I'm a female & also 145lbs

I'm currently on 40mgs, and my derm said that if I were to stay on the 40mgs my course would last for 8 months.

I think the important thing with accutane is the cumulative dose, so how long it lasts (by my understanding) is irrelevant as long as the cumulative dose has been met.

At the rate your dosage is at (if it isn't significantly upped in the future) I'd expect your course to last 9-11 months probably.

The link below is a calculator for cumulative dose (120mg/kg for best chance of no relapse of acne) that you can play around with to determine how long your course should last based on the possible dosages you might be prescribed.

Hope that helps!

Hi there!

I am also taking 20 mg, but I will ask my doctor to bump it up to 40 next month. otherwise it will take close to a year.

I am 5'7 and I weigh 58 kgs.

I think my doctor gave me 20mg to get started since I was really afraid of side effects, like most people I guess.

But I wonder if the dose also depends on severity?? I know a woman who took only 40 mg for 4 months and she's been clear for over 2 years. But here acne was not severe, mine is not severe and yours doesn't seem to be severe either. I think it's best to ask your doctor why he thinks 20 mg is best for you.

Hello!

Reading loads of posts on here many people start on low dosages, even 10mg! I'm 5'9 136lbs and my dermatologist put me on 60mg a day. My acne is minimal to moderate, hard to tell if my dose is high or yours is lower than usual!

Anyhow good luck with your treatment!

So, it's been 5 days, and my reaction has been good. I'm still breaking out normally, but the amount of grease secreted by my face has been substantially reduced. My lips are only slightly chapped though and my skin is still by no means dry. I think by Saturday if nothing changes I'm just going to up the dosage to 30mg.

I was put on 20mgs and to be honest this high dose that Roche has created I believe is not really based on anything substantial except a model of treatment created in the late 80's. I've had totally clear skin being on 20 mgs but I've been on a high dose of 40 for one month if a 8 months course. Plus I'm 45 and my condition was induced by V-Beam Laser which scarred me and reactivated my p.acnes so that why I was put on it. Everyone is different and listen to your body and also speak to a GP. That helped me. Your Derm only wants to treat the acne. My Derm had no clue about supplements etc. Most importantly if you feel depressed etc speak to your GP not your Derm. Good luck. I have one month to go and I'm on 10 mgs and I've never been this dry or clear so go figure.

On 30 mg and the chapped lips have arrived. It's kind of a pain but very manageable. It's been about two weeks now. My "initial breakout" seems pretty mild; barely worse than where I was when I started. And in some ways it's better, because I'm noticing the pimples that are on my face seem much more "shallow" if that makes sense. Many are also quite dry and become easily picked off after a couple days.

I am 5'2, weight about 120 pounds. Doctor told me i would clear even on 10mg, and i would need a maximum of 20-30mg. It is not necessary to go so high, even at 10mg it can work.

My derm gives severe cases about 40mg.

I agree with the above, doctors don't know anything about supplements. Or anything else. They just want to over medicate usually.

LillyRose7, is your severity similar to mine? I would have stayed on 20mg longer (what doc suggested for the first whole month) but the two reasons that convinced me to up the dosage sooner were that my skin is normally extremely oily (so the dryness issue would never become too severe; my skin was handling it well), and because frankly I want to clear up faster; I have a summer internship lined up where I'll be interacting with the public a lot, and I'd rather have this taken care of by then. And in time for summer fun in general.

I am 5'2, weight about 120 pounds. Doctor told me i would clear even on 10mg, and i would need a maximum of 20-30mg. It is not necessary to go so high, even at 10mg it can work.

My derm gives severe cases about 40mg.

I agree with the above, doctors don't know anything about supplements. Or anything else. They just want to over medicate usually.

how severe is your acne? for how long willyou be on 10 mgs?? i've read that anything over 6 months is considered unsafe.

I don't know if I should stay on 20 or bump to 40 next month. It's been 2 weeks for me and today for the first time I woke up without an oily face, which was nice. My skn is oily on the Tzone and my acne is mild-moderate. So far the side effects have been mild for me, except for some sensitivity to sunlight.

hello,

I don't actually take accutane because I chose to go on the pill to clear up my skin. HOWEVER, my doctor told me I would clear on 10mg and would not have to go over 20 mg. She said severe cases of hers take about 40+ because she has noticed through her practice and study that it is not necessary to give the 1mg/kg dose that is the normal in the USA, but she has seen clearance on low doses without the nasty side effects which are usually observed only at the higher doses. Someone at the same clinic with the same weight and height as me was given 40mg and her eyes and lips were all cracked/red at week 3, i saw her in the waiting room and was so shocked, the doctor said she was coming in from another doctor at another clinic, and she couldn't get an appt with him so she came to the clinic where my doctors practice and they told her it was way too high.

I was told i would need to start on 10 mg and could stay on it till i see improvement an if necessary to work my way up to 20mg. I was told i would need a minimum of 4 months but i guess i would need to be on it 5-6 months.

I wouldn't rule accutane out, but i'm trying not to take it because of a lot of reasons and i am starting to see clearance from the pill. It's supposed to reduce the oil and all and balance out your hormones and my doctor told me i had no guarantee of acne clearance without hormonal balance because i have an underlying condition and it may come back so to try it out.

my acne is not very bad, as in all over your face kind of acne. I get the nasty ones from hell on my chin, the cyst and nodular type of acne. In my opinion it makes my decision to take accutane even more difficult to make because i dont have it all over, i just have 1-2 of these at a time, but they hurt and they leave red marks:(.

The thing about dosage is basically how your body reacts to it. If you dry up a lot and you experience some of the side effects and pro's of Accutane, then there is no need to push the dosage. For your height and weight, you're on a fine dosage. Besides, Accutane is meant to battle acne once you begin getting a couple of cysts on your face and when topical creams / antibiotics fail. Just so you can get a reference, I'm 16, 6'1 in height and weigh 169 lb, and my dosage was 30mg/day. I still got clear skin, and my acne was bad, got even worse, then cleared up.

Hey guys, I've been on the pill for 2.5 weeks now, 30mg for a week and a half. My reaction has been great. Chapped lips have come in full force but it's totally manageable with medicated lip ointment. The corners of my mouth aren't sore and although I wear contact lenses, I haven't noticed my eyes having any heightened sensitivity to them. My skin isn't really dry, just "not oily", which is incredible because it used to get absolutely covered in grease and I'd have to soak it up every 3 hours or so while in the bathroom. And best of all, I'm pretty sure my face is already clearing. It's not much yet, but it's definitely noticeable.

hello,

I don't actually take accutane because I chose to go on the pill to clear up my skin. HOWEVER, my doctor told me I would clear on 10mg and would not have to go over 20 mg. She said severe cases of hers take about 40+ because she has noticed through her practice and study that it is not necessary to give the 1mg/kg dose that is the normal in the USA, but she has seen clearance on low doses without the nasty side effects which are usually observed only at the higher doses. Someone at the same clinic with the same weight and height as me was given 40mg and her eyes and lips were all cracked/red at week 3, i saw her in the waiting room and was so shocked, the doctor said she was coming in from another doctor at another clinic, and she couldn't get an appt with him so she came to the clinic where my doctors practice and they told her it was way too high.

I was told i would need to start on 10 mg and could stay on it till i see improvement an if necessary to work my way up to 20mg. I was told i would need a minimum of 4 months but i guess i would need to be on it 5-6 months.

I wouldn't rule accutane out, but i'm trying not to take it because of a lot of reasons and i am starting to see clearance from the pill. It's supposed to reduce the oil and all and balance out your hormones and my doctor told me i had no guarantee of acne clearance without hormonal balance because i have an underlying condition and it may come back so to try it out.

my acne is not very bad, as in all over your face kind of acne. I get the nasty ones from hell on my chin, the cyst and nodular type of acne. In my opinion it makes my decision to take accutane even more difficult to make because i dont have it all over, i just have 1-2 of these at a time, but they hurt and they leave red marks:(.

That sounds almost exactly like my kind of acne! except I also have oily skin on the T-zone and blackheads all over my forehead, nose and chin.

The decision for me to go on accutane was also a difficult one, that's why I'm 39 and taking accutane for the first time. I waited and waited for it to go away.

I got tired of waiting I guess. I had tried the pill in the past but It gave me a begnign tumour in the pituitary gland (the one that controls hormones) I got it 3 months into diane 35, for this reason I decided never to take the pill again.

My derm wants to bump me to 40 next month. Now I don't know what to do, should I stay on 20 mgs? I had read somewhere else that people with mild acne can be clear on 6 months taking 20 mgs.

I met a girl on facebook who cleared up her nasty cysts, (mild-moderate) with only 10 mgs 3 times a week for six months! and she's been clear for 2 years.

I will definitely discuss this with my doctor next time!