I have been on accutane for 9 months (40mg/day first 6 months and 60mg/day last 3 months) and this is my last month. My cystic acne has cleared up very early on but I keep getting these little pimples. I have about 2 pimples a week although they go away within a day or two without leaving any marks, I am very discouraged. I was hoping I am 100% clear by now and I worry what is going to happen when I go off accutane. My derm said accutane is not as effective on middle age patients, what is your experience?

Since I was 14 I had a few occasional very mild breakouts on my cheeks but as I started to get older my acne got a little worse I remember when I was around my 8th grade the acne got a little severe but they were all white heads and by severe I mean 3- 5 white heads. Then again it got less severe and I had 2-3 white heads every few days max. Suddenly when I turned 18 my acne got a lot worse suddenly there were around 8 -10 white heads which slowly turned into pustules and more of these started pop out specially on my cheeks or cheek bone area. My first dermatologist prescribed me doxycycline. It didn't make it any better but after 2 months on this, my acne was worst than ever. I changed my dermatologist went to another one and asked him to put me on isotretinoin he did that without further question but only on 20mg maybe because my acne was not severe it was moderate and I was affected with acne on only around both of my cheeks region that time I had around 15 acne. I was prescribed on Sotret 20mg per day. It has been now 33 days, my experience... to be honest its the same no improvements or deterioration. During the end of the first month towards maybe between day 23-28 I had a initial breakout which were like some white heads would pop up where there were previous acne and I would pop them it would go and then slowly form a hyperpigmentated bump. One thing I noticed that my face almost had no oil towards the end of the first month but after day 29 oil would start to come back again specially on my nose. Really want to know is this a normal , expected experience or not ???? I really hope this accutane does the trick for me because I just had it with acne!!!!

I am a 32 yo female who has had worsening cystic acne from about 25. Having progressed through all the usual over the counter products and also prescription medication like retin a, my GP referred me to a derm for the 'last resort'. And I am so glad she did- 6 months later I have perfect skin for the first time in years. I took 20mg a day for the first months and 40mg a day after that (I am finishing my course in the next month or so). I have experienced a number of the usual side effects- dry lips, headache for the first two weeks, and occasional eczema on my hands when I don't moisturise enough- but none of them have been unmanageable. Remembering to drink lots of water and moisturise, moisturise, moisturise are the key. I was scared to take this medication for so long because of all the negative press, however I wish I had taken in years ago. If you are considering this medication I would suggest finding a good dermatologist and talking through the pros and cons with them to see if it might be a good fit for you. And if you decide it is, go for it and don't look back! A note on costs- in Australia this medication costs me around $35 for a box of 60 20mg capsules.

Battling with Moderate - Severe acne for over a year and finally cleared it up. When i noticed a new slight breakout i freaked out a bit and started accutane. Worst breakout of my life occurred during my course. I really didnt care too much about the little side effects(dryness everywhere) but apparently a strange side effect within my body was occurring after my 5th month and i had cleared my acne so it wasnt a big deal to stop the course. Acne was gone but accutane left alot of red marks and hyperpigmentation (NO Scars though). I did start to recieve acne again probably 3 months after ending my accutane cycle and now about a year later im struggling with breakouts about as bad as right before first trying accutane. Apparently accutane has a less chance of keeping acne away from mens skin. Ive had bad skin from my [Junior year of high school -> sophomore year of college]

I had moderate acne by age 17, did a 5 month course, and completely clear by 2 months in. 6 months after the course, however, my acne came back, less severe. Took another course with a lower dose for a couple months, and was clear, but a few months later, the acne came back with about the same severity. Tried a third low dose course, and was clear for a few months, but it is back again. It's been a year since my last course, and I still have mild acne. Accutane is not a permanent fix for me, but may have reduced my acne. I also changed my diet since then, so I am not sure I can accredit my reduced acne to accutane. The side-effects were moderate, but not too bad long term I think. I think this would be beneficial for severe acne sufferers.

Back in the day , when I was young, well around my 30's I took the miracle pill. It worked really well ,I had never seen my face , free of pimples. My face got so red , like a sunburn , it was the first time I really needed a moisturizer ,I slathered aveeno moisturizing lotion ,I mean the one for the body , but it felt good ,I had no pimples . I only took Accutane like for 4 months because I have high cholesterol and my liver couldn't take it anymore , it also made me really , really depressed .I was kind of going insane.I mean I didn't really wanted to stop it but sadly I had to.I had to choose between my clear face or my liver and sanity. The effects of Accutane helped me for about 4 years,I mean I didn't have to use any major acne treatment ,just simple proactiv , that is why I thought that proactiv was a miracle too,LOL. I mean after Accutane I could have peanuts and chocolate , it was wonderful. I think that Accutane is to be used on only extreme cases or as a last alternative, even at 52 I'm still dealing with hormonal acne ,I have hypothyroidism and believe me ,on my last visit to the dermatologist , he suggested Accutane ,I said no way! My cholesterol levels are high, and he asked, how high ? Really? High enough , so my advice , if you really think that you need Accutane only as a last result, then go ahead , but it's not a miracle drug , it will help you get your acne under control , and after that you are gonna have to use a topical treatment to manage your acne , which is all about managing, and controlling it. And my advice is to run some tests before using it and during treatment and watch for signs of trouble ,don't damage your body, if it doesn't feel right , then its not right. I think these days dermatologist are using really low doses on people who are older and are at risk of developing skin cancer , so that is probably why the dermatologist suggested Accutane, he doesn't know what to make of my acne anymore.I really feel sorry for him,and I'm kind of speculating about the reason why he wants me to try Accutane again ,ok . Best wishes.

This a story of my own experience with the product. I'm still on it as i'm speaking and it has changed me drastically in the past year. I had mild acne for a period of 5 years. Nothing to woryy about and t seemd treatable with topic containing benzolperoxide and differin. A dermatologist said that i could take it but i wouldn't since i have know to people who got from it. They changed and bcame suicidal of it. After those five years the problem got a little worse and had to have clear skin to able to work and finish my studies so ti took the worst decision of my life in taking this product. This would avoid scarring. When collecting the pills at the phamacy, the phamacist told me he would not take such thing himself als he said the product brings risks and is not to be trusted. This was a promising start. I'm on the product for a year now and i feel worse than ever. I have serious mental problems since i began taking it. I pauzed the treament after 4 months for a month in order to take away the mental problems but it didn't work. They problems improved but will still there so the dermatologist talked me back into taking isotretoin. As i could control those toughts. After a month of intake i started to feel different, alone, i can't find enjoyment in anything anymore. I used to be a sportive person but ever since taking the accutane i had to stop because of serious joints muscle pain, headaches.. i feel like hiding and don't want to get out of the bed anymore. After just a normal day of working i am exhausted already. It feels lik my body and mind have aged 50 years in one year while on the isotretoin. I don't want see my friends aymore and don't seems to find satisfaction in any activity i used to love. Some days i sleep 18h of the 24h in a day... i feel like commiting suicide at least once a day.. This is the situation of the last months and i'm starting to blame the product, as i have never had mental problems with my acne. I just would not get it to me to much. As like everyone has something wrong and acne is quite common. his opions have changed drastically for the worse since i'm on the product. Thinking about the situation makes me easily agited and even hostile towards other people making remarks on it. I feel lonely, even when i was with my girlfriend or with friends, i could not relativise things that weren't a even an issue before.. I have thoughts of avoiding and hiding from my environment, the people around me. Feeling of alienation and nobody understands how it makes you feel. I feel anxious and sometimes agressive. Especially toward people who wronged me or talk on the acne problem to me.. They can't judge, because thay don't know how it changed since that first month. i feel hostile and agressive towards them even though they ment it for the best. Luckily i can keep it under control for now. The there are feeling of being sick because you take pills and go to specialsits. makes you feel even worse. I still take it because the Dermatologist promised me spots would go away eventually. They told me the acne would go away after on yer of intake of 20mg. The product is not effective at all because after one year i still have acne... It helps to clear most of it, but it still it is there and my skil still gets very oily. When i don't take it for 2 days, which i had to do when sick, the situation is back to off already. Now they said we should consider higher doses or another year at least of intake of this rubbish. Another year of this product will be the end for me i guess.. it's rubbish.. it makes me horrible and mentally worse than i ever felt before.. Desperate by the product and the fact it does not work as promised Accutane or isotretoin is a chemothrapy drug. A detail: i know A person who recieved chemotherapy in treatment for cancer. ( This "acne" medicine is still applied for treament of skin cancers, lung cancer and types of leukimia.) The person's treatment included isotretoin and the person suffered from the same mental and lonelyness reactions as me. Something Taking higher amounts is not workable for me on the mental and fysical plan. I feel 80 with constantly pain at my joints and muscles. After one year i haven't got any stable results.. but on the plan of and giving me strange rashes, very dry lips and shedding loads of my hair already it was very effective! I suffer from heavy stomach pain to. I guess this will be a race between the product working permanently or me commiting suicide because of the mental and fysic problems it gave me. Acne never got me depressed, The product did. I think i'm getting of it and hope i will get better. Acne is not worth commiting suicide for, but product isnt either. I Can imagine it has pushed many people over the edge who weren't reported as related to isotretoin or accutane. It almost got me to. But stil the doctor kept on saying this is a "safe product" that wouldn't harm me at all. They are too busy pointing that the depression is caused by the acne but not the product to give themselves a better conscience. In my case everything went wrong after taking it. I think i might go throug alternative treatments far away from those doctor with all thir poison pills. Skin cleaning with lasers or other methods. There are alternatives around

I did Accutane once 10 years ago. Yes, it did help, but not much more than the run of the mill BP or prescription creams. It was not worth it in the end. It was expensive, the blood tests were more than a minor inconvenience (I'm terrified of needles), I had nosebleeds, etc... I don't know if the deep depression I was going through while on & for a few years afterwards it is a coinidence or not (there are studies saying that it does cause depression though). However, it's the aftermath a few years later that had me regretting this the most. Let's just say I didn't start having "bowel" issues until after this and I don't consider it a coincidence considering all the people who reported IBS after using Accutane. Needless to say, it wasn't worth it and I won't go on a second round. And some of the bigger side effects reported from other user's scared me too (like premature menopause). To be honest, Dan's regimen is working better than Accutane did. I'm giving Accutane 2 star. I would give it 1, but it did help a tiny bit temporarily I guess. The acne came back with a vengence about 2 years afterwards anyway. If it actually did 100% clear my acne and kept it away, I would actually give it 5 stars despite the bad side effects, because acne has had such a detremintal effect on my life from an emotional perspective. But it didn't make me clear, sooooo....no, I wouldn't recommend this.

Best thing that ever happened to my skin. I was 16 years old when my derm prescribed this to me, since my moderately severe acne was not improving with topicals or oral antibiotics. I was about 5'6 and 115 pounds at the time so my dose wasn't heavy. I believe I was given 40mg every other day for the first month, then 40mg every day for the next two months, and then for the rest of my course it was 40mg everyday except on MWF I would take 80mg. Overall my course was 8 months and I never got completely clear. However, I saw major improvement and it's the most improvement I've ever seen with my skin (the regimen is a close second). I didn't really experience dry skin on my face, but my hands and lips were extremely dry. It definitely gave me my confidence back. I even got compliments on my skin! My skin was never oily, I didn't have any blackheads, and my cystic acne almost completely disappeared. I did have a few lingering clogged pores, which I believe was the reason why I still had a little acne. I'm 18 now and I was recently diagnosed with PCOS which causes oily skin and acne. I never took birth control pills while on accutane so my hormones likely intervened. After I finished the course my derm gave me differin but we didn't have insurance and my father spent a lot of money on the accutane, so I never got the prescription and I haven't been back since :( I used 2.5% BP and aloe vera to maintain my skin and it was decent for about a year. Did the regimen for half a year but quit to try oil cleansing and all that. Now my acne has completely transformed, in a bad way. I don't get cysts anymore but almost all my acne is pustules, whiteheads, and clogged pores. The regimen got me to a good point but I got lazy, wanted to try new things, and now my skin is worse than ever (still no cysts but I swear it looks worse than before accutane). So all in all, this medication gave me more improvement than any other skincare treatment, and I will be booking an appointment for my derm in the near future so I can take a second round. Oh, and I never get cysts anymore.

I'm only just starting my 4th month, however my skin has already improved. I'm trying to remember what my skin reacted like during the first month - and I can't remember having any major breakout like some. Now I produce no oil on my face, I still have the occasional pimple, but just on my chin area and a few on the cheeks. It has eliminated the amount of cystic acne I used to get. I still have scarring, but hopefully that will improve over time. Skin tone in general though is a HUGE improvement. I used to have very bumby skin mainly from little white/black heads everywhere... so even though my acne wasn't severe I was devastated by how my skin tone looked overall. As far as side effects go - I have lost weight- about 8 pounds so far (weight 118 now). I have been more achy, occasional night sweats, maybe slightly more tired. No major side effects like some people have posted about thank goodness. I like many of you was scared to start but I think once you get to the point where your skin is making you feel self-conscious it is worth trying Accutane. Life is very precious and I'm happy I can start enjoying my life more now than if I had waited to try Accutane later in life. I should have started this a year ago :(