I'm wondering if anyone has taken Accutane at a low dose for multiple years consistently? Brief background: I started on the typical Accutane routine (5 months, everyday, 80mg a day if I remember correctly) around December of 2010, my senior year of high school, after trying other treatments that didn't work. After about 3 and a half months, I injured my groin and it was not healing well on the medication. I was an athlete at the time, so I got off it (the injury healed very soon after, which is another topic for another day about why Accutane delays healing) and stayed off it because my acne was not returning. Then, about a year and a half later, towards the end of my Freshman year of college, my acne started coming back pretty strong. I got back on Accutane at 40mg a day, then reduced to 20mg a day, and kept reducing it. For about 4 years now, I have been taking 20-30mg of Accutane per week. And yes, I do mean per week. I usually take a 10mg tablet every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. So I take 20-30mg a week rather than 560mg a week--the normal amount for the 5 month program. In these last few years, I have an occasional zit which isn't a big deal, and little to no side effects (some dryness of the hands and around the mouth during winter, but very mild and a bit of moisturizer works fine).

I figured after 7 years now, my hormones would have relaxed and I should be able to get off Accutane. So, about 2 weeks ago I stopped taking it for 10 days. On the 6th day, I started developing a zit, and by the 10th day, my skin was the worst it had been in a loooong time. So my little experiment showed that my hormones are still similar to a high schooler going through puberty, and my body still responds to Accutane. Therefore, I got back to my low dose routine.

The reason I'm posting this is because I'm wondering if anyone else has had a doctor that suggested long term treatment with Accutane on a very low dose? I know this is a very uncommon treatment, and there's no studies suggesting this is a safe/unsafe treatment plan. I kind of feel like a guinea pig haha. But honestly, I haven't noticed any problems and my skin looks good and I don't have side effects. If you've had a low dose long-term treatment, I appreciate your thoughts on this. Thanks.