I took accutane and I was clear for two years afterwards. After that everything came back.

Stickied because I'm interested to see the replies to this.

My uncle took Accutane at 22, he's 45 now. He's been clear for 23 years.

I took Accutane and was clear for a little less than 2 years before the acne slowly crept back

I've had accutane 3 times. First time clear for about 3 years then slowly came back. Second time clear for 6 months. Third time clear for a year before very, very slowly creeping back to an unmanageable level over course of 18 months.

I'm a 31 yr old female. Interesting to note though everything it has come back its been different and has decreased vastly in severity. Except for this time it's come back on my scalp (so painful) and I have a hell chin - literally covered in pustules!!! Starting my 4th course next month.

My brother had it and his took around 6.5 years to return and is again nowhere near as severe.

It really is the only thigh worth bothering with though.

x

Years ago I was prescribed Accutane for my acne - about 6 months in it did the trick, I was almost 100% clear, which was fabulous. Unfortunately, this did not last long at all and within months my acne came back worse than before. I know this is common with Accutane, but I believe that everybody reacts differently to medications. What's amazing for one person can be terrible for another.

After my course of Accutane, I went back to see a dermatologist who then prescribed me Duac & Differin, which worked amazingly. I was clear for 2 years, so happy with my skin. The only thing that bothered me was the scars, but they weren't too bad. I would happily walk around without make up and feel fairly confident about my skin. Unfortunately, this too came to an end and am back where I started - currently taking Dianette.

Anyway, I just wanted to share with you my personal experience of Accutane and how the results were most definitely not long lasting at all.

I took it 25 years ago, at age 25. Had 15 years of total remission. Not one breakout. Skin started to breakout again after I turned 40, and I maintained for several years on a combo of topicals. Three years ago, after I got a couple cysts, I started taking Oracea (essentially, 40mg of doxycycline). Kept those mostly at bay. Over the past year, however, skin has gotten progressively worse. I can't tolerate Spiro, so am about to start another course of Accutane.

I have taken 3 courses of it. It has changed my life and I would recommend it for anyone with moderate/severe acne that doesn't have health issues to prevent taking it. The first time it lasted about 3 years. My acne NEVER returned to anything close to what it was before, but I decided to take it a second time as I was getting some active breakouts and I knew I could tolerate it. Again, my acne NEVER returned to pre-Accutane level, but I decided to take it a third time about 3 years later. I know my skin does not get affected by other treatments so I did not want to waste my time. I'm now about 6 years post the third time and it remains to be great. The third time really left it the best in my opinion, but there was substantial improvements each course of it for long periods of years. I get a few here and there, but nothing substantial at all. People are surprised to hear I had severe acne in my teens as you would not guess it now.

My derm told me that dosage is very important for long term effects. He said that a lot of derms under-dose patients, which doesn't seem to cause long term/ permanent results. He said that the oil glands usually don't come back to full size when they have shrunk. This way, you may still have breakouts, but those breakouts will not be scar-causing acne.

Interesting point david1017. The second time I took it I was so traumatised by the side effects from the first time that I convinced them to give me a lower dose for longer. I think the first time though the derm did not educate me properly on how to manage the side effects.

I also did the same the third time having no idea that this effected the remission time and low and behold it came back very quickly again.

I've been doing a lot of research recently which points to dosage level effecting remission length.