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Anyone ever taken Accutane?

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Navidson REC said:
One of my best decisions in life, ever.

BUT:

Yes, it does get worse in the beginning.
Yes, you will dry out a lot. My lips cracked pretty badly.
Yes, it does have side effects. And they vary from person to person.

But still, it was all worth it. I did the therapy at the age of around 21, after years of having people recommend me all sorts of things or just saying that I should wait it out. The doctor, however, said that I should've come a lot earlier.

I still get a zit here and there occasionally, but nothing to stress out about (in fact, they are usually the result of stress...). And there's a few scars and stuff. But still it's a VAST improvement.

It was a real game changer for me, no doubt about that.

But, yeah, be careful and don't underestimate some of the side effects. If you do it, make sure to stay in touch with your dermatologist.

And, again: it usually gets worse in the beginning. But hang in there. It's worth the wait and effort.

If you have any questions, feel free to PM me!
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Thanks a lot, I'll be sure to PM you if something comes up. Going to be a tough few months, hopefully with minimal side effects.

This thread was actually more helpful than the Dermatologist...
 
It was great. Definitely dried up my skin though and especially my lips. Do not get drunk while on this. I made that mistake and was really sick for a while. I forgot what it was called but some blood cell count was like 700, resembling someone with hepatitis.

I still get some acne though, I think I need a second round, which is common I heard. I also got a little depressed and extra lazy, but it's hard to tell if that was because of the accutane or not..
 
Silly question maybe, but since I'm having a fasting blood test and was told not to eat or drink anything from the night before, does that include water?
 
it completely cleared me up taking it at 17/18. made my skin dry but regular moisturizer combated it really well, and once it was over it was over. I wish I'd done it sooner.

as for alcohol, I definitely did get drunker faster and have worse hangovers while I was on it, which made the first half of the first semester of college a shit.
 
About 6 years ago I was taking it. Worked out great, although I still get some acne from time to time (mostly when I eat too much fast food).

As others said, be prepared for dry flaky skin while using it.
 
If you choose to take it wear sunscreen! Everyday rain or shine. It will help with the dryness and protect your skin from life long scarring from sun damage. I took accutane when I was a teenager and made the mistake of being out in the sun for too long one day and have permanent scars from it.

In retrospect I probably would have never taken it. I still have had acne throughout my adult life and have the scars from the sun burn.
 
Yes and I'm glad I did. Took two or three courses to work but worked wonders. It did make my skin dry as hell but it was worth it.

I wish I hadn't debated it for so long. Whilst my face is now fine my back ended up pretty badly scarred. If I'd went for it sooner it'd likely be a lot better, but hindsight and all that.

BlazingDarkness said:
Yup

I have permanent tinnitus and very common migraines from it.
It cleared me up, but my skin has been excessively dry and oily ever since (though I don't have typical acne break outs anymore). I can go through about 30 oil-blotting sheets a day.

I love/hate accutane.
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It can cause tinnitus? I wonder if that's where mine came from.
 
I did. I wouldnt have it any other way... infact, I wish I coulda took it sooner, but the doctors gotta exhaust the other options first I suppose. Been a good 15+ years since I took it also.

Didnt feel like killing myself, but did have dry skin. Cant say Ive had any other side effect. If my night vision decreased it wasn't enough to be an issue.

I still get an occasional zit if my face is all dirty or whatever from yard work or playing with the car. Thats something that will never change, gotta keep it clean!
 
It was the best and the worst thing for my skin. Best thing when I was younger as it solved all acne problems and I did not suffer any side effects. Worst thing is that my face has been permanently dry after I stopped taking it and now i'm older and constantly have to moisturize my skin. You're supposed to moisturize your face but I do it out of necessity not because I should. Also to note I live in Hawaii and do not suffer from weather conditions that would cause your skin to naturally dry.
 
Yes, I took it for a year when I was 15 or 16 and my face has been clear for almost 10 years. The only side effects that I remember were dry skin and super chapped lips, but those went away when my treatment was done.
 
Wow, I'm really glad I never took this. Acne was a losing battle in my teens, but by the time I was 20 I couldn't get acne if I tried. I might be dealing with lasting consequences for something that only helped me a few years.
 
Yes. I had severe cystic acne and it sure enough cleared it up.

It also gave me horrible back pain several weeks into the treatment, a side effect my dermatologist had never seen before. So that was fun.
 
TAJ said:
Wow, I'm really glad I never took this. Acne was a losing battle in my teens, but by the time I was 20 I couldn't get acne if I tried. I might be dealing with lasting consequences for something that only helped me a few years.
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People with cystic acne get scarring for life the longer it is left untreated.
 
It was the only thing that worked for me after having severe acne for 7 or 8 years. I only wish I hadn't waited so long to take it. Maybe my life would've been less shitty.
 
I took it around Jr. High. Was fine for a bit, but then I had a mental breakdown. Accutane is hard stuff. My best friend also took it, only got chapped lips, and his face is clear and sparkling now.

I still have to deal with a bit of acne here and there (probably stress), but it's certainly not as prominent as it used to be now that I've gotten older. I use a topical cream, mixture of Retin-A and another drug, been doing just fine. Only have a few scars from my youth.

Hope it works out for you!
 
accutane is great. super effective. your derm will probably require monthly labs to make sure your liver's still there.

edit: oh, and i didn't experience any of the harsh side-effects others are reporting. the worst was probably a little dry skin. your mileage my vary, naturally.
 
Took it two years ago. Completely cleared up my back where the main problem was, and my face got a lot better, though I'm suspect to breakouts every other month or so, including right now. I'm taking a milder antibiotic at the moment, but if it doesn't completly nuke the problem, I might inquire about a second round. Aside from the dry lips and occasional bloody nose, both of which subsided after a couple months, I felt fine during my first round.
 
plasmawave said:
I saw a commercial about suing the manufacture because of side effects.
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I did too. Imagine if you took a drug that permanently cured a problem you were having that made you hate your appearance, made you find yourself ugly, and never want to show your face outside. Then you see commercials bad mouthing it. That's how I feel when I see that commercial.

Accutane is the only miracle drug I've ever taken. I wish it was that easy to fix all my other problems, like my teeth. Instead of having braces for two years, just give me a pill that fixes it in months. If only everything in life could be fixed as easily as acne by a magic pill.
 
I had pretty much all the symptoms here (nosebleeds and dry skin being the most obvious - I once got out of an exam after I bled all over it). I was also tired to a ridiculous degree. I was a teenager at the time, so that could have been a factor, but for years I felt like the drug gave me some kind of permanent fatigue (I've had my sleep patterns and thyroid checked, and it's not them).

Another, more tinfoil-y thing to think about is diabetes. Ten years after taking it I developed type 1 diabetes (aka the genetic one), yet no one in my family has it, going back at least 2 generations. I only bring it up because I saw a throwaway post elsewhere this week mentioning a link, and from there I found a few threads around the internet where people talk about wanting to sue Roche because they got it.

But I'm sure you'll be fine.
 
It cleared me out pretty well when I was 16. Dry lips and arms were a side effect. My eyes also got really dried and bloodshot which wasn't fun to deal with in high school. Looking back on it, it might have caused some depression too but I didn't connect depression to me taking Accutane until a few years later.
 
I took it as a teen and it cleared me right up. No adverse side effects other than extremely dry skin. Unfortunately, about a year and a half later I started breaking out again (although no where near as bad as before). Still get some bad breakouts now and again
 
Yup. Took 5 months of it, which is usually pretty typical for a course of Accutane.

The thing with Accutane is: it works. It will work. The problem for some people are its side effects. The people who take Accutane and it does not problem their acne are very, very small.

It worked for me. Month 1 and 2 get very, very bad. I would wake up with blood on my pillow from the popped acne. Your skin gets very red. It gets very dry. Chapstick will be your friend.

Moisturizer is also your friend.

For people who take Accutane, it can certainly be a low point in their lives. I was very self-conscious, and little kids would naively ask me "what's on your face, PS3Gamerkyle?"

After nearly 3 years, I have the very occasional single acne here or there, but nothing bad at all.

There was a small stint where I had dry eyes, but that nearly came at the same time my vision (reading vision) was failing. So I was mistakenly assuming my headachers were dry eye related, therefore = accutane. In reality, it was my shitty reading eyes. I did stop for a few weeks because I had to go to a neuro ophthalmologist, which was a really crazy experience. Because accutane can lead to increased pressure on your optic nerves (which could have been a reason for my condition), that's why I went to the neuro ophthalmologist. Ultimately, it was the optic nerve, nor was it accutane.

OP, have any questions, feel free to PM me.
 
fuzzyreactor said:
I almost went on it few years back and glad i didn't. My face has cleared up since. I wouldn't take it unless you have severe acne.
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I would agree with this. Mine was so bad nothing else was going to help it. Despite not really having any adverse side effects, I wouldn't take it for just mild acne. It's a powerful medicine and nothing to mess around with.
 
Aesius said:
Took it when I was 16, wish I had never touched it.

Yeah, it cleared up my (moderate) acne, but it gave me some permanent problems.

I have very dry and flaky skin on my face that never goes away. I also have permanent redness in my cheeks (rosacea-like) and whoever said it causes reduced night vision is correct. I can't see at all at night unless there is some sort of light out.

I also sometimes wonder if it affected my skeletal development.
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Had a similar experience, except no redness on my cheeks.
 
I did. Worked like a charm. Dried me out but nothing moisturizing and Aquaphore couldn't fix.

Things were very smooth sailing for me, but it varies for everybody I think. I am pretty clear now but still use a face cream every night to keep things under control.
 
My face is finally starting to clear up and i'm on month 3. So smooth, oh so smooth. Had to pay $60 for an extremely small sized bottle of lotion that my derm prescribed, though it does work wonders.
 
Don'tBeWeird said:
I've been on it for 6 months. Seen no improvement to my acne but I am losing hair because of it.

So, yeah.
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Why has no one addressed this post???

Dude, get off it. Six months is too long to go without seeing ANY improvement to your acne. And if you're losing hair, you're not really helping the situation imo. Go back to your dermatologist and tell them what's going on. They may need to either severely adjust the dosage or get you off of it entirely.
 
My girlfriend at the time got extremely depressed, attempted suicide several times and then broke up with me and moved to another country to be away from her family and friends while taking Accutane. I don't know if all that was linked, but her personality definitely changed while taking it. I think she has a clear face now, so at least that went well for her.
 
Letterbomb said:
Why has no one addressed this post???

Dude, get off it. Six months is too long to go without seeing ANY improvement to your acne. And if you're losing hair, you're not really helping the situation imo. Go back to your dermatologist and tell them what's going on. They may need to either severely adjust the dosage or get you off of it entirely.
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Thats not true and doctors will tell you the same. My wife was on it for 6 months, saw no results, then in like month 8 things started happening, and right after it 100% went away for good. Different bodies react differently to it.

The hair loss thing is a problem though.
 
It worked well for me, but there's definitely some risk involved. I never get breakouts like I used to but I'll still get the occasional pimple here and there.
 
Pagusas said:
Thats not true and doctors will tell you the same. My wife was on it for 6 months, saw no results, then in like month 8 things started happening, and right after it 100% went away for good. Different bodies react differently to it.

The hair loss thing is a problem though.
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My own dermatologist was concerned after the second month that my skin wasn't improving as fast as he'd hoped. Went through several adjustments in dosage. I suppose it depends on the variance between the dosages but still, hair loss, and no improvement after 6 months? (I was only on Accutane for six months! Why was your wife on it for 8+? O_o)

Dermatologist.
 
I had some pretty rough mood swings. Doesn't help that I (probably) had depression prior to taking it. Woke up to a nosebleed every other night. Got to a point where I just stuck a tissue in one nostril before going to bed. Protip: get a humidifier. Get some lip balm, as well. Your lips will be drier than a motherfucker. And I think my ass bled a few times, although that might have been something different entirely.

But that was just my experience. Varies from person to person.
 
I'm surprised to see people saying they took it at 16 or under. My dermatologist flat out refused to prescribe it to anyone under 18.
 
Well, I'm on day 7. No signs of anything happening but I know it's far far too early. No side-effects yet either. I've been having it with a large meal and a glass of water.

Using moisturiser and lip balm. Is it wise to use moisturiser all over the body or just on the face?
 
My brother got hit with depression and suicidal thoughts and he also blames his stomach problems on it but who knows. everyone is different. Try it out and see how it affects you. If it's ok, stay. If not then change. Ask other people around you if they notice a change in your behavior bc a lot of times you won't notice.
 
Lakitu said:
Well, I'm on day 7. No signs of anything happening but I know it's far far too early. No side-effects yet either. I've been having it with a large meal and a glass of water.

Using moisturiser and lip balm. Is it wise to use moisturiser all over the body or just on the face?
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If you feel like its dry then go ahead.

My skin didn't get so dry while on it.. But I always made sure I had chap stick and backups for when I lost it. You don't want to be caught out in the winter cold without it!!

The only problem I got from accutane was bad knees. The body will heal poorly from any injury! The average cut/scratch would take and extra few days to heal and it aways scarred. It left me with a TON of acne scars. So I would advice to do things that will help promote healing (no drinking. No picking at scabs, proper oinments etc)
 
Lakitu said:
Well, I'm on day 7. No signs of anything happening but I know it's far far too early. No side-effects yet either. I've been having it with a large meal and a glass of water.

Using moisturiser and lip balm. Is it wise to use moisturiser all over the body or just on the face?
Click to expand...
Use moisturizer anywhere that's dry. Cetaphil was the best for me - the one in a small.tub (not a pump/squeeze container)
 
I took it 20 years ago in high school. It will destroy your lips. I had a large... wound on the right side of my lips for a while because of the accutane. Your hands will also be very dry.

But I must say that I think it worked.
 
Day 13, and my lips are so dry, it's uncomfortable. No amount of Carmex seems to help other than sudden relief. My face is also quite dry, little patches of dry skin appear on my face.

How frequent are nosebleeds? When should I expect that? I'm also experiencing some bloatedness, is that normal with accutane?
 
So I've got really bad upper back pain (on the left), hurts to even move. Is this a side effect of Roaccutane? I've sinced bumped up my dosage. It could also be because of some of the more physically demanding stuff I do I guess.

And I really want to take Paracetamol but I'm worried because both medications affect the liver. Can I go ahead?
 
I've been on it 3 times, shit's the bomb. Side effects were minimal, dry skin and lips. Chapstick and Cetaphil. Took me a long time to get over my Chapstick dependence, I guess that was the worst part.
 
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