hi there! i took accutane the summer going into my junior year of high school (i’m a male). i may be an outlier, but the side effects hit me very hard, meaning i had virtually every side effect (dry eyes, lips, and skin; blurry vision; joint/muscle aches and pains; mood swings; nose bleeds; etc.). however, it changed my life entirely (i.e., i was able to not only feel confident in my skin but was also taken out of the immense physical pain my acne put me in), and i would do it again (and again and again and again, lol).
I took accutane when I was 20. It was the only thing that worked and I highly recommend it. My son also took accutane a year ago. There can be uncomfortable symptoms such as really dry lips, skin, eyes, etc. Make sure to have good chapstick, lotions, etc. I feel like it really is the only thing that works for bad acne. Be very careful in the sun. Tough to be on it in the summer I think so have your child wear hats, sunscreen, avoid mid day sun etc.
I took it for 6 months back when I was in my mid-20s. I took it from October-April and the dry air made my skin even drier. I wish I could’ve taken it during the spring and summer.
My son took it last year for 6 months and had very dry lips and nostrils. A humidifier and a nasal spray helped. He also put Vasoline in his nostrils at night. Once he did this, the nosebleeds slowed down.
It is nearly a year since he stopped the medication and I’ve only noticed one or two pimples.
It worked great for our son after everything else failed to work. But it was expensive! Then he moved to Lebanon and could get it very cheaply (yes, legally).
It works well. BC pill itself can cause depression, so if a woman starts the BC pill shortly before starting Accutane, could be hard to tell which its which. On the other hand, since the BC pill in and of itself is a treatment for acne, most women who seek Accutane have already been on the pill as an attempted treatment for acne, and so would know whether it causes depression for them.
Gotta remember that cystic acne is awful - it’s painful and disfiguring, and causes misery and depression, in and of itself. So the treatment’s side effects have to be weighed against the misery of the condition itself.
Another consideration. With the now upon us loss of access to abortion in nearly half the states in the country, and in the entire south and midwest, the female user of Accutane has to consider what they would do were they to become pregnant while using Accutane, bearing in mind that not everyone who becomes pregnant does so as the result of a voluntary act - hence the worthlessness of an abstinence pledge. There is also a failure rate for all methods of contraception. This is something that the girl being started on Accutane needs to discuss with her parent, and the woman starting Accutane needs to consider - would they have the means to travel to where they could have an abortion, knowing the very high risk of serious birth defects in a pregnancy exposed to Accutane.
Low dose Accutane can work extremely well, has a much lower incidence of side effects (but still has the risk of fetal defects). It’s worth considering if there’s significant concern regarding side effects. Since it’s a problem that many people do grow out of, continuous low-dose Accutane is a valid alternative to the high dose treatment.
It’s worth noting that not all types of acne respond best to Accutane, particularly for females if it’s hormonal. My D had bad acne, and the dermatologist told her that because it was tied to her hormones, BC pills with spironolactone was the better option. It worked great after they found a BC she could tolerate (first type gave her panic attacks). But for S, absolutely nothing else worked.
Son and D2 both were on Accutane - son in high school and D2 in college. Both ended up going through more than one course of treatment, as both had bad cases of acne. No side effects other than dry lips and it worked wonders on their skin and their self-esteem.
Extremely glad it was an option. (My daughter was hesitant but her dermatologist was extremely reassuring. He told her that he loved his own daughters more than anything and both had taken Accutane. He said that he would have never put them on a medication that he felt would harm them nor would he do so with her. He reminded D2 that he would be closely monitoring her treatment and she could stop at any time, should she choose. She ended up needing more than one course but was so pleased with how her skin was starting to look, she no longer needed reassurance other than glancing in her mirror.)
Adding that D2 was Maid of Honor in her sister’s wedding and the photographer walked over and told her she had the loveliest skin she had seen. D2 glanced over at me and we both grinned. The journey from bad acne through treatments to beautiful skin wasn’t one she wanted to take but was so glad she did.
Yes, my S had to be very careful of the sun. I also remembered that he had achy joints. Again, he absolutely considers it worth it (as do my brothers).
My son had the same side effects but is so happy he did the treatment. He had back aches initially he was 15 at the time and took Accutane for 8 months as he stayed on a low dose. The hair loss improved as did the dry eyes and chapped lips after treatment ended. He had a minor breakout 6 months later and took an antibiotic. He is on Altreno and AcZone creams each once a day to help with diminishing redness/small scars and preventing oily skin and it is working great. He is so happy he did it before it became cystic. The pores on his nose and face disappeared, his clear is beautiful and clear now.
My son was on accutane when he was 15. He is almost 21 now and still carries lip balm with him everywhere. He and I have had conversations since then about whether it was the right thing to do, and I think he wishes he hadn’t taken it, but we had already tried everything else at that point and his acne was severe. He has had bouts of acne since but never as bad as it was then.
My son started Accutane the summer before his freshman year in college (he’s 24 now). The doctor started him on one dosage level and after a period of time (maybe 2 months or so) wanted to up it. But after upping the dose my son felt that it was affecting his mood/state of mind. I wouldn’t say he had suicidal thoughts but he disliked it enough to ask to go back to the lower dose. He did that and the outcomes were still terrific. Like many others he did suffer through the extremely dry lips and skin but he would say that was well worth it.