I’ve once asked my dermatologist if I have to avoid certain foods that might cause acne, he said no. Despite what he said, I decided to avoid certain foods in order to avoid major acne break outs. I went with my plan for a week and it actually worked. If you want to effectively control your acne, you don’t have to avoid eating everything—just don’t eat too much of it. However, it would be better if you avoid eating the foods that would trigger the acne outbreaks. It’s like what they say: no pain, no gain.
Aside from my diet plan, I am currently on antibiotics again and I am using Differin for a topical gel. Ha. The irony. It’s back to square one for me.

[Fred Q]

I've been clear 17 months since my last pill. I still get little tiny pimples every now and then. I also have a few spots on my back. This has been going on since my 3rd month post accutane and it hasn't gotten any worse. I'm not worried about it and life is good.

[Alexis Little]

I think most people who got clear skin didn't come back to this site so you're mostly going to get a lot of people who it did come back for.

Also, not every treatment (no matter how strong) is going to work for everyone.

Despite all the negative responses, I'm looking forward to being off this crap. I'll do whatever I have to do to prevent it from coming back (changing my diet, exercising, using a retin-A gel, etc). If Accutane doesn't work after 3 tries then maybe look into food allergies or something because obviously something is wrong inside the body. Hell, maybe try hormone free meats and dairy. Even if you're 30 something, hormones in your diet isn't going to help your acne, lol. Kind of a random comment but hormones/antibiotics in meats and dairy creep me out.

I also wonder if maybe some people assume their acne is gone for good and don't bother to take proper care of their skin. I'm talking more about teens and young adults. I see a LOT of posts from people who go on these meds and don't even bother to keep up with proper skin care while on them so I certainly doubt they bother once they get off.

I'm only on my first course but considering how much happier I am now that I've cleared my skin I will happily do a second course if I have to. Even with the horrible back pain, cracked lips, and headaches.

I don't think of Accutane as the cure to my acne. I still believe that I will have to control my acne even when I am done. Still going to have to avoid foods that cause flare ups, keep my face clean, and use the occasional topicals from my Dermatologist.

[carotene]

remember the answers you get on here are bias because people who got complete remission most likely don't even come to these forums anymore... the perception is skewed

sorry just realised u said exactly the same thing ^ haha

Edited by carotene, 09 May 2012 - 08:23 PM.