Ugh - Horrible Acne

[cardiactec]

Anyone here taken accutane for acne? i have been suffering with horrible acne for 10 + years and have tried EVERYTHING, LITERALLY EVERYTHING for this and nothing has helped. my doc is now going to put me on accutane to help my acne. it is quite the fiasco to go on this med and has some pretty serious side effects (mostly though birth defects if you become pregnant on accutane) ..

anyone taken this and found it to be helpful with acne problems?

[ellen]

My teenage son used it (about half as often as he should have) with remarkable results. It is well worth the monthly blood test, however he had terribly dry skin initially. Big dry flakes. But his acne was so bad, he stuck it out and had CLEAR skin for several years. It was like a miracle.

[MomtoGiuliana]

One of my sisters had bad acne. She took acutane for about a year and since then her acne has been much milder.

[kitchmill]

I took Accutane when I was in college and YES, it helped!!! But, they dry skin and chapped lips were horrible, and a long term side effect is that I can NEVER go out in the sun without burning. I used to wear SPF 15 as a kid and I would tan nicely. Now, I have to wear minimum of 45 (I usually just use my kids' Water Babies 55!) or else I burn instantly. And, of course after a few years the acne came back. Not as bad at first, and actually when I was pregnant with my son my face completely cleared up. But now it is getting pretty bad again. At 32, I feel like a teenager again but I would not consider Accutane again since I have such chemical sensitivities now. My luck, it would have the opposite effect on me or something!

[pat57]

I have a freind who has used it for decades- with no complaints. I do not know how often she needs it, but she did tell me about the birth defects issue.

[flop]

I had pretty bad acne and still need to stay on Yasmin to keep it at bay. I was prescribed Dianette for years and it worked wonderfully for me. Dianette is a version of the combined birth control pill that contains a hormone that blocks testosterone so it switches off sebum production in the skin. In the UK the now recommend only taking Dianette for 6 months as it carries a higher risk of thromboembolic problems than standard birth control (but I took it on and off for 7 years and got away with no problems). If you havent tried Dianette it may be another option to discuss with your dermatologist.

Flop

[mkoven]

I took it in my late 20s and it essentially cured my acne. BUT at a price. In retrospect, I wouldn't take it again. It is bad for your bones, (among other things), and I ended up killing a piece of my talus (bone in ankle) for no clear reason while on it-- i.e. no trauma. It's still there, it's still dead, and periodically it really hurts. Sometimes I've had to be on crutches. The surgery to "fix" it is no great solution. And it's unlikely to regrow. It's been 12 years now.

It's also hard on your joints. If you have eds, I'd be cautious. It essentially dries up all your internal and external oiliness-- and some of that is necessary. Come to think of it, my extra-bad joint stuff may have been triggered while I was on iot.

So for me, in restrospect, given the choice betweena problem that is mostly cosmetic (acne) and one that is functional (pain from bone and joint damage), I'd pick acne.