Many people on this site, from what ive seen are pretty young and have just recently taken accutane but rarely if ever have i heard the opinions of people that have been off the drug for 15 years or so, and id like this to be their opportunity to speak up.
so if you have taken accutane anytime during the 1980s id like to hear your opinion of the drug.
Id like to form a good opinion on the drug, because there is alot of evidence for serious long term side effects, even years after.
I highly doubt you will hear from anyone who took Tane from the 80's. Or the early 90's
1. Accutane likely cleared them, why would they hang around an acne site, plain and simple.
2. Females gave birth to deformed babies. ( pretty sure alot of this happened, no one knew about the effects to unborn babies)
Yep, my first course was during the 80s. It cleared me up for more than a decade and i just recently finished a second course and am again clear.
The only side effects that persisted from my first course were dryness related. My skin, mouth, lips, and eyes were drier than they had been before the course, and it was years before i could wear contact lenses. I used small amounts of lip balm ever since.
Many people on this site, from what ive seen are pretty young and have just recently taken accutane but rarely if ever have i heard the opinions of people that have been off the drug for 15 years or so, and id like this to be their opportunity to speak up.
so if you have taken accutane anytime during the 1980s id like to hear your opinion of the drug.
Id like to form a good opinion on the drug, because there is alot of evidence for serious long term side effects, even years after.
I took the med in '85 or '86. It kept me totally clear for 5 + years, and reasonably clear for another couple of years - even though it was a low-ish dose (40 mg/day; about 65mg/kg cumulative - I'm a 75 KG male). When the acne returned, it was much better than originally.
I took the second course (same dosage) 10 years later ('96). In retrospect, I should have gone for it a couple years sooner.
Now I'm on my third course and plan to take the full 120+ mg/kg cumulative dose even though my acne is not bad at all (but still persistent). The only reason I'm taking the third course is that it is my strong opinion that with proper medical supervision, accutane is better for me than indefinite, long term antibiotics (which is what was needed for my persistent condition).
Absolutely no long term side effects that I can identify.
I'm not sure that there is "a lot of evidence for serious long term side effects, even years after." I read a recent study that showed absolutely no long term effect on blood lipids or liver functions even after multiple courses. HAve you read something contrary to this?
I have read a lot of cases where people have taken accutane and then taken it again 10, 20 years down the line. It seems like if the person never took accutane they would have gradually outgrown the acne faster...just a thought. Does anyone have any opinions on whether accutane could possibly prevent people from completely outgrowing acne in the long term?
I highly doubt you will hear from anyone who took Tane from the 80's. Or the early 90's
1. Accutane likely cleared them, why would they hang around an acne site, plain and simple.
2. Females gave birth to deformed babies. ( pretty sure alot of this happened, no one knew about the effects to unborn babies)
they always new about the birth defects since before it hit the market.
I have read a lot of cases where people have taken accutane and then taken it again 10, 20 years down the line. It seems like if the person never took accutane they would have gradually outgrown the acne faster...just a thought. Does anyone have any opinions on whether accutane could possibly prevent people from completely outgrowing acne in the long term?
they probably would not have outgrown it.
I have read a lot of cases where people have taken accutane and then taken it again 10, 20 years down the line. It seems like if the person never took accutane they would have gradually outgrown the acne faster...just a thought. Does anyone have any opinions on whether accutane could possibly prevent people from completely outgrowing acne in the long term?
I know i'd have never outgrown it. Both my parents still have it and my mom's going through menopause for crying out loud. There is a family history that extends beyond just my parents as well (their siblings, my cousins, etc).
Accutane saved me from a lot of scarring and allowed me to feel normal throughout my long remission.
I have read a lot of cases where people have taken accutane and then taken it again 10, 20 years down the line. It seems like if the person never took accutane they would have gradually outgrown the acne faster...just a thought. Does anyone have any opinions on whether accutane could possibly prevent people from completely outgrowing acne in the long term?
probably yes, tane changes etiopathogenesis of acne which means that after the course acne is not going with its normal rhythm anymore.
I highly doubt you will hear from anyone who took Tane from the 80's. Or the early 90's
1. Accutane likely cleared them, why would they hang around an acne site, plain and simple.
2. Females gave birth to deformed babies. ( pretty sure alot of this happened, no one knew about the effects to unborn babies)
they always new about the birth defects since before it hit the market.
I have read a lot of cases where people have taken accutane and then taken it again 10, 20 years down the line. It seems like if the person never took accutane they would have gradually outgrown the acne faster...just a thought. Does anyone have any opinions on whether accutane could possibly prevent people from completely outgrowing acne in the long term?
I go along with that. I didn't take it in the 80s, but in 2006 yet I'm 38 (took it when I was 37). I hadn't outgrown it by then, so I doubt I ever would. Naturally if I'd taken it when I was 20 or so and still had acne now people would have said it was down to accutane affecting its natural course.
Accutane was the best move I've ever done in my life, simple as that. It's given me a whole new life back that I lost when I hit 13. May sound absurd, but I'd take 2 years of acne free lifestyle (and it was bad), than 10 years of a life with cysts all the time.
Main thing is people who read on these forums are well informed through them, they know the risks and possible side effects and the precautions they should take.
I took Accutane in the early nineties, and we were aware of the congenital infant disabilitiesrelated to the medication. Precautions were takentoavoid abnormalities ofthe fetusinneuro.You were required to sign a release agreeingto abstain from sex. If you chose to have sex while receiving the treatment, patients must take birth control without any mishaps. If you became pregnant, you had toagree to an abortion. Ichose abstinencebecause I wasn't havingan abortion.
All patients were required to have bloodwork drawn weekly to test for liver damage amongstotherindicators. Afterthe treatment, my skin has never looked better. It cleared all of the oil and uncloggedevery poor. I was happy with my results. I hope this help to hear a perspectivefor the 90s.
i came here as i am searching through which heatlh insurance plan is best for my needs - was looking up various drugs covered and well, one thing leads to another and i wondered if accutane was even still used nowadays.
Yeah, this is a longer post because this is something that really affected my life.
In high school i was under a LOT of stresses i won't go into here. Let's just say I can vouch that my experiences were on the crap side of the spectrum. My acne became the painful cyst kind - want to say 86-87 is when i went on a 3 month treatment - at the highest dose. I remember them mentioning the no sex bit - with my mom in the room no less. and the bi monthly blood tests. And the super dry sick, bleeding lips - doing CPR on a dummy in health class and bleeding on it's face like a rabid vampire. Years later in college a friend shared his stories with the drug - he said the doctor gave him a sheet with a big list of all the side effects. I got no such list. didn't know about the suicidal/depression tendencies it can cause too. I remember a young man flew a plane into a building in tampa florida shortly after 911. He was on accutane.
Anyway, it was a horrible experience. So much so that it didn't work very well and I refused to go on another round. It was that bad. After that i was put on tetracycline - thanks yellowed teeth that you can't whiten. and later retinA - hey, that seemed to help make my skin nice, but didn't do much for the acne, which at LEAST was no longer usually cystic variety. Jump to my early 20s. I had given up on ever seeing clear skin until later in life, when i saw probably the only informercial i ever took a chance on. The early days of pro-active? That ended up being the fix. It truly did clear up my skin in a week of use. Not permanently and not completely that week but omg, a huge difference. Ok, so i ruined a bunch of bath towels and some clothes. I only wish that product had been available about 10 years earlier and maybe my life wouldn't have sucked so bad.
Funny, today people tell me how great and smooth my skin looks. I attribute that to luck, good genes, quality skincare products, and good diet. but if they only knew. Like a comedian that makes everyone laugh but often carries a lot of emotional pain inside.
It may not be the right move for everyone, but I would always try something like proactive before going on something so harsh as accutane.