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
April 28, 2016
scam
Was on accutane 3 times! all the right amount of doses, but every time i got off the pill, my acne would come back worse! some people don't get it back, but i wasted so much money. what a scam.
Gladiatoro
September 4, 2016
Eliminate dairy , sugar from your diet .
Lover of life
November 18, 2016
Have u tried lessening your dose of the pill? I changed pills, I was on a very very low dose whilst taking accutane and now I'm completely off it and no break out :)
March 2, 2016
Only thing that has worked for my acne
This pill cured my horrible cystic acne. Although the dryness and redness you experience while on this pill is brutal, the results are well worth it. My lips would bleed and crack frequently. I recommend Jack Black lip balm for that. And for the chapped face, I recommend Cetaphil cream. On accutane, it is impossible for your face to get oily which is one bonus. I noticed immediate results. I did have some breakouts here and there but for the last month (my 6th month) on accutane my face was completely clear. While on accutane, do not pick your pimples or pop them! You are more prone to scarring/damaging your skin on this medication.
February 19, 2016
the only thing that helped me
I tried everything for my severe acne, and accutane was the only thing that helped, even though it took a long time for me to see results. I had 20 cysts on my cheek before starting, and now just have one tiny papule. don't be discouraged if you don't see results fast, it takes time. I didn't stop getting painful cysts until the fourth month. I have lots of red marks, but I'm slowly getting my confidence back. for me, the side effects were worth getting rid of the intense psychological pain and destroyed self esteem acne was causing me.
December 9, 2015
Miracle drug
I have SUFFFFFFEREEDDDDD from severe cystic acne for 11 years and have been on and off lots of medication for this. Accutane cleared my skin within the first MONTH of me taking it!! And I mean I have very scarred up skin now but its clear as day and I haven't had a breakout and it's been over a year since I stopped taking it. I'm a 140 pound female and I was on 80 mg daily of accutane. I had zero side effects except that I had overly dry eyes but I had lazer eye surgery that year as well so it was a really bad combination so look into that if you have had lazer eye surgery accutane will mess with your eyes to the point where it is really uncomfortable. Either than that I highly recommend this to anyone suffering from acne. I hated my life when I was covered in zits but now I'm able to live a confident, happy, normal life because of this drug :)
October 10, 2015
Almost got erectile dysfunction.....
This is kinda long so here it goes: I started getting acne when I was 14. Anyways, I started taking this drug and it was the best/worse decision of my life. It was good because It cleared up my acne within a couple of weeks. The bad was I would get cramps almost every day. And I know it was because of the medicine because they never happened before. Oh but it gets worse. I started not noticing something strange. I would no longer wake up with a morning erection. This was odd since i used to have one ever morning. I soon stopped because of it. Fast forward a year and school had just started and I realized how much I couldn't stand my face. Keep in mind my acne is severe. So I started taking the medication again and sure enough my acne was going away. I ended up only taking it two weeks this time. My penis was almost non existent. I had no sex drive or no morning erections. I couldn't maintain an erection as long as before. I knew something was wrong. I did some research and I found something interesting. There have been reports of people who had taken the drug the full course or longer who now have erectile dysfunction. I felt I had dodged a bullet. If I had blown this side effect off then I might be the same way. All I ask is that you talk to your derm and mention this side effect. He/she will probably deny It but I have first hand experience. It's been a year and while I am back to normal maintaining an erection, I still have trouble getting morning wood. All I have to say is fake this drug at your own risk. In my case the risk outweighed the reward.
July 3, 2016
Yes, every male beware - this may be a permanent side effect. Some men report total impotency. Sadly this is a fact, not scare mongering!
December 25, 2017
HATEANE THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS WHAT YOU SAY!!! HOW CAN YOU SAY THIS IS A FACT!! Don't you realise the damage and fear you are putting into people!!! I am just finishing 8 months on accutane 40mg and have NO , no erectile problems. Sayint it is a FACT is disgraceful. It is your opinion please state it as such. If it is a fact please leave your medical qualifications and documented research papers and the journals where they are published. How dare you say 'fact' , state your opinion only, shameful!
August 9, 2015
Isotretinoin
I've had a horrible severe acne since more than 2 years ago. My face, my chest and my back, horrible. So I've been on Isotretinoin this year, and well, these are the results: - My face, which was HORRIBLE, cleaned like 95% - My chest is less horrible - My back is still horrible. So, why 4 stars? Because of the face clean, saved my life.
April 19, 2015
Worst decision of my life
I took Amnesteem for two weeks and it completely destroyed my eyes by giving me tons of vitreous floaters. Eye floaters are permanent and there is no safe surgical procedure to get rid of them. It also gave me tinnitus (constant ringing in my ears). So I basically just ruined my life AND I still have acne.
May 27, 2015
Do you have these floaters all the time or do they just occur when you do something like sneeze or cough?
April 12, 2015
Really great at clearing up acne
I have been on the higher end Canadian version of accutane called epuris. It's only considered more high end because you can take it with any sort of food, whereas, with the lower end ones you have to take it with a large meal and you're not supposed to drink milk with it. I have been taking 40 mg daily of epuris for about two months now, though I take breaks when my hands or lips get too dry. My doctor told me it doesn't matter if you continuously take it, as long as you get the required mg/kg within the next 4-6 months. That way, I won't have as many side effects, which I appreciated. Initially, it did get a little bit worse so don't worry if that happens to you. I don't have severe acne, it might be considered moderate and it's only on my cheeks. Most of it is scarring and redness so it looks worse than it is. The initial flare up may be worse if you have more severe acne. After a few days, I started to see it work. It dried my skin so the acne went away more quickly. A couple other flare ups happened but then they cleared up quickly and now it has been awhile since I've had one. I wash with cetaphil morning and night and use a tea tree/eucalyptus cream spot treatment. I think plain tea tree oil might be too harsh because your face gets very, very dry. It's also important to use lots of moisturizer and if possibly, get a prescription for hydrocortisone cream for your lips and hands. I have 1%. The only really inconvenient side effect is the dry lips. I have dry lips in the first place so this made them 10x worse. Currently, my lips are cracked and scabbed at the corners. I kind of look like the joker but it's still better than acne. I'll power through it until the treatment is done. The acne clearing benefits outweigh not being able to wear lipstick for a few months. Hopefully this was helpful! I recommend it! Just make sure you don't take a super high dosage in too little time because the side effects may be too much to deal with. xx
February 19, 2015
I had painful severe Cystic acne I took accutane for 8 months PRESCRIPTION STRENGTH
ABSOLUTELY NO! You should never put something with the potential lethality of this drug. Things like this shouldn't be allowed in my opinion. Proper skin care and taking action to control hormones and stress levels should be a NUMBER 1 priority. You can do this naturally. I had to get my blood drawn every month for 8 months while on this drug. MY ACNE STILL CAME BACK!! but i found a better solution. I switched over to natural treatments. I no longer deal with these problems ( bows down to nature ) I made a video on treating acne and properly preventing acne [Removed]
July 29, 2014
Best medication for me
I had this medication as i was on antibiotics and an facial cream called differin gel. It worked well at first and my face was clear for my school prom. after prom about 3 weeks my acne started to come back, mainly around the T zone, Nose especially. I still had very oily skin and i would keep washing my face every day and night trying to get rid of it, even using toilet paper to remove it sometimes while at school. i went back to the dermatologist and said i had really oily skin i was put onto Accutane. Within a month i started to notice a difference, my skin was producing far less oil and my spots where less pronounced. within about 6 months or less my face was completely clear and oil free. I was so happy and confident! I was sceptical to try this medication because it was offered to be first as the side affects worried me. but they never seamed to have any effect other than dry skin which i knew was going to happen. Taking it was the best decision ever! I recommend it to anyone. I wish id of done it instead of the first treatment.