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
December 14, 2011
Cons:
Made my skin worse then ever - had cystic acne break out all over my face when I only ever got spots on my chin an a couple on my temples when I was on my period soi used to getspots which would last for about 2 weeks then clear up then start again 2 weeks later each month nothing to what happened with tablets now I have red marks and deep scars on my cheeks when used to have perfect skin on my cheeks, nose bleeds dry lips and skin on body. a few smaller spots now after being off it for 3 months
I went on this after being recommended by a dermatologist as explained that I had tried lots of different antibiotics but I still broke out in spots, mainly each month when I got my period my skin would break out on my chin mainly and I would be so conscious of it, I went on the pill but they made my headaches even worse although now I just wish I'd put up with the headaches as my skin was perfect. going on roaccutane was the worst thing I ever did my skin broke out terribly all over my face I couldn't even sleep resting on my face it was so painful, never held my head up as felt so disgusting. I never had spots like I did when I took these antibiotics and now I have ice pick scars on my cheeks and don't know what to do to try and improve them. I went back to the dermatologist a month later and he was shocked at how bad my skin had broken out, he put me on another antibiotic aswell as the roaccutane to try and calm the infection down, then two weeks later on top of all these he put me on a steroid again to try and calm the spots down, so I was then taking 9 tablets a day. I did not go out anywhere other than work which was awful for 6 months and now I just feel worse about my face than before, I really wish I'd never gone on these because now I think back my skin was not really that bad compared to what happened to it. I know everyone reacts differently, but for me I did not suffer from acne as bad as some people and had the worst effect. Everyone I know always says 'but you never had bad skin before you went on those tablets' so maybe I was just seeing it worse then it was because it was my skin, but I would take that any day over the scarring i have on my once perfect cheeks.
Has anyone tried any treatment to reduce acne scars, the dermatologist has suggested dermabrasion but after his suggestion of roaccutane I don't know whether to not do anything to make my skin any worse. Has affected my self-esteem so much, even worse than before.
December 13, 2011
Pros:
- Works when nothing else will.
- Dramatically clears acne.
- Nothing short of life changing.
- Evens out complexion
- Reduces redness
- Works quickly
Cons:
- Extreme dryness everywhere.
- Lower back pain. (i think only guys get this)
- Occasional mood changes.
- Blood tests
- Nosebleeds
I have suffered from a moderate severe acne for over three years now. I cannot tell you just how many different treatments i've tried, retnoids, oral antibiaotics, skin peels; and all with minimal results. However, in just about a week on accutane my skin became to clear. I would always go and look at those people with perfect skin and wonder how they did it. I don't have to worry anymore because I am now one of those people. All my cysts are gone, pimples faded away and gone. My skin is completely clear and even toned (not a single pimple). The dry skin is just terrible though, every night i have to cover my lips with aquaphor and take a fish oil pill. (beware, if you don't your lips will crack and bleed). For my skin I use the cerave cream twice a day and if i get other dry skin i just use some more aquaphor. Also for dry lips durring the day there is this great lip balm you can buy online called CortiBalm. One side effect is nosebleeds, the nosebleeds are caused from dry skin in your nose (the same thing can happen from cold weather), you just need to use a qtip and rub some aquaphor in your nose and they stop. The first week I had terrible lower back pain, but it went away quickly. One thing I have noticed is more frequent and stange mood swings, it is a bit strange but I have only 2 months left and I am so happy with the results I am seeing from accutane. I can finally be entirely confident about myself when i'm out. Not to mention I am getting alot more attention from the girls I like.
If you aren't self confident because of bad acne, accutane is nothing short of a cure.
December 12, 2011
Pros:
IT WORKS!
Cons:
Extremely dry skin
I have been struggling with my skin for the past 8 years. Nothing has EVER worked, and I have tried everything from proactive to clinique to prescription topicals (probably 20 different kinds). Nothing has ever worked like accutane! This is seriously a miracle drug, I recommend this to any healthy individual with acne. The side affects I have experienced is dry skin (everywhere!), 15 pounds of healthy weight loss, and some constipation (sometimes i would go 3 days with out a bowel movement). But this has worked wonders and I feel so much better. I am on my 5th month with another 2 to go and I don't even need to wash my face anymore! For those of you reading this, you understand what it's like to wash your face twice a day and apply 3 different ointments and take an antibiotic and STILL have horrible skin. It has been so liberating taking accutane! I can wake up in the morning and not immediately check my face for emerging pimples. Now all I am focused on is removing the blotchiness and scars! (I am currently using Garnier Clinical Dark Spot Corrector, it works!) I feel beautiful, confident, and excited for the next 2 months.
December 12, 2011
Pros:
cleared 90% of my acne
reduced oiliness
Cons:
extremely dry lips
muscle ache
my dr recommended accutane after we tried several rounds of antibiotics and nothing was working.
my dr worked out the dosage with me. i started with 25mg and it went pretty well but there were still spots. so he wanted to go higher so that my acne will be 100% clear but he said it would increase the side effects. and the side effects for me, the dry lips and muscle ache were really bad, so i decided not to up the dosage to 30mg. so he decided to do 30mg on alternate days instead.
it was 25mg on day1, then 30mg on day2, then back to 25mg on day3. and i think it was much better this way, the side effects did not get any worse and my skin got better.
so if the side effects are putting you off, i suggest you work out a dosage with your dr which is suitable to your needs and lifestyle.
i was on one course of accutane for about 9 months.
currently, i'm off accutane. there's still spots occasionally, especially during high stress times and days prior to my period, but this is way more manageable than before. oh, and i do have acne scars, but i prefer it to volcanic, erupting pimples.
December 12, 2011
Pros:
- dramatic change after one month (now I have like 10-15% of what I had before
- skin isn't oily, maybe a little change with hair oiliness
-feeling so much better
-don't have to think so much about make up because it 'stays' on my face, also I need less of it
Cons:
-chapped lips
-dry hair(had to change my shampoo and use some conditioners to moisturise it)
As everyone here I have had acne for a long time (it started when I was 11, now I'm 18) and I tried all topicals and over-the-counter stuff. I was twice on Tetracycline (first time for 2 months and the second for 5 months). It helped but only for a little while and then it started to get worse and worse (again). It became so bad, especially on cheeks that I didn't go out even to school for some time (and then I went to a doctor who hopefully was more professional and she prescribed me accutane). I was very nervous but I wanted to tried it. Things people write in the Internet about it can bring you down, but now it's been a month and side effects for now are only chapped lips (completely manageable) and slightly dry eyes (I wear contacts and it's ok). I see DRAMATIC change. After few days my skin wasn't oily at all, amazing feeling. I had mild initial breakout but it's like pimples that are under the skin are coming out, so it's not depressing, because when they vanish, it looks better. I had a lot of pimples and cysts and now I have a few which are actually vanishing, and a few nodules, with make up no one would say that I have problematic skin and it's the first month. (!!!!!!!!!!!) The skin is less red and it looks far more 'normal', like a skin of a normal person. I would say that if your acne isn't super severe, it would probably go quite smoothly. If your skin doesn't have a tendency to become dry you don't have to worry about this dryness. I use cetaphil and everything's ok, skin isn't flaky. But my friend always had dry skin and with accutane it became actually problematic. For me, a person very concerned about my looks it seems as a drug that can change my life, concerning all this stress and tears and things I could have done but I didn't because of acne. I will post after I finish my treatment.
December 10, 2011
Pros:
Clears most acne within 3 weeks
Clears all acne within 10 months
Cons:
Depression
Lower back pain
Dry skin
Dry lips
First zit at age 12, slowly got worse from then on. At 16, visited the dermatologist for the fourth time after going on Minocycline (prescription antibiotic) and Ziana (prescription topical) and was prescribed Accutane at 40mg a day. Noticed no difference for the first week. The second week came my initial breakout which swiftly cleared after the weekend. I gained lots of self confidence
I am happy with the results Accutane has done. My face hasn't been this clear since I was 11! However, the side effects are taking their toll. I have lots of lower back pain, extremely dry skin, dry lips, and the depression is very bad. I take lots of painkillers everyday and drink 10 glasses of water everyday to deal with the back pain and use moisturizers for my skin and lips, but I haven't found anything I can do about my depression. I thought Accutane would make me more confident, as it has, but the depression negates that confidence. I sit at home on the weekends, I distance myself from my friends. I have deleted my Facebook account twice because I believe that I do not have any friends. My grades are suffering. While I have had thoughts of suicide before going on Accutane, they have increased dramatically. While breaking down boxes with a knife to recycle them, I paused, stared at the knife, and imagined myself thrusting it through my chest. So far, I still consider the cons of Accutane worth the pros, as I remember that my self confidence was not so good with my terrible acne. Remember, the absence of self confidence is different than depression. If you are looking to go on Accutane, you're going to have to decide which one you can endure more.
December 9, 2011
Pros:
clears acne all over
no more break outs!
Cons:
really dry lips
extreme joint pain in ankles
If you have breakouts a lot and have the time and patience i would highly look in to starting it. My acne got worse as i got older, i was scared to take it. After seeing positive results in a few of my friends i decided to give it a try. Proactive and most face washes made my acne worse. Antibiotics had no effect I tried them two separate times. I am happy to say Isotretinoin has cleared my skin 100% with seldom breakouts. If i do break out its a tiny small pimple not lots.
December 7, 2011
Pros:
clear skin
boost in self esteem
Cons:
dry skin/lips/eyes
I've been dealing with acne for four years now and was on every pill, cream, face wash, you name it. NOTHING worked. I started accutane end of September and it has been the best decision I've ever made. My skin is no longer oily and my face is clearer than ever. I finally don't feel so insecure about my acne that I have to pile on makeup to feel beautiful. Being 16, having bad acne is a rough thing. But now I have perfectly clear skin and I'm soooo much happier now(:
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.
December 6, 2011
Pros:
Temporary clear skin
Cons:
Everything..... Results are only temporary
Causes so many problems and at the end of it your acne comes back
The more people I can stop from taking this medication the better. Acne started at around 16, took all the antibiotics, oxytetracycline, 2 types of minocycline, erythromycin, amoxicillin and lymecycline. Took these for years, nothing worked. At same time had benzoyl peroxide, zineryt, clindamycin, retin a, differin, duac. The effect of these topicals was very minor, and they caused irritation and redness. Finally referred to a derm, and was prescribed accutane 30mg for first 2 months, 60 for next 2, and the last 2 dose dependant on how well it was working. Cut a long story short, nearly all my hair fell out, the redness and flushing was unbearable, sever gastro problems, nose constantly pissing with blood, severe joint, muscle and tendon pain, lips so dry they bleed. I looked and felt this way for 6 damn months, acne didnt start clearing until month 4, acne came back after about 6 months. Not worth it. This medication damages your body beyond belief. The flushing and facial redness is much worse than spots, believe me. People, there is no cure for acne, all this crap we take either doesnt work or it makes us red and masks the spots and we think its working. I was one of the people who was on the internet every night, researching accutane, deciding whether or not to take it. I wish I had never put this poison into my body, because now i'm so messed up its unreal, all for a few spots. Spots will go away in time, just be nice to your skin and if they bother you, buy a quality concealer. Please dont take this poison; I will never be the same a
Pros:
was on it for 6 and a half months None really, my skin was not oily while I was on it.
Gave it a 1 rating as could not submit my review otherwise