Honest Review of Isotretinoin: I suffered with cystic acne throughout middle school / high school, during which I had been taking many different types of antibiotics and topical creams. I found that the antibiotics (or Tetracyclines) never seemed to defeat my stubborn / persistent acne, so my dermatologist finally gave me permission to take Accutane. I started taking Accutane in my junior year of high school, initially starting at 40mg and slowly moving up to 60mg. I went through 2 weeks of initial breakouts, but the improvements became noticeable within the first 2 months. In fact it completely cleared up my cystic acne and black heads around 3 months! I stayed on the medication for 6 months until my skin was 100% clear, and at that point I felt like I defeated the long battle with my acne. However fast forward to my first year of university, my acne unfortunately came back :( I knew instantly that my skin was acting abnormal, so within a couple months of struggling with acne cream and store bought acne treatments, I decided to go back on Accutane. ROUND TWO. During the second treatment I didn't notice the same improvements - my skin did not respond the same way it did to my first round. All it did was dry me out and lessen the severity of my breakouts by a small amount. I stayed on the medication for 4 months and never ended the treatment with clear skin. I am currently 19 years old and my skin is a lot different than it was when I was first prescribed Accutane. My biggest struggle today is small bumpy white heads along my jaw / lower cheek and chin. I'm currently beginning my journey with spironolactone in hopes that I'll never have to take a oral drug for acne again. SUMMARY: - Accutane works great for cystic acne (completely got rid of mine, but now I struggle with a different type of acne). - Accutane is NOT 100% effective. - Accutane is not guaranteed to provide lasting results (mine only lasted 1 year). - Accutane is a short term solution to manage an internal / hormonal issue (digestive, air quality, sex hormones, allergies). Go see a doctor to understand the root cause of your acne!!! Side Effects: dryness (mainly lips and nose) Treatment Length: 1st round: 6 months. 2nd round: 4 months. Initial Breakout: yes. Products Used While On Accutane: - Cetaphil moisturizer - Cetaphil cleanser - Dr Jart+ cicapair cream - Vaseline (lips)' - All natural cold pressed oils (jojoba, sea buckthorn, avocado oil) - used in alternation and in moderation. - AHA skin exfoliator

My experience with accutane was probably the best thing that ever happened to me. I'm 17y.o. and suffered from acne since I was 10. At forst it was mild but then it started getting worse. My problem area was mostly around the mouth and every month when i was in ovulation i got lots of cysts on the chin. I've tried everything and when i lost hope my dermatologist decided to put me on accutane. I took the pill in February March April May and June(30/30/30/20/10mg).This was honestly the best decision i have ever done because besides the side effects i saw my skin getting better with each dose and guys there is nothing better then gaining more and more confidence each day and recieving compliments on an area which was the thing you tried to make perfect 7 years out of 17. The feeling is just magical! I hope that it wont come back so wish me luck. If you are struggling with acne try it, it makes wonders and the side effects are even not that bad. Hope I helped!

During Accutane- Dry Lips: one of the worst symptoms. Not a day goes by without dry lips, therefore not a day goes by without exfoliating your lips (I used various gentle and natural lip scrubs) and right after that I would apply aquaphor. I'd buy big bottles! Nothing tops this stuff. I would apply it all day long & for sure before bed. Dry face- this can be painful. But it only means it is doing what it should be! To help this, I would apply a little bit of moisturizer after washing my face in the a.m.& would repeat before bed. Make sure your moisturizer is good tho. You might have to spend some money on it but clearly if your skin needs accutane, it doesn't need any yucky oils to take you back to where you started. I used the normal/oily dermologica skin set. It inludes toner, exfoliator, face wash, moisturizer, and even eye cream. I used it all! It made my skin glowwwww. It was pricey stuff! But worth it. Otherwise my face was dry, red, scaly,etc. SIDENOTE ON MAKEUP: ladies....accutane = no makeup.... it's harddd to snatch your face with makeup while on accutane. I even used nice products on my face to hydrate & when I would apply makeup the texture would just not be right....if I knew that there was a day I HAD to wear makeup, I would prep first. Heavy hydration masks. Heavy moisturization. And shhh. I would even skip a few pills a couple days before. And even then, my face just wasn't that amazing texture. But it gets better for you makeup lovers I promise! A month after accutane makeup looks sooo stunning! The medication is no longer intensely affecting your outer skin.P.S this is about foundation etc like glam......mascaras and some blush/highlighter/ a little bronzer can look just fine while on Accutane! Dry arms: this was a huge thing for me. I would get these dry red scab like things on my arms. this is really only in the winter though. When they healed, they would scar and I had like tons of white spots (scars) on my arms. Ew. To prevent this my doctor prescribed me a cream...I believe some type of cortizone.....but yeah I would definitely hydrate those arms if you are taking it during the winter. Inside of nose dryness: I started to get dried boogers and scabs in my nose that hurt sooo bad. Definitely search for a product that can hydrate your inner noses they exist. Hair:(- a sad side effect for me:(:( lots of hair loss. I noticed this the first round of accutane. And before I could see if it would grow back I was being put on round #2 because my acne is just that bad and genetic. So this second round I am using absolutely NO heat, NO color, and NO hot water in the shower. NO harsh pony tails only scrunchies! NO messy buns, your hair will break! Sleep in braids and wear braids often! Wear hair down natural as much as possible ladies.do not wash your hair a lot. Use a gentle brush! And a wet brand brush to brush after showers. Use leave in conditioner & conditioning treatments! Trim dead ends if necessary! Trust me on this. Use a very very VERY moisturizing, protein rich, healthy shampoo and conditioner. After accutane: always use sunscreen! The sun will bring acne back! Always cleanse your face and use great facial products on your face! Take vitamins!

I've never written a review on anything before but during my Accutane journey, reading the positive reviews were one of the major reasons I kept pushing through. I thought I better add to this collection in hopes it helps someone someday too! Background: I am a 24 year old female with a greasy complexion. I have battled acne since I have been about 15 years old. I have tried it all: birth control, antibiotics, every cream, lotion, and wash imaginable for little to no effect. I began to get progressively worse hormonal acne (I noticed I would heavily breakout around that time of the month). Just when I was getting these multiple breakouts under control, it would be that time again and the vicious cycle would repeat. I have always been a confident woman, and while this acne didn't utterly destroy me, I understood the hurt of looking into the mirror and seeing an inflamed, sore, bumpy face staring back at me. I knew it was time to bring in the big guns. First Steps: I knew quite a bit about Accutane already, as I'm sure anyone who is a chronic acne sufferer has endlessly searched Google for remedies and has come across this controversial drug as well. I am also a nurse so I have heard and seen this drug in my workplace. I knew I had to suggest it to my doctor. DO YOUR RESEARCH PEOPLE! Read the ins and outs of the drug, read positive and negative reviews, read about timelines, side effects, precautions, dosing, etc and just get educated! Try to form an opinion about Accutane for yourself without being too bias one way or the other. When you go see your doctor with confidence of starting the drug, they will be more willing to make a plan with you. My family doctor (who does not specialize in dermatology but has the capabilities of prescribing Accutane) was extremely receptive in prescribing me it after I talked to her about it and proved I was educated on the matter. She sent me for baseline bloodwork and a pregnancy test, and then I booked a follow-up appointment with her for the following week. Dosing: After reading multiple peer-reviewed articles and journals, I discovered the cumulative goal dose of Accutane to prevent relapse is 120-150 mg/kg. I am approximately 75 kg, therefore I required 9000-11250 mg total Accutane over my treatment course. The recommended daily dose is 0.5-1.0 mg/kg. Typically you start low, then increase dosage monthly as your body becomes more tolerant. My 6 month Accutane dosing was as follows: Month 1 - 30 mg/day (900 mg total) Month 2 - 40 mg/day (1200 mg total) Month 3 - 60 mg/day (1800 mg total) Month 4 - 60 mg/day (1800 mg total) Month 5 - 60 mg/day (1800 mg total) Month 6 - 60 mg/day (1800 mg total) For a cumulative dose of 9300 mg total. Journey: After 1 month, there was absolutely NO change to my acne. The only noticeable changes were the dry lips. This wasn't a surprise to me, so onward we go! Month 2, still hardly no change. Just more of the negative side effects - dryer lips, eyes, and skin. Keep going, keep going. Month 3 and 4 were the toughest months in this journey by far, and from reading tons of other reviews, it sounds like this is the common trend. Anyone who knows anything about Accutane has read about "the purge". Basically, the drug is healing your skin from the inside out so all the breakouts that begin to happen during this time were already going to happen eventually anyway, but the Accutane makes them all happen and heal at the same time. This was a tough time for me. I felt others were noticing my nasty breakouts more than even before I had started the drug. Not to mention, my skin was so dry that attempting to cover up with makeup almost made it look more awful. One of the only things that made me continuing taking my pills was reading review after review to KEEP GOING BECAUSE IT WILL GET BETTER! I thought over and over that I must be in that small group of people that Accutane doesn't work for. But I kept going and am I ever happy I did! By the end of month 4 I started noticing big changes (and GOOD changes!) My face was clearing and the remaining pimples seemed quite superficial, no more deep cysts! Month 5 and 6 were amazing! Day by day, my face was clearer! Washing your face and not feeling any bumps is one of the best feelings in the entire world for an acne sufferer. Not to mention, as the acne healed, the dryness let up a bit. I have finally wrapped up my journey just a couple weeks ago and I am fully comfortable heading out makeup free. I am happy, confident, and so proud of myself that I pushed through. Side Effects: The only side effects I had were dryness/flakiness/redness. My face, lips, eyes, and back of hands got hit the hardest. I changed my face wash to Cetaphil and moisturizer to CeraVe. I used Aquaphor on my lips and hands. And I used Systane eye drops. If you have taken anything from this review, it's to push through your Accutane journey. You're going to want to give up, you're going to think it's not going to work, you're likely going to get worse acne temporarily before it gets better. KEEP GOING!!!! I did and am so grateful for reviews such as these for telling me to do so.

I haven't been on Claravis long but I'm on 40mg. I'm 27 and I have had mild-moderate acne on only my face for my entire adult life, it's very much hormonal and my face/hair has always been oily. Multiple doctors tried to sell me on accutane and I refused for years, I finally gave up. I have tried everything you can think of, I'm currently on spironolactone, hormonal birth control pills, and use aczone. . . I was using all 3 prior to accutane and my skin looks the best it has in years. I also moved from Florida to the PNW and this helped my skin because I spend less time in the sun, sweaty and hot. I mostly am just tired of having elaborate facial routines and ruining my clothes/towels/sheets with acne products/bleaching. My doctor reduced my dose of spironolactone while on accutane. I gave up drinking altogether but I have never been much of a drinker, I also have a medical background and value my liver too much to mix medications and alcohol. I did a TON of research prior to starting accutane and ordered: chapstick, lotion, aquaphor, eye drops, hydrating shampoo, thicker moisturizer, new sunscreen. . . and came prepared for battle with dry skin. I also take my accutane with fish oil pills and some version of fatty food. I have always drank lots of water, exercise every day, eat pretty good and wear sunscreen every day (I'm incredibly fair skinned). 5 days in and thus far, my only side effect has been dry lips (I managed them with aquaphor and chapstick with sunscreen),and a pressure headache which improved with Tylenol. Here is to hoping this jazz works, I hate messing with my hormones, I just want my face to not have new spots, old spots, and scars. . . all those chemical peels and microneedling only work for removing scars if you can prevent new break outs.

I was recommended Accutane for my skin years ago as a teenager after suffering moderate acne throughout high school that became cystic by the time I was about 17. Now (at 23) I have it mostly on my jawline and forehead but I get flareups on my back and upper arms randomly, possibly due to stress. I put it off for years because of some of the horrific side effects, and I didn't want cracked bloody lips or flakey skin when I was going to school or while I had a job, Im a very self conscious person and hiding dryness with makeup is impossible. But after my father passed away the stress it put me through started up the worst flare up of my life and I needed to do something about it. I was in a deep horrible depression and I was graduated from college and in between jobs so I decided to finally start treatment. By the time I jumped through all the hoops to get the medication my skin was a little bit healed from a bad breakout, so I think that helped avoid the "initial breakout" a lot of people complain about. I had about the same amount of zits that I would usually have for the first two weeks. It wasn't until I started experiencing the drugs side effects that I noticed my skin clear up at the 2-3 week mark. My eyes got dry, the inside of my nose got dry and bloody, and my lips got dry too but not nearly as bad as I expected. I just needed to upgrade my chapstick from Burt's Bees to Aquaphor at the three week mark and they healed up. My skin got smoother and smoother, and aside from some flakiness around my nose it wasn't too dry at all (I thank my Nivea soft moisturizer with jojoba and vitamin E, it saved me from eczema as well). Another side effect that I LOVE is that my hair isn't greasy anymore and I can go days without washing it. It's actually growing now because I used to wash and dry and heat treat it so much it would just break off and stay the same length. I'm so happy. I wear foundation and I don't have to blot the oil off my skin every hour as well, it looks fresh and matte all day. I know some people experience a lot worse side effects, and Im lucky its working so well for me, but even If I was a flaky bloody mess for four months It would still be worth it for the clear skin. I'm feeling more confident than i've ever felt and my anxiety and depression has been slowly improving. I went camping at a two day rave and didn't have to stress about makeup or how my skin would be and it felt SO GOOD. I felt free and alive. Im excited for the months to come because my skin continues to improve and my hair is growing longer and I don't have to put as much effort into my morning routine which helps me get up and leave the house more often. Five stars, I would give it 100 stars if I could.

Hi, I wanted to leave a review after finishing isotretinoin over a 8 month period. I read so many reviews that helped so want to do my bit... So...a bit about me: I'm a 28 year old female who had suffered from mild acne since my teens. My acne really wasn't that bad, hence most people wouldn't have defined it as acne. More or less, I had 2-3 active pimples at any given time, which meant I thought it could be easily treated with over the counter treatments. These never worked. My frustration grew. When I was 27 I went to a doctor in London (where I had moved one year prior from Australia). I explained to the doc that I still broke out and given my age, it was becoming a problem because it should have cleared up. I had been on various birth control pills, had an ultrasound for polycystic ovaries, but none of that had worked. I was referred to a dermatologist on the NHS. When I met with the derm she suggested accutane. I was very hesitant because I'd heard so many bad things about the side effects. I have had depression and wasn't keen to start medication that might affect my mood. She explained that if I went on anti-biotics, the chances were that the acne would return once I got off, so accutane was my best bet and I could start on a very low dose to reduce symptoms of side effects. After doing a lot of research I decided to give it a shot. I am 6ft tall and weighed 8-kg, so I was going to need more than your average girl. I still only started on 20mg per day. After 2 weeks or so I started getting dry lips, but they weren't too bad. I continued on the 20mg for a couple of months (no real improvement in my skin, and in fact it was getting worse). I upped to 40mg, but still no improvement and again...it was getting worse. I was obviously very upset, but the derm said I should still persevere and we upped it to 60mg, coupled with some steroids to combat the inflammation. It was at that point where I saw massive improvements. I stopped breaking out and was able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I stayed on 60mg for a few months before going up to 80mg as I wanted the course to finish as soon as possible. My lips were dry, but I didn't get the skin peeling or other major side effects. What I did notice though was that my hair became very VERY dry. I have long hair and was losing more hair than I usually did. Fortunately, my mood was OK and if I was down, it was probably due to my living/work situation. After 8.5 months I finished the course and after a week or so my lips got better. It's now been 3 months since taking it and I haven't had a single pimple or break out. My scalp has started to produce oil again, which I hope will fix my hair, but I have just started taking hair loss/strengthening supplements called Nourkrin and I hope that will help improve the health of my scalp and hair. In a nutshell: It was disappointing at the beginning, but I am so glad I stuck with it as I now get compliments on my skin (this had literally never happened ever in my life). I still have faint red marks on my skin from the old scars (my skin is very sensitive so when I used to get pimples they'd leave marks which lasted for very long periods of time). I may consider laser treatment to deal with these residual marks, but I suspect they will fade with more time. Hoping the supplements improve the condition of my hair which has been the worst casualty of isotretinoin.

So I don't know if my review is going to help, for I was on Accutane 20 years ago. However, maybe it will help some people who are currently starting out on Accutane or are in treatment. Some background: I had suffered with acne since the age of 14, but acne got progressively worse in my 20's. I found out much later down the road it was hormonal acne. I tried so many treatments, from otc products to prescription-strength medications and finally got fed-up at the age of 25. The Accutane rules were a bit different back then - not quite as strict. For women, you still had to take a pregnancy test, but only once a month as opposed to two (I know this because I almost went on it again but bailed out at the last minute). You still had to be on two forms of birth control and get monthly blood work (I think it was for liver testing?). I don't recall having to go through such a strict clearance to pick up a prescription every month, but my memory could be off. Anyway, the first month or so, my acne did get worse before it got better. My skin got very dry and my lips were ridiculously chapped and dry, to the point where they were cracked, bleeding, and peeling. People even asked what was wrong with my lips. No amount of lip balm seemed to help. To this day, 20 years later, I have perpetually dry lips. Luckily, lip products have come a long way since then and they now have a lot of great overnight lip masks that you can use (thank you Sephora!). But regular Aquaphor works very well. My vision also became very blurry and I remember my eyes being dry. I can't recall any other side effects off the top of my head. But after awhile, I began to see amazing progress. By the end of the treatment, my skin was beautiful and clear. Not a pimple to be found anywhere! My skin stayed clear for three wonderful years. And then gradually returned. I was so disappointed. As I mentioned earlier, I never did do a second round of Accutane. It was around the time that I wanted to have kids and I was too scared to. And when I tried a new dermatologist, she did not recommend it and put me on another regimen instead. I really, truly, hope it works for you long-term. I will never forget those three years of beautiful skin. It was worth the side effects to experience that. It changed my skin texture, cleared up the marks on my face, everything. It was truly life-changing for me. I hope it is for you too!

I'm just about to start Accutane, however I am a male and I'm 17 years old, I've been told I have moderate/severe acne but in other cases some people tell me I have hormonal acne just like my brother did who was the same as me, however cleared up when he was 19-20 and he's now 22 and never gets a pimple. I get my acne along my jawline, neck, around the lower mouth, chin... let's say the lower parts of my face mainly but also on my chest and back! I weigh 73kg and my dermo is putting me on 20mg to start with, the reason being is because I have a wedding to go to in 6 weeks and I was scared I would face the initial break out just before the wedding and I didn't want to have dry flaky skin also. He told me because of my weight i'd be fine on 20mg and I should not break out for the wedding, he asked me to get back to him in 6 weeks for results. I want to know whether I should listen and go ahead or is it best to wait, will I most likely break out because I'm not going to lie I am so scared and sonscience about what's going to happen!! PLEASE HELP ME!!!!

Going to start with 5 stars and retract once I've actually experienced treatment. I haven't personally started isotretinoin yet. I was primed to start back in August 2017 before finding out I was pregnant and my treatment plan put on delay. After reading all the reviews (which have been extremely helpful), I've decided the benefits out weight the risks. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences and I will check back here once I start my treatment (within about six months) and give my honest review. P.S. Moderate/Severe itchy cystic (keloid-type) acne in jawline area.