Acne.org Products
Hi. I just thought I would help a bit, especially since there are few patients writing in about low dose regimens. I have been on low dose (10mg 1-2X wk) for 3 years now, and it has changed my life. I too suffered from itchy, chronically oily and acne laden skin for 25 years (I'm 43 now, and I'm a medical professional.) I had tried two Accutane courses previously as well as all of the creams, pills, etc., but my acne and folliculitis always returned. I have had almost no side effects other than my lips and eyes are occasionally dry, especially if I drink wine. I do have some left hip pain, but I attribute it to having birthed 2 very large babies with a petite frame. Frankly, I would tolerate my hip pain to continue to be acne and folliculitis free.
I would not recommend this treatment for anyone still contemplating child birth at some point, but I was done and tired of the acne and cysts. It has helped my self-esteem and comfort levels, and I will continue with this regimen until menopause. Hope this helps!
hey, good to hear. i want to try it too, actually i started 2 weeks ago with my low dose. could you describe how your skin has been after 3 years. I mean is your skin "perfect" or do you still get clogged pores and oil? i am 23... and i already feel i missed part of my youth because of my skin. so depressed man.
Hi Jon 132-- my skin is not perfect bc I wait until the smallest bump starts before I take the next pill, but I get compliments on my skin weekly. I would not get clogged pores and oil if I took it 3 X wk. It is amazing to actually be dry! I would do your research though. This may be a bit premature, but I don't know if I would eventually father children on this dose. I've written Plewig before and he actually answered. He is the world renowned most knowledgable person on this subject. I hope this helps.
Hi Jon 132-- my skin is not perfect bc I wait until the smallest bump starts before I take the next pill, but I get compliments on my skin weekly. I would not get clogged pores and oil if I took it 3 X wk. It is amazing to actually be dry! I would do your research though. This may be a bit premature, but I don't know if I would eventually father children on this dose. I've written Plewig before and he actually answered. He is the world renowned most knowledgable person on this subject. I hope this helps.
hi 
you mean that the low dose could affect your sperm in the long run and decrease my fertility ? Did Dr. Plewig told you that or what else did he say, so curious. Could you share what he told you 
thanks
Jon--after treating thousands of patients through the years, I have come to believe there is rarely a "miracle cure" without at least a mild compromise or cost from taking any chemical medication. They have found accutane in sperm I believe, and I personally did not and would not try to have a baby for at least one year after taking any dose of accutane. I have no medical basis for this other than my intuition and the knowledge that this medication has been directly linked to birth defects. I enjoy being "bump free" and less itchy, but I wanted no chance of my cosmetic choices affecting another human. Plewig and I did not discuss this as I had already had my children.
I will tell you this too before I leave--look around you. Most people that have acne are slim; obese people usually have nice skin. I believe the sugars, additives, and preservatives in our food are poorly processed by all of us. Trying to digest these toxins makes some of us heavy and some of us have skin problems (usually with GI issues if you are slim.) The best way to handle all of this is to eat a vegan diet first before adding medication, but I was unable to commit to it with my busy life. Any sugar at all seems to make me worse.
Good Luck with your choices!
Jon--after treating thousands of patients through the years, I have come to believe there is rarely a "miracle cure" without at least a mild compromise or cost from taking any chemical medication. They have found accutane in sperm I believe, and I personally did not and would not try to have a baby for at least one year after taking any dose of accutane. I have no medical basis for this other than my intuition and the knowledge that this medication has been directly linked to birth defects. I enjoy being "bump free" and less itchy, but I wanted no chance of my cosmetic choices affecting another human. Plewig and I did not discuss this as I had already had my children.
I will tell you this too before I leave--look around you. Most people that have acne are slim; obese people usually have nice skin. I believe the sugars, additives, and preservatives in our food are poorly processed by all of us. Trying to digest these toxins makes some of us heavy and some of us have skin problems (usually with GI issues if you are slim.) The best way to handle all of this is to eat a vegan diet first before adding medication, but I was unable to commit to it with my busy life. Any sugar at all seems to make me worse.
Good Luck with your choices!
haha that's funny, you are right. i am slim and have a fast metabolism.
i thought about this issue couple of years ago, too. What i believed was that the meat we eat are actually pumped with so much growth hormons and other crap. And we all know that acne is primarily caused by hormons.
Sugar seems to make my acne worse too. I am not sure if carbohydrates in general like bread, sugar, pasta are linked to acne?
Couple of years ago i read a scientific paper about genetically modified food causing acne and i think they have some good points. Our bodies aren't used to the modified organisms they just don't know how to handle these foreign proteins and stuff. Our ancestors have eaten raw food for thousands of years and then within a couple of decades the food structure completely changed.
I would love to try a vegan organic diet. As a student my income and time is limited. Have you actually tried it (even just for a short time)? and did you see results? i assume you are slim too.
Hi there I have been suffering from acne for more than seven years now¦ I am turning 21 soon and I am so tired of this constant battle with my skin. I have tried nearly everything you have described and nothing seems to do the trick it alway keeps coming back. anyways recently I am a firm believer in natural stuff for the skin, however I am debating trying accutane.
The thing is, I have moderate acne, and it is not cystic (I get whiteheads and blackheads and surface bumps that always come to a head) so I am just wondering if accutane is too strong for me?
Thanks!
Hey! Thats me been on a low dose accutane regime for about 2 months now (about 60mg/week), and have to say so far so good. I did have a couple of weeks at the start where I broke out but I think this was just a small initial break out and has calmed down now. My lips do dry every morning so i know the low dose is working and my skin hasnt broken out since.
My acne has always returned after high dose/short period treatments of accutane and so low dose accutane for a longer period seems to be the way to go for me. I dont mind getting the odd spot as everyone does, but hopefully the low dose will keep the acne at bay for a long time. Thinking of moving down to about 40mg/week (10mg every second day) now and just seeing how that goes. I would happily stay on low dose accutane for a long time as I missed a lot of my teen years being depressed/anxious/stressed about my skin. Accutane has helped me greatly and (so far) has had no long lasting side effect apart from occasional chapped lips . Keep up the post guys!
Hi there I have been suffering from acne for more than seven years now¦ I am turning 21 soon and I am so tired of this constant battle with my skin. I have tried nearly everything you have described and nothing seems to do the trick it alway keeps coming back. anyways recently I am a firm believer in natural stuff for the skin, however I am debating trying accutane.
The thing is, I have moderate acne, and it is not cystic (I get whiteheads and blackheads and surface bumps that always come to a head) so I am just wondering if accutane is too strong for me?
Thanks!
I would say go to your doctor and see what he thinks. If the acne is really getting you down and actually affecting your life (socially/academically etc) then I would say give accutane a go as the benefits it will have on your life mentally and physically will outweigh the very small risk that you may get a serious side effect. And if after a couple of months you decide you are not liking the side effects than you can always stop!
Hmm good idea I think my biggest fear is taking accutane and my skin getting worse! like doing the opposite!
I heard aaccutane is primarily for cystic but It may be something worth trying because I have tried prescription antibiotics with no longterm effects.
Well your skin may get slightly worse in the first few weeks/month as this can happen and is known as the initial breakout, although some people dont even get that, but I highly doubt your skin will get worse after that as accutane actually stops your glands producing the oil the acne bacteria feeds on and i'm 99% sure your skin would start to improve after the first month or so, especially if it is not cystic acne. The only thing I would say is that there may be a chance your acne could return some months/years after stopping accutane, however with you saying your acne is only moderate then you may be one of the lucky ones who will stay clear for good! A number of my friends have been on accutane and have all stayed clear, I was the only one where the acne returned unfortunately. Although it never returned as bad as it was before accutane which was good.
UPDATE:
So the tretinoin my doc gave me is peeling away my face like crazy. But it is working sooo well. I got past the initial breakout and now my skin is very clear. It definitely feels a lot smoother than when I was just taking accutane. I think my dosage on accutane was too low so it was not as effective in exfoliating my skin. But this tretinoin cream is fucking amazing.
So as of now I am going to stop taking low dose accutane and just try using the tretinoin. Finally think I found a good answer for my skin!
Hey guys! New user here 
Started my accutane treatment last month(15/03/2014) with 20mg daily after being unsucessful with clindoxyl and differin,BUT,my real problem is my face oiliness...and some mild back acne(mostly 'old pimples' who left mark,not actives)I just can't go out for more than 45 mins after my complete morning routine without shining and attracting attention from everybody near me...yeah...pretty low self-esteem,so i discussed w/ my dermatologist about taking 20mg twice or thrice a week,she disagreed and told I should do the 'regular course',20mg now,then 40mg if I don't feel bothered much by side-effects,let me show you the progression
Days 1-6 : Really nothing to say about,just waking up,rush to the mirror and think : "DAMN,THIS DOESNT WORK FOR ME,WHAT AM I GONNA DO?"
Day 7 : Wake up and misteriously my face skin is dry,not dry patches,pale,just like a REALLY good skin,I was washing my face thrice a day with theracne,right after I wake up,then 6-8hrs later,and 6-8 hrs later again(so,6:00 AM/13:00AM/20:00AM most of the time),now I just need to wash it once! And it will stay perfect with no oiliness for more than a day : "IS THIS REAL LIFE? *-* "
Day 14 : HAIR IS SOOOOOOOO DRYYYYY! Skin starts to get dry around the nose and on some pimples that are fading away,my nose started to get ''rough'' and I tough it was my skin too dry,but the roughness was caused by all the blackheads just ''trying to get out of my skin", I was like WTF THEY ARE JUMPING OFF MY NOSE,so I carefully took out all of the ''easy ones'',even though they were pretty big...I got a real problem with chin and nose blackheads...after 2-3 days with a lot of empty holes,pores closed,they didn't come back,my nose didn't get red and it's SMOOTH AS HELL NOW! Nose blackheads gone,oiliness gone,pimples? Never were much of a problem,but I 'kinda had' a IB for a week,where I had like 4-5 internal pimples(I never get those intern) who popped after 1-2 days,those heal realllllllly quickly!
Afterwards I started to apply thermal water to my face and exfoliating once a week,the dry skin,flaking,peeling,etc stopped totally,and right now,almost 1 month in,I never felt so happy...I can just get out of the bed,brush my teeth and go out for DAYS without caring of my oiliness...
Then,I've reduced dosage on my own because my derm wouldn't allow,so I could test the efficiency ''my way'', did 20mg for a day,skip 2 days,take 20mg...so: twice a week,oiliness still gone,and my skin looks 100% ok,not a single active pimple,blackheads less noticeable,that just sky-rocketed my self-esteem...Never felt so good and confident.
For those who disagree about lower dosages: My only real problem as i said is the oiliness,and that definitely doesnt need a dosage like 40-60mg a day just to get the cummulative dose on your system,you must know,even with 200mg/kg, the acne and oiliness MAY come back,so...Why should I suffer during 5-8 months where I can't even smile cause my lips will crack and bleed all over the place,and the skin around the nose will be flaking,hurting...Then 1 month treatment ended it all comes back...Its a big no-no for me...I'll currently hold on to 20mg twice a week,tell my derm about it,obviously,and hopefully she won't stop giving me the prescription
Hello there .. Im a girl 23 y.o and not so good in english .. Please understand if my english was so bad
So , i wanna ask u guys .. I haven't going to the skin doctor in my life and last 2 weeks i decide to go to specialist doctor because i'm frustating of my acne prone skin that having much on-off acne in my face ..
Then on the 2nd consultation, she give me 25pills accutane for 2 weeks then im going scared about the side effects of this pills (i have read a lot about the side effect) .. But the doctor doesn't tell me about the side effect , im not sure that she knows about that 
I read that some people take the period of accutane 16-30weeks for curing .. but the doctor just give me 2 weeks .. So, if i take this 2 weeks accutane and don't continuing .. I mean i really stop, is that my skin going getting worse or something ? I'm really confused about this pills .. Can someone help me ? thanks
Update:
Sorry folks for the absence! It has been about 2 months since I stopped Accutane and 35 days since I started Tretinoin (Retin A). My dermatologist thought that it would be more effective to try tretinoin cream since I was taking micro doses of Accutane, which he thought too little to do anything. So I decided to try out Retin A.
I have been on .05% Retin A for 35 days now. At first, it was hell. Well, not hell but it break me out pretty badly and made my face look like a blotchy mess. No deep cysts but just zits all over my chin and cheeks. I also definitely had flaking at first, and the dryness and redness were still there. Not so much now though, since I cut back on my use to every other day. Keeps me sane.
The good news is everything seems to be dying down and calming. PIH are already fading and nothing new is popping up. But I heard that this drug needs to be used at least up to a full year before you can see results, so I am in this for the long haul.
Wish me luck!
http://imgur.com/5mYGrUt,PYCSOFQ,s0mWu6x
my skin! in just two weeks!
http://imgur.com/5mYGrUt,PYCSOFQ,s0mWu6x
my skin! in just two weeks!
Quick question. Do you think you have to do a full standard dose course of accutane first, or can you just start right off with a low dose approach similar to this one?
I too am doing an ultra low dose. 5mg 3 days a week! After end of first week, all acne was drying up. End of second week, all new acne was gone. By end of third week, I was completely clear! No side effects but somewhat drier lips which is easy to remedy. Now I've added topical retin a twice a week on alternate days to help with all the red marks left from a two year battle after pregnancy destroyed my skin. My doctor refused to put me on this so I bought it generic online and took control of my own situation! $uck all that... Do what you need to do! This stuff works at a low dose but the world doesn't want us to know because what would the cosmetic companies do without us buying all their crap. It's a conspiracy I swear.
Do it, end it, your way!
Hey guys, not been on this thread or even the website is soo long so thought I would just do a wee update.
It has been almost a year since I started my low dose accutane regime. I started on 10mg/day, then after a few months dropped that down to 10mg every second day and now I take 10mg every third day (about 30mg/week). All I can say is it has worked wonders. I have been acne free the whole year, with only the occasional spot (probs about 3/4 the whole year). Basically I have normal skin now. I would constantly be breaking out before the regime. As for side effects, basically none apart from occasional chapped lips. It has genuinely been one of the best years of my life.
I must say though I have previously had a few rounds of high dose accutane, where the dose is much higher and you take it for a few months (what most doctors prescribe). I would say if you have more serious acne like I did, a low dose probably wont work for you at first, I would try a shorter high dose to get rid of the main acne. However my acne kept returning, although never as severe, so I decided to try the longer low dose regime and it has worked a treat to keep my acne at bay. I will continue the regime and keep reducing my dose till hopefully one day I no longer need it. For those with persistent but moderate acne, the low dose regime is definitely worth a try. I would always try other methods before going on accutane though such as anti-biotics and creams, as accutane is a more serious drug.
Hey guys, not been on this thread or even the website is soo long so thought I would just do a wee update.
It has been almost a year since I started my low dose accutane regime. I started on 10mg/day, then after a few months dropped that down to 10mg every second day and now I take 10mg every third day (about 30mg/week). All I can say is it has worked wonders. I have been acne free the whole year, with only the occasional spot (probs about 3/4 the whole year). Basically I have normal skin now. I would constantly be breaking out before the regime. As for side effects, basically none apart from occasional chapped lips. It has genuinely been one of the best years of my life.
I must say though I have previously had a few rounds of high dose accutane, where the dose is much higher and you take it for a few months (what most doctors prescribe). I would say if you have more serious acne like I did, a low dose probably wont work for you at first, I would try a shorter high dose to get rid of the main acne. However my acne kept returning, although never as severe, so I decided to try the longer low dose regime and it has worked a treat to keep my acne at bay. I will continue the regime and keep reducing my dose till hopefully one day I no longer need it. For those with persistent but moderate acne, the low dose regime is definitely worth a try. I would always try other methods before going on accutane though such as anti-biotics and creams, as accutane is a more serious drug.
Good to hear! I am following something very similar to this. Going to run 10 mg a day for two months then try to drop down. Do you consume alcohol now that you are on such a low dose?
Hey, thanks! Hopefully it works as well for you to. I do still drink alcohol occasionally, but what I usually do is if I know I am going to be drinking alcohol that night then I will not take any accutane that day, even if it falls on a day im due to take it. never had any bad experience so seems to be ok!
Hey, thanks! Hopefully it works as well for you to. I do still drink alcohol occasionally, but what I usually do is if I know I am going to be drinking alcohol that night then I will not take any accutane that day, even if it falls on a day im due to take it. never had any bad experience so seems to be ok!
Thanks man. I appreciate the answer.
LOW DOSE WORKS!
Please consider this an option if NOTHING else works for you. I take 5mg/3xweek and I am totally clear. It took three weeks and I might get a pimple here or there but nothing like the constant struggle. Do it! If you can't find a derm to prescribe buy it online and get regular check ups. I'm convinced the beauty industry does not want us to get better, so it prescribes creams, makeup, proactive, etc., none of which work for most people. Take control and do it. It works!
It is NOT illegal to buy Accutane online without a prescription, it's only illegal to buy narcotics.
Check it out here: [Edited link out]
Real accutane. Get clear for 3 dollars a week. That's one small Starbucks coffee. I am not a pharm seller but a real user!
Good luck!