Acne.org Products
Oral Retinoid
Efficacy
87%
Based on All Available Studies
Strength of Evidence
Note: Use with EXTREME CAUTION: Causes severe birth defects and fetal death.
Oral Retinoid
Acne.org’s Real World Take
The nuclear option. It works reliably and provides long-term remission of acne, and even severe acne, in about ⅔ of people who properly take an adequate dosage. However, it permanently and irreversibly changes the skin and the body forever and users may experience long-term side effects for the rest of their lives. It’ll nuke it, but there is no going back.
Oral Retinoid
How to Get It
Have a dermatologist? Make an appointment to get this medication. Don't have a dermatologist? See The American Academy of Dermatology Physician Database to find one.
Used Isotretinoin (Accutane®)? Rate It:
Choose from 1 to 5 stars
January 19, 2012
Cons:
Makes face pink or red.
Dry Skin, lips.
For me, Accutane worked well while I was prescribed to it for 6 months. The first 1 or 2 months made my acne worse, but after that it faded away.
At the end of my prescription I still had a little bit of acne, light and occasional.
However after a month after my prescription ended I started to get pimples again. Right now I still have moderate acne and am seeking another treatment
December 7, 2011
Pros:
-Good for use on acne where it's difficult to use a topical medication (back).
-Reduces cystic acne slightly.
Cons:
-VERY dry skin and lips, so much so that my face would be so dry it would bleed. (even with moisturising 5 times a day).
-The dry flakey skin is worse than original acne.
-Very painful a sore red skin.
-Dry, Itchy eyes.
-Muscle ache for first few weeks of treatment.
-Depression.
-Difficulty sleeping.
-Hair loss.
To be honest, the small improvement in acne is not worth the side effects. The dry skin around my mouth looked even worse than the acne. It make your skin VERY sore and painful, especially around the mouth and lips making it painful to talk, eat or smile. Very painful to shave, cuts skin off face. (I just gave up on shaving while on the medication) After a few weeks I noticed hair falling out which was rather distressing. Also while on the medication i felt realy depressed, isolated, I didn't feel like talking to anyone, going anywhere, doing anything, just generally really down. This is where I gave up on the treatment. Even if it did clear all my acne (which it didnt) it was still not the horrible side effects. I stopped taking them 1 week ago and I have cheered up a lot, my acne has flared up worse than ever but my skin is less painful (still a bit, but getting there) and I'm sleeping a lot better now. So if your thinking about starting on this medication, I wouldn't particularly recomend it but different people react differently to it so give it a go and you might have better luck than I did. But if you start to feel like your getting at all depressed while on it, STOP because that keeps getting worse and its not worth it.
November 25, 2011
Pros:
A true miracle of modern medicine.
Cons:
Although very effective for the vast majority of people, I had to cease treatment after taking my 15th pill due to a relatively rare side-effect.
I want to be clear that I'm not trying to scare anyone into not trying accutane; I think it can be a miracle cure and I know many people whose lives have been changed for the better from taking it. However, I would caution anyone trying it to be very diligent and to listen to their body for the duration of their course, and to read the literature that comes with the pills. I experienced bad stomach upset during my second week of taking accutane (40mg/day) and on the 15th day noticed a very small amount of rectal bleeding, which I would not have noticed if I wasn't looking out for it. I ceased the pill immediately and told my doctor who confirmed that this drug is not suitable for me. I have no history of colitis, crohn's or IBD and none that I know of in my family either. I should be ok because I did not take it for very long. Please be diligent, listen to your body, and best of luck!
September 10, 2011
Pros:
Completely cleared all acne AND SPOTS from face, chest and back. No acne, no spots
No more oily skin
makeup stays perfect all day
could go hours without washing face and still look fresh
Cons:
Initial treatment was to be 6 months. Ended up being 3 years
After a 3 year treatment I about to recommence treatment
Only works while taking the pill, acne returns once off the pill for a few months
horribly dry lips, eyes, nose and have to stay out of sun
DOES NOT cure acne for everyone. comes back
painful knees
Unfortunately for me this pill only works when I am on it. Once I come off the acne returns in a few months. This does not work since I am at the child bearing age and would love to be able to have children now. But since you can't get pregnant while on the pill I have to be willing to put up with horrible acne to go through a pregnancy.
I have recently recommenced treatment and may have to stay on it for life if I want my clear skin to remain. But I hate how oily my skin becomes once I am off the pill and can't stand to see the acne return. So I would still recommend it but be prepared that it may not cure your acne and may only work when you are using it.
August 4, 2011
Pros:
Cleared up most of my skin
No more chest or back acne
Skin not as oily
Cheap with copay
Cons:
Dry skin and chapped lips
Still have some minor acne
Must take two pills a day, sometimes I would forget.
First let me state that my acne was never severe like some peoples, but nothing I did could get it to go away. I have tried everything before trying accutane, but my acne was incredibly resilient. Accutane seemed to me like it worked very well in the first month or two, and then the effects seemed to diminish. My acne is still much much better than it was when I started. However, I still have some under the skin acne (no whiteheads or blackheads), I don't really get nasty cysts like I did before I started which is really nice, but I do still have bumps. Overall, accutane has worked much better for me than any other treatment (and believe me, I tried EVERYTHING). I was lucky enough to not experience any negative side effects other than some very dry skin, which isn't even that big of a deal as long as you have a good moisturizer and carry around a tube of chapstick! I would definitely recommend accutane to others with bad acne.
March 17, 2011
Pros:
nothing!!
Cons:
cracked and dried my skin so bad I still have scars
made me depressed
changed something in my body that showed up on a blood test and I was immediately taken off of it
didn't work for my acne
I used this a few years back after trying everything else. Almost immediately I got so dry and my lips and nose cracked so badly i still have scars - even though I was sure to moisturize well in advance! After 5 months my blood work came back bad and my doctor took me off the meds saying it wasn't helping my skin anyway. It took a long time for the nausea and depression that I got while I took it to go away. This is horrible horrible stuff!!!!
December 21, 2010
Pros:
works for extended period
Cons:
risk/benefit
works. But bone/mental side effects can last a lifetime.
September 20, 2010
Pros:
No pros to report.
Cons:
Massive Side Effects.
Didn't change my acne.
NEVER TRY THIS!
I got this on prescription about 20 years ago (without any warning about the side effects from my doctor).
After a few weeks it killed ALL my joints. Every joint in my whole body was hurting and making strange noises. I then stopped Accutane but I still have severe problems with my joints. Now, I soon will have to get knee implants.. So, my advice is clear: never try Accutane, it's not worth it.
September 7, 2010
Pros:
Cystic acne gone
Blackheads gone
New hope for clear skin
Cons:
Peeling lips - facial skin
Potential side effects kinda scary
MAJOR sensitivity to sun
Took a long time - 4 months to see results
Lots of redness
My daughter was on 40 mg 2x daily for 5 months - our hope was that she would be clear for the start of freshman year in high school. She had cystic acne bumps before that would last up to two months at at time and tried other antibiotics, creams, high dose retin A was quite severely burning her skin. She also had alot of redness from the various creams and lotions prescribed.
Since I was the driving force behind all the work - encouraging her to take meds, getting her to appt., and nagging her to do ipledge - wanted to post our experience. I judge that unless you have moderately severe to severe cystic acne - this product is not for you. I see that people say their skin clears up in the first few weeks? I have been reading posts for the full time my daughter has taken this medicine and I wonder if doctors are prescribing this too easily. Her major cysts became extremely worse in the first three months - as we were told - she even had grown ups commenting that they had acne and that it would all go away soon - so embarrassing for a 14 yr old girl! Obviously they had no idea she was taking such an extreme medicine to clear her up. If I can offer any advice it would be WEAR SUNSCREEN! I would nag my daughter to put sunscreen on all thru the summer, she got blisters on her shoulder one time and then still didn't learn. She got a BAD sunburn on her face and the doctor asked about the redness - two weeks later - and just kind of shrugged her shoulders. It would have helped immensely if her doctor would have stressed profusely the need to wear sunscreen all the time instead of me nagging her. ANother sunburn on the face - blisters and all - from being at a soccer game in the afternoon - about two weeks before her final dose. Now she is horribly red and peeling, using an aveeno ultra calming moisturizer to get her back to normal. Not the end result she wanted to start high school. She is doubting whether it was worth it. I think it was.
July 24, 2010
Pros:
-Cysts dramatically reduced
-redness fading
-skin feels smoother in areas where the skin is not flakey.
- NHS (practically free)
Cons:
-flakey skin
-dry lips
Just before i started taking acctuane, i was on antibiotics and i had a massive breakout, really really bad. It sounded very similar to the sort of breakouts people get when they start accutane. I had about 2 or 3 cysts on my face at the start, after 2 weeks these had started to reduce in size and disappear. This was on lose dose (20mg). Also the non cystic acne has improved and inflamation reduced. Now i am in my 2nd month of treatment, i weigh 80 kg and so was expecting to be put on 80 mg but my derm said that he would put me on 60 mg for this month because it seemed that it was already doing a good job and would reduce the risk of side effects. Now i have no place to make medical assumptions/claims and if you ask for scientific documentation im afraid i wont be able to provide it but here is my theory: People who go on accutane are always on other treatments first. Those that start acctuane and do not have an initial breakout are not lucky it is just that they already had their breakout while on antibiotics and so were on the road to recovery before they started the drug. However that road to recovery is so so much shorter when on this amazing drug. I highly reccomend it to anyone.
Pros:
Controls Oil production of skin.
Gets rid of acne