Accutane has been totally worth it. There is nothing out there that i would rather use for my acne. ANYONE SUGGESTING USING ACCUTANE, DO NOT HESITATE, IT WILL BE THE BEST THING YOU WILL EVER DO. I was hesitant at first, and was almost scared to take it cause of all the side effects, but going through those side effects was TOTALLY worth it. I took the pill twice a day for 6 months. I was dry and peely for about 3, maybe 4 of the months. You will go through alot of heartache trying to keep your skin from getting to flaky, but when that 5th or 6th month rolls around, your body starts becoming use to the pill, you will be soooo happy you took it. *MY SUGGESTIONS: -Carry chap-stick with you ALL THE TIME. I used "Burts Bees Lip Balm" worked great. -Get a good facial moisturizer. I used OLAY. It worked great. -BEFORE BED: USE "A&D OINTMENT ON YOUR LIPS. IT IS FANTASTIC. -IF YOUR NOSE IS DRY, TAKE A Q-TIP AND RUB A&D ON IT AND RUB IT INYOUR NOSE. THAT WORKS GREAT ALSO. - I carried around some eye drops with me once in a while, because your eyes may tend to get a bid watery. - Use body lotion as much as you can. I used Aveeno, which works great. - I took Accutane mostly during the winter, so i am not sure on the sunscreen you should use, but defiantly use it. Again, Accutane is worth it all. Yes you will get dry and flaky, but from what ive used above ^ and i used it alot, i noticed i didnt get as dry as my friends who were on it. DON'T MESS WITH ALL THOSE TOPICAL CREAMS, THEY DON'T DO ANYTHING CLOSE TO WHAT ACCUTANE CAN DO FOR YOU. GOOD LUCK!!! SUCK IT UP AND YOULL MAKE IT THROUGH IT!!

I had acne since the start of 7th grade up until about this summer. I am now a Junior in college, so it is a long time. I tried just about everything! Tazorac worked well for me in getting rid of some acne but it just kept coming back. After the first month on Accutane my skin looked great. I have one month left and hope it stays clear. I do have some red marks and scaring but hopefully that will go away too. The dry skin, scalp and lips didn't bother me that much. I used cetaphil face wash and lotion, A LOT of chapstick and head and shoulders. Also, am a swim lesson instructor and in chlorinated water at least 5 days a week for about 3-4 hours at a time, which made my skin more dry. The lack of focus sucked...since I am a Junior in College but it was worth it if my skin stays like this. I recieve tons of comments from people about how clear and soft my skin looks. It is amazing. The monthly blood tests and derm. visits are a drag. Overall a great product.

The best decision for my life I wish I had tried it years ago, i could have saved my getting some nasty acne scars :( If you are suffering from acne, I would say talk to a dermatlogist and consider trying accutane. Goodluck!!

My only regret is not starting this earlier, following years of managing acne on and off with (now useless) antibiotics and retinoid creams. If you're thinking about taking the leap, I would recommend it. It seems to be the only thing closest to a 'cure' for acne.

It has been about 4 years since I used Accutane and I have only had about 2 small pimples since then! Accutane cleared up everything. It is the only thing that really works for bad acne. I never had any of the serious side effects that everyone talks about. I just wished that I used it sooner because Im left with the marks and scars from having acne all those years and they will never go away unless I have expensive surgery and I will never be able to grow facial hair. So if you are thinking of going on this stuff dont wait like I did!!!

I first got acne in my early teens, 13-14 years old. My older brother had it badly and tried all sorts of things before he finally got on an oral antibiotic that helped him. I used topicals like Differin through my teen years, and my acne eventually subsided to a few here and there. It got much better in the summer when I was outdoors more, and sometimes I'd go for months at a time with no creams at all. When I graduated college, my acne began to come back. Like I said, I always had a few here and there, but nothing that made me too self-conscious. Oily skin is genetic in my family, so I simply accepted that I'd always have a few breakouts. But it got to the point where I'd have several on my face at once, and I started to get a lot of the cystic kind. I began going back to my dermatologist and she got me on Solodyn, which was an oral antibiotic. It worked wonders and my face cleared up in a matter of months to the point I literally had no breakouts aside from one every week or two. I would have gladly stayed on this, but my dermatologist told me 1) It would never actually cure my acne, so if I wanted to stay clear-skinned, I was going to have to continue to take this pill daily. Not a huge deal, but an annoyance none the less. More importantly to me, it was an antibiotic which can have an adverse affect on birth control. This can be said of all antibiotics taken alongside birth control, and I just didn't like that risk. After 6 months on Solodyn, I ran out and decided to see if my acne was still bad or if finally at age 23, it would subside. It came back worse than ever, almost an entirely different kind of acne. It was cystic and red and many of them would hurt. My cheeks and jawline were covered almost nonstop, regardless of what I did. I had enough and went back to my dermatologist, where she told me I was a prime candidate for Accutane. I was hoping for another oral medication that wasn't an antibiotic, but apparently nothing like that exists yet. When she gave me the iPledge booklet and told me all the risks and possible side-effects that come along with Accutane, I was obviously a bit afraid. I went home right away and read the entire booklet. Most of it stated the same side-effects that come with almost every medication, even simple over the counter cold medicines. But some of the bigger ones, like depression and the onset of colitis really scared me. It seems a bit ridiculous to risk your most vital internal organs to clear up your face, something that has no direct effect on your health. Obviously, the other risk women have to worry about is the horrible birth defects that can result if you get pregnant while on Accutane. My family was split on the medication, but I ultimately decided I wanted to try it. With the requirements of the pregnancy tests and blood work monthly just to get the refill, I figured my doctor would stop me on the medication immediately if it was having adverse effects on my health, and I'd recognize if I was feeling differently as well and would stop if I felt like the medication was making me feel different. I got put on a kind of accutane called Absorica, and I had to take it twice daily with a meal. I ended up having to stay on the medication for 5 months total. After just the first month, my blackheads literally dried up and disappeared. I couldn't remember ever seeing my skin like that, as I had blackheads since 11-12 years old as I mentioned earlier. Initially, my nodular acne got worse. It was coming out on my shoulders and chest too, where I never even had a problem. My doctor assured me that this is how the medication works, drying the pores out from inside and pushing out everything bad, so to speak. After this initial flare up, it increasingly got better day after day, finally yielding a clear face after about 3 months. I truly couldn't believe it. For the final 2 months, I could honestly count on one hand the number of zits I've had, and I account those mostly to my time of the month when many women experience breakouts. Not only is my skin clear all over, but I almost feel as though the medication has evened out my entire complexion. I never had much acne scarring like some people experience, but I've read that it can actually help lessen the appearance of scarring, too. Most importantly, I didn't experience a single health change. All of my vitals remained the same during themedication, I've had no gastrointestinal problems, no signs of depression, no nothing. The smaller side-effects that I did experience throughout were chapped lips, dry skin/hair, and nosebleeds. All of these are nuisances, but worth the annoyance in my opinion for the end result. I simply had Aquaphor with me everywhere I went and reapplied it to my lips nonstop, put Vaseline in my nostrils with a q-tip before bed, and washed my hair every other day instead of daily. Small prices to pay for a clear face. I'm a contact wearer and dry eyes are another common side-effect, but I didn't even experience that. Other common small side-effects included decreased night vision and frequent headaches, but I didn't experience either of these. My insurance also covered my prescription wonderfully, making the medication under $10 a month. I went to the same lab for bloodwork every month and that was free, and I only paid a few office visit fees during my 5 month stint on Absorica. Obviously, this will differ depending on your insurance, so that's also something to make sure you look in to. My advice to anyone considering taking a form of accutane would be to first and foremost read all information your doctor gives you and do your own research, especially if you are a woman, as the iPledge comes into play and you really have to think about the side effects that could harm a fetus were you to get pregnant while on the medication. I would also advise anyone considering trying the medication to truly think about what you personally feel comfortable with. Even after reading the info my doctor gave me that scared me a little at first, I thought it was worth trying because of the close monitoring while on the drug. However, so many of the online reviews and articles are negative, and it made me step back and reevaluate a little. What ultimately made me decide to go with my own gut was that in general, I think people are more likely to get online and leave a review when they've had a negative experience with any product, especially a drug like accutane. When people are satisfied with a product, they're just happy with it and usually don't think to get on and leave positive comments. This is why I wanted to make sure to share my positive story. There might be someone out there with a similar acne story to mine, and my long-winded advice here would be to do your research, make the decision for you and you alone, and give it a try. If your doctor says you're a candidate for accutane, your acne is obviously serious enough. We all know that appearance has a large impact on how we present ourselves and feel about our image, and I couldn't be more pleased with how Absorica has cleared up my face because I finally feel like I can be myself and not worry that everyone I talk to is staring at my acne.

The bottom line is that if you can't deal with the side effects, then your acne isn't bad enough. Yeah it sucks to have dry lips and joint pain. It is a huge pain to go to the doctor every month and get your blood tested. But seriously, if you can't handle those things then you need to try something not as intense. Taking accutane is a risk that people with really bad skin are willing to take. It took me 5 months for my skin to clear using accutane, but I wouldn't take it back for anything! Accutane gets such shady reviews, because people don't understand that every medicine acts differently in each person taking it. You may or may not have any of the symptoms I wrote about. But accutane is a LAST RESORT. If every thing else has failed, and you can't live with bad skin, then accutane is your only option. It's so worth it.

To me, this has been a huge life changing AMAZING experience! I would highly reccomend it! Everyone will react differntly to it. Just be careful, keep a journal, have a doctor or family member be careful and check your thoughts. As far as mentally, nothing has happened to me. Im the same as before! Physically, my skin has changed so much! I had a horrible oil problem, but now its gone! Im actually quite dry, but carry around a miniture bottle of lotion and your good! I won't say the journey through accutane is easy, but its do-able! It will be hard to keep your face moisturized and lips not chapped, but I have sooo many tricks! * USE "JACK BLACK- lemon & honey" on your lips!! They will stay fine the whole time! * use Cerave lotion or ive heard acne.org has awesome moisturizers. :) I strongly suggest this!!

i have had acne for about 10 years and i knew i had to try this but i almost stopped the treatment because i was breaking out so bad i did not want to go out in public it was very hard but im glad i stuck with it because it worked i have clear skin and it is great i love it

If you need it, get it. Don't be scared off by the side effects. I took it for two years total time and never had a problem.