I got cleared with Accutaneabout 3 years ago (still clear) and promised myself to write a success story on the forum here but never got to do it. Today I got diagnosed with tinnitus which seems like another complex chronic condition and was reading all the success stories of sufferers and remembered that I used to read the same here regarding Accutane treatments and decided to drop a line of my experience. My girlfriendhas also used it so can throw this in as well.

So long story short, I had moderate to severe acne on my back and face since the age of 18. I was given antibiotics which would clear me up for some months and then the condition would come back raging. I tried lots of topical treatment including retinoids and that didn't help either. The way I heard about Accutane was through the forum here and was also floated as an option to me by my dermatologist. One of the things isin some countries Accutane is not very well known as a possible treatment. I am originally from Bulgaria and was never offered the option there while in the UK it was available through the NHS but they basically give you everything else before settling on the final option. I was very very scared of taking it as I read a lot on the Internet (probably should have read less...). My dermatologist acknowledged that there could be long term side effects but would be in the range of 1 in 10000 but to put in perspective the risk of dying while just chilling at home is 1 in 7,875:D So I took the plunge into taking it with initial dose of 40mg/day for first 2 months and then ramping it to 60mg/day for the remaining 4 months.

Initially I got the extra breakout and it was quite disturbing, but kept going while doctor was monitoring my blood every month which was looking alright. I made sure I took fish oil during the course as I read on the forum that it helped and also always took the pills with high fatty food (again to increase absorption). So things were kind of slowly moving but was not getting any significant results until almost month 5. My skin slowly started having less pimples and old ones were drying out. I did get very dry skin and lips and even a weird impetigo infection (bacterial) on my skin but that was easy to get rid off. Around the end of the treatment, I was definitely better but not fully clear. 2 months after though I continued getting better and basically my back was free of pimples and my face had an occasional pimple or two in my beard but nothing remotely as bad as what I had. So 3 years later I am 100% clear on my back and get a pimple or two on my face but nothing big. It has tremendously helped with my self-image, around the time I decided to take treatment I started working out, dressing better and you know trying to do better in general. I think having the extra confidence from dealing with the acne helped me tremendously!

Last year I met my girlfriend who was also having acne problems and I suggested to her Accutane as well. She actually went through the treatment without doctor supervision (I don't recommend that) by buying the drug OTC from India and taking a dose of 40mg for 4 months which actually cleared her up (she mostly had acne on the face) mild to moderate.

For myself I can say 3 years later I don't have any side effects;my recently discovered tinnitus is almost certainly caused by a combo of too many concerts and loud headphones (if you are doing that please please stop, tinnitus, unlike acne, could be prevented in many cases!).

So just wanted to let everybody know that the drug does work, it is heavy, definitely do it while under medical supervision, and if you have doubts I think is worth it. Life without acne has been better for sure. I think acne is like a dark film over your attitude toward life because of self-image and dealing with that gave me a lot of new confidence. That being said now I will have to deal with tinnitus so at least I know I can beat one big demon so now it is time for another. For stats, I am 30-year-old male, took the drug when I was 26, almost 27. My girlfriend is 26 years old.