Accutane is amazing. I had tried everything from retin-a to minocycline to benzoyl peroxide to most topical treatments you can think of. None of these products gave me any outstanding results. After seeing more than 5 derms over the span of five years one of them finally recommended Accutane. I first scared myself into not using it since I read about all of the side effects but after finally going on a 10mg one pill a day dosage my skin started to respond really well. I couldn't believe it! My skin was clearing up after only one week of taking it, I know it sounds ridiculous since most treatments work after four weeks but its true. The IB was so minimal I hardly noticed it. I only got one or two gigantic pimples but that was about it. My skin became soft and the terribly embarrassing redness caused by topical retin-a finally disappeared. Some of the marks from previous breakouts also disappeared. I was finally truly confident after spending most of my high school years battling acne. I've been on Accutane for a while now and haven't had any of the side-effects most people get which I am extremely thankful for. My lips and chin become slightly dry usually after washing my face but that is the gist of it. Please consider taking Accutane if you have been on several other topical treatments and they've failed. You don't have to go on high dosages if you are afraid of the side effects. Im telling you this because sometimes what you read will scare you but you will NEVER know if you don't try it. :)

Many dermatologists will refer to accutane as a miracle drug and it most certainly is. My acne cleared entirely after 6 months of treatment and in the 9 years since I was treated with this medication I have had only mild, intermittent acne. I would describe my face in middle school and high school as looking like I had been stung by an entire hive of bees and now you would never know I had severe acne. Even with the new discoveries that have emerged regarding side effects, I would still highly recommend this treatment if you have tried all other options and they have all failed. While this drug can have some severe side effects for many patients, they are most commonly transient. There are many commercials on television that are produced by personal injury lawyers talking about the long term side effects of Accutane; the side effects they mention are horrible, but these occur in a relatively small subset of the patients who take this drug. Remember, patients taking antibiotics (tetracycline and doxycycline - and many others, but those are the ones most commonly used to treat propionobacterium acnes, the cause of your acne) for an extended period of time can have severe side effects 30 years down the road and beyond (those nasty side effects are not limited to Accutane, yet you hear about them much less frequently because they are a much more difficult target for personal injury lawsuits). If you are considering this drug, weigh the pros and cons (do the research), consider the severity of your acne (do not let your dermatologist push it on you if you do not have cystic acne), and consider how much your acne impacts your quality of life. If you decide to take accutane, monitor yourself closely, paying particular attention to your mood. Remember, you can always discontinue it if it becomes at all problematic.

GET IT.. dont waste your time & money with over-the-counter crap if you have bad acne... the only traetment is ACCUATNE and alll the side effects are like a 1 in a million chance!!... Dont be scared to go to your derm and ask about it!! itll change your life

I'd feel like I'm betraying this drug to give it anything less than a five. While there are several side effects, accutane is the best product out there if you want to get rid of your acne.

I love this product so far! I mean I would rather have all of these symptoms than have acne! It is well worth is at two months so I know it will definately be worth it in the end. Everyone will experience it differently but so far mine has been a great one!

I remember when my acne got so bad that I didn't want to go outside anymore.. I didn't want anyone to see me. I tried essentially every single over the counter and prescription acne medication on the market. My dermatologist was an older woman who really didn't want me to take accutane because of the side effects that may come with it. Eventually I couldn't take it anymore, everything she had been prescribing me wasn't working. I went to a different dermatologist that took one look at me and said you need accutane. I think like all people that start accutane it's such a talked about pill you almost expect it to immediately start working. I started on fourty milligrams of accutane, then my face within the first month went crazy! My acne hit me with full force. I have never felt so low in my life I had around fifty cystic pimples on my face.. it felt almost impossible to deal with. My dermatologist bumped me up to 60 and then all the way up to 80. I was on accutane for about eight months and it wasn't until my sixth month of accutane that my face started really clearing. By the eighth month I had absolutely no pimples. None whatsoever. I mean it was the most life changing thing for me. I used to read these reviews and say accutane isn't going to work for me like it did for everyone else. My advice is just hang in there, seriously it will get better. I followed up accutane with retin-a and now you can't even tell I ever had acne, something I didn't think was possible. There is a light at the end of the tunnel!

I'm a 19 year old female and have been on Accutane for a bit over 3 months now and it is the best thing I have ever done. I used to have mild acne and everyday I would be waking up with 2 or 3 new huge pimples. After about 2 months my skin was pretty much clear and now it is perfect and I still have another 8 months left on it. I'm currently on 20mg a day and will be starting 40 mg a day in about a month. I've maybe had about 2 or 3 pimples (around that time of the month) since I started and they have only been tiny ones that have quickly cleared up. I haven't had any side effects that people warned me about, no dryness at all, not even on my lips. I had quite oily skin before and now it is just completely normal. I am so happy and so much more confident, I hardly ever wear makeup now when before I would not let anyone see me without it. Highly recommended it to anyone, can't believe it took me this long to try it. Changed my life. **UPDATE** I am now on my seventh month and everything is still going amazing. I've been on 40mg a day for the last two months and my skin is amazing i can't even begin to say how happy I am. Only issue I've had is my lips have been peeling slightly, they aren't dry or cracked or sore the skin just peels off, but I started using Blistex intensive repair and haven't had an issue since! Totally worth it

I have struggled with terrible acne ever since i was 10 years old. I had tried every combination of every antibiotic/topical under the sun with no success. I would spend hours and hours online researching acne and the mediations used to treat it. I would read countless accutane reviews on here every day. Like many others i had heard the accutane horror stories on here and they frightened me so much that i decided i would not take the medication. But my life was a mess, i was consumed by my acne. Whenever i looked in the mirror it was all i could see. It had destroyed my self esteem and i could barely look people in the eye. By this point my dermatologist really urged me to give accutane a try. She explained that if i wanted my skin to be clear that it was the only remaining option. In a spur of the moment decision i decided to go for it. Enough was enough, it was time to get my life back. I knew the possible side effects but i made the decision that i was willing to risk it. I was most concerned about the possible link between accutane and suicide. I suffer from depression and was so afraid that the drug would make it worse. Needless to say when i popped by first pill i was beyond nervous, i could barely get myself to do it. Little did i know i was starting on one of the most incredible journeys of my life. After several days i noticed my lips and skin starting to dry out. I did have an initial breakout but for me it wasn't a huge deal. My acne was somewhat worse than usual for about a week and then it returned to normal levels. Just several weeks into the course my skin was getting better and better every day. I was excited to look in the mirror every day and see how far i had come. By the end of my treatment my skin was perfect and its still that way to this day (years later). I went from having the worst case of acne most of my friends/family have ever seen to having beautiful skin. The side effects i experienced while on accutane were mild. I had the typical dry skin and lips. The dry lips were definitely a challenge at times but aquaphor is really great and helped a lot. I would have occasional back pain but it was very mild. Also it had absolutely no effect on my depression. I honestly felt great while i was on it... my depression was honestly probably better on accuatane than it was before and after i stopped taking it, i honestly felt amazing. No thoughts of suicide at all. Maybe it had something to do with the joy i felt watching my skin i had suffered with for so long start to heal. All the side effects stopped for me about a week or two after i stopped taking it. Except that I feel as though it may have effected my night vision slightly but it was worth it. I have never written a review on anything before but i felt that it was my responsibly to write this one. The fight with acne is so difficult that if i can help just one person out its worth it. Our bodies are all different and you may have a different experience than mine but i can only go off of my own personal experience. Please if you are suffering greatly from your acne and its taking over your life do your self a favor and give this drug a try. I know its a very hard decision to make but if you are willing to take the risk i think the vast majority of you will be so happy you did. I look back now and wish that i did it years sooner and saved myself from all the misery i experienced. Stay strong and i wish you all the best.

I firmly believe the only people who should be allowed to write reviews on here for Accutane are those who've been off it for 6+ months. While you're on it, you can't believe how good your skin looks, and you'll happily dismiss most side effects. Of course you're going to write a rave review. I did exactly that three months into my course. But it doesn't last. Oil glands recover. Within a few months of finishing my skin ramped up the oil production again and I started breaking out. My acne started when I came off the Pill after many years on it. I think I have an underlying hormonal imbalance as a result and have come to face the fact that any medication is just going to augment my system even more, and it will take longer to right itself. I'm also worried about the long term effects people report, not beginning until years after they've taken their last dose. I know what it's like to hate your skin and if the results were lasting I'd even say it was worth it for me.... but to have my skin return to what it was awful - to know I made my body put up with months of toxicity for nothing. I wish there was such a thing as a miracle drug - and it does work permanently without bad side effects for SOME (far fewer than they'd have you believe though) - but I'm going the clean diet, gentle exercise, natural skincare, low stress, general wellbeing route. Not as easy as popping a pill, but protecting your health is priceless. Good luck to everyone in their quest for clear skin.

After fretting over this for months & reading every review available on the net, I decided once I'd tried accutane i'd leave a review about my experience be it good or bad. Before using accutane I was a shadow of the girl I used to be. I was shy, awkward, hated people looking at me & was convinced I would never be able to be as pretty or as confident as the girls I saw around me every day. It was safe to say the bad thoughts inside me had taken over & I was spiralling in to depression & no self-esteem very fast! I was put on accutane after being refferd to my derm and was taking 3 20mg tablets a day for 4 months. In the first 2 months my skin became so much less oily & my one greasy hair was grease free pretty much all the time! The acne hung around until the last month, but eventually did go. I've been off the pills for a month now and I have ONE spot on by my right ear (and that I can certainly live with!!) I'm aware the acne does come back for some people and a repeat course is required, but at the moment everything looks fab! My confidence is on its way back & i'm making new friends & loving it! It's ridiculous how something as little as those tiny spots can be so damaging to someone's life, and those who don't have spots have no idea! I don't know what the future holds or even if my clear skin is perminant but given the chance again I wouldnt even think twice about taking accutane. It has been a god send for me & I really hope the rest of you get the same results! Good luck! Everyone deserves to be as beautiful on the outside as they are on the inside.