Well took accutane 40 mg/day and the first three days acquired tinnitus. Imagine if I took this drug for another month or two I would of lost my hearing. However, definitely would approve of using accutane when your acne is severe, which mine was.

Before I started taking accutane, the thing that stopped me from taking it was the same as everyone else: the fear of horrible side effects. But now that I'm on it, it feels really normal. I just pop a pill and get dry in some places. That's it. There's no mental problems or digestive problems or anything like that. If I started getting one of the bad side effects, I would just stop taking it. It's actually a lot scarier before you start taking it than when you are taking it.

You just have to put it in perspective; only a tiny percentage of the people who take it get Crohn's disease or other side effects like that. The vast majority of people just get chapped lips, dryness, and maybe some fatigue, headaches, joint pain or nosebleeds, and things like that.

You can prevent some side effects if you educate yourself about accutane. Look up how much your cumulative dose should be, and look up the side effects, and watch out for any bad or permanent side effects and stop taking the accutane if you get them, and you will be able to minimize any damage you do to yourself. A lot of the "horror stories" involve people who overdosed on accident because they didn't know how much they should take, or people who noticed dangerous side effects like depression but kept taking the drug. If you are responsible about it and make good decisions, you should be able to minimize any of the bad side effects if you start to get them.

I also thought it would cost a lot, but with my insurance I pay $5 a month for the accutane. I don't know how much the monthly blood tests and derm visits cost though. You have to factor in those as well. Without insurance it would cost a fortune and I don't think it would be worth it unless your acne is very severe.

Don't let fear stop you from living your life to the fullest. If you tried all other options first, then maybe accutane is the way to go. Yes, it's scary to risk side effects, but what's worse: getting clear skin and having a small chance of getting a bad side effect, or having acne and hating the way you look, being depressed and having no self esteem because of your skin, and wasting your life not enjoying it because you have acne? Depending on the situation, some people should be more scared not to take accutane.

I don't have an insurance, so an accutane is not an option for me. And besides isn't one of the side effects is to have your skin have a breakout or something? I fear that the breakout may create more rolling scars on my face and I already have enough of those.

My biggest regret is that I never went on accutane. I am now 25, still have persistent acne which I have to stick to a strict routine to keep under control, and scarring which I now have to take a risk on ablative lasers to correct. At this point I am not going to go on it but it could have saved me a lot of stress and anxiety if I just got on it at 15 and it cured me.

The cost. Not everyone can just shell out at least 2000 dollars over 6 months x_x

Really? it's that much in America. In Canada the drug costs around $15 dollars.

We don't have public health insurance in USA, yet.

The healthcare system in here is terrible; something that's really a necessity like hospitalizing overnight could cost more than a 1000 without insurance, ONLY for the bed.

it's either go broke, or go die.

The health care system in the U.S terrifies me. Why do people put up with such a heartless greedy system? virtually every other western country has socialized medicine, the U.S is the only that lags behind the times it seems.

We don't put up with it. We have no choice.

Sigh... I guess that's America then. It seems like a nightmare I can't even begin to fathom. So if a person with no health insurance or poor health insurance was suddenly diagnosed with Cancer they'd probably just die, right?

If you're interested, two good movies (one is a documentary) that show a good view of what health care is like in America are Michael Moore's "Sicko" and a movie with Denzel Washington called "John Q." The second movie is very powerful. It's about these parents whose kid needs a heart transplant or else he's going to die, and the doctors tell them that their insurance doesn't cover it. They don't have the money and the kid is going to die, so the Dad takes a bunch of people at the hospital hostage and demands that the doctor's do the surgery. It's a really awesome movie.

Ok hi everyone this is the first time I've been on this site since I was 21, I am now almost 27.

My experience with accutane..... It changed my life for the better. I was breaking out worse and worse every couple months for almost 2 years prior to taking accutane and nothing I was doing was working.

My only side effect were dry lips and dry nose, and I was smoking weed every day while on this pill, my brother too. I'm sane, no headaches, no hair loss, or impotence and the stage my face was at when I took the drug was good bc I still have many scars, but I would have had so much more it would have destroyed my face. Accutane stopped my ance breakouts in it's track. 5 years now ill get a pimple here and there but never break out, and the 5 years time improved much scarring on my face I'm no longer ashamed of how I look. I haven't noticed any side effects (knock on wood) and I'm so GRATEFUL I took accutane.

I feel really sorry and bad for people this drug has hurt. I wish this drug can help others as it did me. When I'm walking in the street and I see someone that has bad ance I almost want to pull them aside and say look...heres what worked for me.

Again without accutane I don't know where I would be...it's just a afterthought now and my skins not perfect but I'm a guy and I'm not a bitch, I can live with some scarring my skin is fine.

Oh ya I'm canadian and it costsd me about 100 bucks every month for 6 months cuz I couldn't get on moms health care plan. Still worth it and relatively inexpensive.

My biggest regret is that I never went on accutane. I am now 25, still have persistent acne which I have to stick to a strict routine to keep under control, and scarring which I now have to take a risk on ablative lasers to correct. At this point I am not going to go on it but it could have saved me a lot of stress and anxiety if I just got on it at 15 and it cured me.

Please don't use lasers if u still have active acne... my experience with CO2 http://www.acne.org/messageboard/topic/291956-co2-laser-need-some-direction-and-peoples-experiences/?p=3096348

Accutane seems a Russian Roulette... 2 friends of mine took it without any problem but I read too many horror stories and I won't risk.

I know I'll regret this decision

I also thought it would cost a lot, but with my insurance I pay $5 a month for the accutane.

You have insurance, so that already puts you in a different class than most of us.

Can't swallow pills, fear of side effects.

for me i simply didn't have the money had i, i would have taken it long ago..

I didn't know about accutane. My derm only gave anti biotics or else I would have taken it when I was a teenager.

fear of the side effects have you seen this thread? scary! I wouldn't want to risk my health at all for clear skin. The mental and physical side effects are just too much. I'm on retin A right now and i'm not even consistent with it because i hate the flaking and peeling of it so i know i wouldn't be able to handle full on body rashes and complete dryness. The dry eyes and depression are the main things that i would not want. I wear contacts so having dry eyes with contacts suck so bad and having that long term side effect would be so depressing for me and also just annoying.