I'm considering a low dose course of accutane for my very mild but persistent acne, and I would like to hear opinions from those who have tried it. Last summer I went on a 2,5 month course of accutane (30-40 mg/day) and my mild acne on face and body totally disappeard and my skin was pretty perfect for about 6 months afterwords with a little help of duac and pure BP. Now the acne is starting to come back, from like 2-3 pimples a month to a new pimple almost every day.. Not any deep pimples, but my overall complexion is not that good anymore and I'm starting to get oily again. I still have much accutane left to take out on my prescription, and I'm considering starting a dose of like 5 mg/day. With my last course I didn't experience any IB, and after 3-4 weeks my skin was almost perfect, but side effects such as very dry eyes and pretty severe muscle pain made it "not worth it". Now I wonder if anyone here has been on a very low dose with success? How bad was the side effects, any hair loss (my hair did fall out for like 1-2 months after my last course and that freaked me out)? How long could/should you be on such low dose? I would like to hear any experiences and opinions from those of you who have tried it!
Hi!
I'm on low dose Accutane (5 mg every other day) right now. I've started taking it at the end of June 2015.
As you can see, I'm no longer very active on this website. That's because I don't have acne anymore and Accutane is definetely the reason why.
My dermatologist has put me on a low dose because my acne was very mild (oily skin and a few visible, persistent yet not very deep pimples). After two weeks of such a low dose my face has totally cleared up and I have perfect skin ever since. My derm told me that it's safe to stay on a low dose for up to five years or even longer. You need to be monitored by a doctor, though, and have your blood tests taken regularly. As for the side effects, I haven't experienced any, except for slightly dry skin and lips. No hair loss, no muscle pains, no scary stuff. If you are a girl, you need to pay extra attention to birth control. Apart from that, low dose Accutane doesn't cause any problems at all. It has literally chaged my life for the better, without any sacrifices.
Thanks for your responds guys! I started taking accutane yesterday and I'm going to take 10 mg/day for like 2-3 weeks to get the med in my system a little quicker, then 10 mg every other day until I'm starting to see good results. After that I'm planning to take 10-20 mg a week and hope that's enough to maintain acne free skin without any harsh side effects! If anyone is interested I can update when I know if it's working or not 🙂
On 25.03.2016 at 6:11 PM, LIFE SAVER said:How long has your derm prescribed this for safely to his patients. Wat are the chances of bone changes and inflamatory bowel on such a low dose??did u take a regular course before?
My derm has prescribed low dose accutane to many patients for years. Low dosage (like 5mg every other day or lower) does little to none damage to your body. Of course, there are some risks, that's why you have to observe everything that's going on with you and take blood tests. Chances of these things you've mentioned are almost non-existant. I didn't take a regular course because my acne wasn't severe enough; no sane dermatologist would have put me on a regular course with a few pimples here and there. I'm not sure if a low dose would work for someone with severe acne, though.
On March 29, 2016 at 4:35 AM, LIFE SAVER said:On March 28, 2016 at 8:47 AM, danadanadana said:I was on a low dose course - self prescribed
- for three years. 10 mg per week. It worked perfectly
why did you stop taking it??and how do you keep your symptoms a bay now?
Ugh... I wish I didn't have to but I want to have a baby in like a year (maybe) and wanted it out of my system for at least one year before getting pregnant. I highly recommend low dose!
I use retin-a now which I do like a lot but it is not nearly as good as the accutane.
I'm on 10mg every 4 days. With much trial and error I've found that the best dose for me as any more than that and I experience flushing / burning on my face. I did experience fairly significant hair loss / thinning which occurred for about 2 months. It has since stopped and in the last month my hair has bounced back and is feeling healthy again. I have no other side effects to report. I plan on being on this for as long as possible as I'm done with having kids and would like to enjoy being pimple free for as long as possible having dealt with mod/severe acne for well over a decade. I have blood taken every 6 months to check liver function and so far it's all been fine. I don't drink or put much strain on my liver so hopefully it copes with such a low dose . It's changed my life in terms of my mental state , anxiety and mild depression. I'll fight my derm to the death if he ever tries to take me off it !!! 🙂
I thought I should make an update, if anyone reads this thread and wonder how it went. I took about 20 mg/week from April to the beginning of August. Skin was wondeful but I experienced mild joint pain and muscle aches even at this ultra low dose. Other than that I experienced a little dry lips and minor hair shedding. My skin is still great with a little help of Duac, so no complains about that, but the last 2 months I've been losing soo much hair. We're talking about 300 strands or even more a day.. I also did a routine check at my doctor and found out that my ALAT (liver enzyme something) was too high. Is a very low dose of Accutane safe? The answer is no, it's a very powerful drug that can cause pretty bad side effects even at doses this low. IMO not worth it!