laholler

STATS:
White, Female, 47, VP of Sales, Mother of 2 incredible teen girls, Married 19 years to my soul mate... my rock.  

THE ABBREVIATED VERSION:
In 2005 I began suffering from a form of cystic acne that turned my world upside down over night.  Even now, 7 years, thousands of dollars and many many mistakes later, my face is entirely healed (although I still have scars I hide fairly well with cosmetics), but my eyes still fill with tears remembering the horrible daily depression, shame, and self disgust I felt.  However, the most frustrating and hopeless feeling of all was to have repeatedly encountered medical professionals, yes doctors, who I felt "gave up" when they were unable to fix my problem with a cream or pill after the 2nd 15 minute visit.  A couple of them even had the nerve to insinuate that I was "self -injuring?  How could they possibly think that I liked looking like this?  My skin became so bad that I lost my job, stopped going anywhere and when I did I was late from trying to conceal the horrible lesions on my face as they would blister, weep, and bleed.  But I never gave up...

FAST FORWARD:
I took Accutane (the generic 40mg) for about 6 weeks and it pretty well put an end to my cystic acne.  I did end it sooner than I was supposed to after seeing blood in my urine.  My Derm Doc did a urinalysis and said there was no trace of blood in the urine... but I know what I saw, and I know where it came from.
Today, 9/30/2012, do I believe I've had any permanent damage or side effects?  I can't say for sure because I have to think that some of these may be part of the natural aging process like joint pain (and no I'm not overweight..  I juice twice daily and workout 3 times a week,) and slightly blurred vision.  However, I do have much wavier hair (which I'm not complaining about), and was also experiencing migrane headaches which are now under control.  

CONCLUSION:
Would I take Accutane again?  Yes, but I believe I was lucky to have had success in such a short time with so few side effects.
Would I want my daughter taking it?  Only after exhausting every other alternative, if I felt her appearance was having an impact on her emotional wellbeing, and I were certain that she were mature enough.