Hi!
I've been suffering from hormonal acne for the past seven years. I've tried everything you could ever imagine from urea to apple cider vinegar and antibiotics. The only thing that has helped my skin has been Accutane, but even that hasn't given me clear skin for good. After my first Accutane experience my acne came back in about six months and I started my second Accutane treatment after about one and a half years after the first one. After only a few weeks of being on Accutane my skin got absolutely perfect and after four months I figured I'd stop the treatment. I thought four months would be enough because I hadn't had a single pimple in four months. However, now I'm deeply regretting how stupid I was. I wish I had followed through with the drug because now my acne is back once again.
I'm getting really depressed because of my acne. I do know that Accutane is a very strong drug and it shouldn't be taken lightly. However, my past experiences with it have been only positive. Surely I've had some side effects, but nothing major. For me it's totally been worth it considering that it's the only thing that has worked for my skin. But once again I'm in the same situation as before. I've tried everything I can come up with on the internet and nothing works for my skin. I don't eat any dairy and I live a very healthy lifestyle, but my acne just doesn't go away. This time my acne isn't cystic anymore so it doesn't really hurt my face as it used to do before. I think that physically I could manage with my acne this time, but mentally I'm just getting really sick of it. I'm hoping that this time going on Accutane would really be the last one and I would absolutely eat the whole six months of it even if my skin got clear in just a few weeks.
I'm really not into wasting my money on any other regimen at this point since none of them have worked for me. Accutane appeals to me because of its amazing results, but I'm still a little bit hesitant about it because it surely wouldn't be good for my body to take it for the third time.
What would you guys do? Does anyone have experience in being on Accutane several times? Did it finally get rid of your acne permanently?
Thank you for your help!
Silvia
P.S. English isn't my first language so I apologize for the grammar mistakes!
On 12/23/2017 at 3:38 PM, Duperele said:Well, are you familiar with the "third times is a charm" rule?
. I think you should try it one more time.
That is terrible advice.
It is my understanding that in some countries a 2nd course is not allowed.
a third course is pushing your luck too far.
Accutane is currently being reviewed because of safety concerns.
@Silviaa, where are you from?
9 hours ago, hatetane said:That is terrible advice.
It is my understanding that in some countries a 2nd course is not allowed.
a third course is pushing your luck too far.Accutane is currently being reviewed because of safety concerns.
@Silviaa, where are you from?
Many people took accutane 3 times and in that way got rid of their acne.
21 hours ago, hatetane said:@Silviaa, where are you from?
I'm from Finland. : )
Yeah, third time is a charm is what I've been thinking about as well.. I haven't had any long-term side effects from my previous prescriptions so I suppose I wouldn't get them this time either. I wish there was just a safer and a more natural way to get rid of this but I guess not.
23 hours ago, hatetane said:That is terrible advice.
It is my understanding that in some countries a 2nd course is not allowed.
a third course is pushing your luck too far.Accutane is currently being reviewed because of safety concerns.
@Silviaa, where are you from?
Where exactly is a second course of accutane forbidden?
1 hour ago, Silviaa said:I'm from Finland. : )Yeah, third time is a charm is what I've been thinking about as well.. I haven't had any long-term side effects from my previous prescriptions so I suppose I wouldn't get them this time either. I wish there was just a safer and a more natural way to get rid of this but I guess not.
If you have had positive outcome from the treatment before, and you didn't get any long term side effects, it might be good to take it once more. But have you tried everything? such as birth control? cutting diary out from your diet? (I know you wrote that you have tried "everything", just making sure 
) Birth control might work if your acne is hormonal, and it's something usual for women to take.
10 hours ago, Duperele said:If you have had positive outcome from the treatment before, and you didn't get any long term side effects, it might be good to take it once more. But have you tried everything? such as birth control? cutting diary out from your diet? (I know you wrote that you have tried "everything", just making sure
Yes, I've tried cutting dairy out of my diet and I've also been on birth control. The pill did clear up my skin well enough but I got absolutely terrible side effects from it. Although yesterday night I started thinking that I could ask the doc to switch to a different birth control. That might work! I'm actually more suspicious of the pill than Accutane because of my own bad experience with the pill. Also one of my friends got a stroke (she lives a super healthy lifestyle and is very young) because at least some of the birth controls clog your veins..
This is somewhat random but I've been thinking of going to Cambodia for a few months in the summer so being on Accutane at that time wouldn't be ideal because of the sunshine. But I'll still keep googling about different birth controls, I'm hoping that one of them could be the solution for me at least for now.
Listen, i don'twant to discourage you, but I went through 5 courses of Isotretinoin and only had success while I was taking the drug, the acne always come back after 4 months or lessas the skin becomes oily again.My stomach was never the same, maybe it was the antibiotics (probably) or even the Accutane, because of this i'm not trying a low-dose long-term treatment, but still thinking about it. 5 courses with just 24 years old.
I do not know if it's genetics or if my body is too intoxicated with such a substance, but I can not get rid of them. We're all in the same boat. Maybe you get rid of them once and for all, maybe not, but what makes you believe that a third treatment will be different from the other two? Just think about it ... maybe you have to radically change your diet or try a low-dose long-term treatment as many people are doing.
Some (unlucky) people like me and you are too resistant even for Accutane,but that doesn't mean that acne has no cure for us, maybe we didn't "grow out" our acne yet, and this can happenin an indefinite time.
Silvia,
I urge you to read my thread above. I also didn't have severe effects form my first too short dose, in my second attempt I had very severe effects, only after cca 4 months. My muscles weakened to the levels that getting out of bed was almost impossible.
Some reactions don't come straight away, severe muscle or immuno reactions can occur after months.
On 26.12.2017 at 7:52 PM, Turko said:Listen, i don'twant to discourage you, but I went through 5 courses of Isotretinoin and only had success while I was taking the drug, the acne always come back after 4 months or lessas the skin becomes oily again.My stomach was never the same, maybe it was the antibiotics (probably) or even the Accutane, because of this i'm not trying a low-dose long-term treatment, but still thinking about it. 5 courses with just 24 years old.
Man I feel sorry for you! That's what I've been hearing from a few people lately though... The skin is amazingly clear while on Accutane but when "going clean" the acne comes back.
I'm just gonna try to eliminate different food items from my diet to see if they're causing my acne. If that doesn't work out I'll try a new birth control.
Silviaa, severe long term problems are possible with accutane... I had a severe muscle reaction, many people have long term joint pain... if there is any other way, please avoid this drug. I posted my experience here.
Some severe problems only happen when taken long enough. You may be fine today, in a week very ill.
@fiksi, I feel so sorry for you! Won't be going back on Accutane bc that sounds really really terrifying. Sports are pretty much my life so muscle weakening or joint pain would be absolutely terrible. Thank you for sharing your experience!
As mentioned above, I'm going to try the food eliminating technique to see if my acne is caused by my diet (have tried it before with a few ingredients but gonna try with more now). If not, I'll try a new birth control. I'm also probably going to order a face brush from Vanity Planet because that has really worked for some people. My acne isn't nearly as severe as it used to be before the two Accutanes so something not as harsh might work for me this time. Probably not going to get rid of acne for good but having almost clear skin would be enough for me!
1 hour ago, Silviaa said:@fiksi, I feel so sorry for you! Won't be going back on Accutane bc that sounds really really terrifying. Sports are pretty much my life so muscle weakening or joint pain would be absolutely terrible. Thank you for sharing your experience!As mentioned above, I'm going to try the food eliminating technique to see if my acne is caused by my diet (have tried it before with a few ingredients but gonna try with more now). If not, I'll try a new birth control. I'm also probably going to order a face brush from Vanity Planet because that has really worked for some people. My acne isn't nearly as severe as it used to be before the two Accutanes so something not as harsh might work for me this time. Probably not going to get rid of acne for good but having almost clear skin would be enough for me!
Silviaa, you seem like a good looking young girl, and no severe acne are on your face from what I see...
If there is any other way to control your acne, and you can live with this, don't take tane again.
I am slowly recovering, hopefully I will mostly be ok. But my body is already tainted with years of antibiotics and now tane. Permanent bowel and joint problems would not surprise me.
My acne was back/scalp, and unless kept in control, from pain etc. was hard to work etc. If your acne does not bring pain and problems with life, accutane should be out. The good news is acne get weaker with time... battling with this for so long, seems even naturally they are weaker.
Most people have acne as a cosmetic problem, for me it was an issue with daily life.
Also, I've found things like coconut in food may be helping... coconut grease on acne, oil, flour or even drinking milk.
I believe immune response is in big party responsible for this as well. In fact, we may have far stronger immune systems than others, some research even says we are less likely to have cancer and so on. But, in acne this is a curse as well.
If you were to take a strong immunosuppresant, acne would ease as well. I am not advocating this- it would be crazy, but there is a role of immune system here.
@fiksiYeah, my pic is from the time being on Accutane. My skin was perfect back then, I miss that..
But yes, this time my acne isn't painful so it is only a cosmetic problem. However, my job revolves around my appearance so it causes quite a lot of problems to have acne.
Yeah, acne does hopefully get weaker with time. My mother has had acne as well and she said hers tamed down at around my age, so if I can't find anything to work I'm hoping to just get rid of this in a few years.
On 29. 12. 2017. at 7:46 PM, Silviaa said:@fiksiYeah, my pic is from the time being on Accutane. My skin was perfect back then, I miss that..But yes, this time my acne isn't painful so it is only a cosmetic problem. However, my job revolves around my appearance so it causes quite a lot of problems to have acne.
Yeah, acne does hopefully get weaker with time. My mother has had acne as well and she said hers tamed down at around my age, so if I can't find anything to work I'm hoping to just get rid of this in a few years.
I understand you. In this case, even if it came back, accutane may have helped so it's weaker, so has time that has passed and so on...
There is genetics here. Definitely. My bro with variants is same.
It will weaken yes... my unfortunate event with tane now, is just a sign of how serious this drug is.
If my acne come back again, I will not use this anymore. Doctors give this too easily. Did you know nobody knows how this drug works actually? Not even Roche. They know, only some.
15 hours ago, fiksi said:If my acne come back again, I will not use this anymore. Doctors give this too easily. Did you know nobody knows how this drug works actually? Not even Roche. They know, only some.
Yeah I got both of my prescriptions veeeery easily. I was happy about it at the time but later on kind of scared bc the doctors didn't seem to see it as a dangerous drug.
36 minutes ago, Silviaa said:Yeah I got both of my prescriptions veeeery easily. I was happy about it at the time but later on kind of scared bc the doctors didn't seem to see it as a dangerous drug.
It is given too easily. Did you know impotence is now added as an effect? Imagine if this happens to a guy in 20s(even if semi permanently), what kind of life is this? Those who didn't take tane recently didn't even see some effects listed.
When I started weakening, my derm said to lower dose... at first i did, but then did cold turkey and am not goign there again. my effects will never be reported, as most will also not do this. The real incidence of side effects is far larger.
If you are a very extreme case failing all else...dunno. but some get it for weak acne even.
Worst of all, acne can come back, and then you have side effects and acne. It's quite worrysome we don't fully even know how the drug works. I have read many cases, and Roche now agrees- many have destroyed eye glands and permanently dry eyes. Apparently tane can induce cell death in some and once it's gone, it's gone.
Remember it's our bodies, we have to be careful.
@fiksiYeah, all true. The sad part is that Accutane is so not the only drug that is very controversial. I'm no hippie but I've read that in the end many widely prescribed drugs cause more harm than good and doctors don't really know how the drugs work. We really need to be aware of what we do to our bodies, we've only got one.
4 minutes ago, Silviaa said:@fiksiYeah, all true. The sad part is that Accutane is so not the only drug that is very controversial. I'm no hippie but I've read that in the end many widely prescribed drugs cause more harm than good and doctors don't really know how the drugs work. We really need to be aware of what we do to our bodies, we've only got one.
Yes exactly... but since accutane is originally a cancer drug, it affects the division, apoptosis etc. on very basic level in entire organism and is far mroe dangerous than antibiotics(they tend to target a specific bacteria). You don't treat a deadly cancer like neuroblastoma with minocycline.
I also think derms should be more honest about long term side effects, and since we don't actually know how tane works, new ones appear often. a number of people took tane, and ended up with ED, which was not even listed as a side effect until recently(it is now).
Original tane manual does say- only most severe cases.
If possible, avoiding all drugs woudl be best... but acne can be a long battle, sometimes with few good choices.
@fiksi
Yeah.
Considering how bad effects acne can have on one's mental health I think Accutane is still a choice to be considered (not for me right now, though). Life doesn't really feel worth living with bad depression and social anxiety caused by acne. But as you said, the long term side effects should be discussed more.
2 minutes ago, Silviaa said:@fiksi
Yeah.
Considering how bad effects acne can have on one's mental health I think Accutane is still a choice to be considered (not for me right now, though). Life doesn't really feel worth living with bad depression and social anxiety caused by acne. But as you said, the long term side effects should be discussed more.
It is to consider, for very bad cases where nothing else helps well. In addition to what you said, some people do live in pain, it disrupts their normal life- it's not just social anxiety.
In these cases patients shoudl be aware fully of risks, not that we have derms donwnplaying them.
However, majority of acne cases are not so bad as I described above. I have however seen cases to literally cry, obviously, something drastic must then be done.
@fiksi Fully agreed! 
