User Reviews for Isotretinoin

This is my 4th month of treatment on 80mg/day. I have a rash on my legs and on my arms. I feel like i am 80 years old(im only 20) because my joints are in so much pain. Also, every time I stand up, I get a dizzy sensation, which never used to happen. I always had a bit of a temper, but my family has made me aware of my newly aquired mood swings. I believe the accutane may be on the verge of working because new acne rarely develops but the old scars and old acne are not going away yet. I believe this medication works differently for everyone since I know 5 other people who were on it and had no side effects. However, the strain it has had on my body makes me feel lethargic. I am usually very active and now i do not want to do anything because of the joint pain.Read More Read Less

I have had many diffucult side effects that have been harmful to my body. While the results are looking great, I have decided to go off of the medicine due to health related isues in the 4th month.

I had your general run of the mill cystic acne. Growing up I never even had a pimple. Then I had children. Don't get me wrong I love my children more than life itself. But the acne that came along with that were not pleasing. I kept telling myself it will go away but it never did. I tried everything creams, ointments, antibiotics (never would recommend that), scrubs, etc. You name it I tried it. I ended up changing dermatologists and found one that I adore. He immediately started the accutane regiment and did warn me of the side effects that can come along with it. All in all I love the medication (being one of those people that hates to take medicine)! I have had nothing but great results! Within one month my acne was gone. I am now on my third month of treatment and wouldn't change it for anything. I have had of course the dry skin on my face, arms, and lips. I use Cetaphil cleansing bar to wash my face and CeraVe to moisturize. I also use Aquaphor for my dry lips. I was really worried after reading all of the reviews on here but the side effects I suffered from other treatments were way worse. Accutane has allowed me to have beautiful skin once again!!!Read More Read Less

as of right now i have only been on generic accutane for only 20 days. not sure if its placebo, but i have cleared up a lot. i have only gotten 2 pimples since but... i still need to finish my dosage and see if it is truely effective. my lips were the first to dry out. other than that everything else is the same

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I was on accutane for a little over 6 months. I was freshman in highschool.. I was absolutely miserable taking this medication, although now I do have flawless skin, I would reccomend this to anyone. My face used to be covered in acne, and after my accutane usage, I only get about 1 or 2 pimples each year. I'm glad I did it, even though it was hard! :)

i have been on accutane now for three months. so far so good. to help with the dry skin, try dry brushing. you can google dry brushing. it helps the dry skin alot!also for noise bleeds use a Qtip with Aquaphor ointment(small amount)to help with dry noise and noise bleeds. for the lips good luck i have stuff every where around my house,car,work.

I began using this drug in 2004 and it was a last resort. I had tried everything imaginable to solve my acne problem. I was so ashamed of my face that I would literally try to "scrub" my skin off! I only used it for 6mts b/c my acne went away immediately and has been that way even now. But now after reading all of the side effects others have gone through, it may have been a mistake for me. I am only 27 and almost completely bald in the center of my head, I have constant infections, and I am almost afraid to go to the Dr again for fear that he'll find something more serious wrong with me. If you are thinking of using this drug...PLEASE way your options.Read More Read Less

Growing up, I had various stages of acne that I was treated for with other drugs. When I was in my early 20's, I developed much more severe acne and I went on accutane. I really didn't have any horrible side effects that I recall, just the typical..dry skin, lips, etc. I maintained really nice skin until recently (I'm 31). I read in someone else's post that her doctor said the effects of accutane only lasts about 10 years as hers came back as well. My doctor didn't tell me that but it did reoccur about 10 years later. I'm doing the second cycle of accutane now but he has me on the low-dose cycle where I take the pills only 2x per week (and only 10mg per day). I don't know if this time will take with such a small dose. So far I've been on it for a week...and it seems to be clearing but that could just be from the placebo effect.Read More Read Less

The results for the intended use were excellent. However, the severe thinning of my hair has been difficult to deal with; but given the 'miraculous' results of resolving my acne condition, I would take Accutane again and again, and deal with thinning hair as best I can. One other inconvenience has been regular lab blood tests (I believe to check my kidneys reaction to the drug).

I was on Accutane for about 6 months. It was not until the 4th month that I saw a change in my skin. Accutane worked for me and I did have the rashes on my hands, dry lips, dry skin, feeling sick sometimes, white spots on my arms. All this went away once I was off it just like my doctor had said. I used Cetaphil lotion and face wash and did not really analyze it or think about it too much and everything went okay. I would recommend this medicine, but please be very careful. I never drank or smoked when I used this medicine.Read More Read Less

This is my second time being on accutane. I started with it at the age of 13 or 14, and was on it for 6 months or so. but once i got off it, it returned. i started on accutane again when i was 16. it didnt do anything for a few months, and now im taking 120mg a day and still breaking out. my lips peel and are incredibly sore, my nose bleeds and is very painful. i have a horrible rash on my arms that is itchy, and when i scratch, it bleeds and i have hidious scabs all over my arms. my eyes are dry and i recently went to the eye doctor, who said the surface of my eyes are damaged from the accutane. i also have more serious side effects. im depressed, anxious, and have horrible mood swings. i used to be happy ALL the time. now i could care less, and would rather stay at home. im still on the accutane because i dont want acne. i've been on it for about 6 months now and i dont see the point in getting this far, and then stopping. that would leave me with my acne still, and i would have suffered all these horrible side effects for nothing? the side effects of accutane are HORRIBLE. i've had good results from my previous round of accutane, but my acne returned. i just want to take it long enough this time so this doesnt happen again. personally, i wouldnt do this again. i didnt want to do it a second time in the first place, but it was getting to the point where there were no other options. really try everything else you can before turning to accutane. the side effects are too bad. Read More Read Less

this is truly a great drug to use if you have acne. it does what they say it does and it clears up your acne and for the most part it doesnt come back. the side effects are horrible though, when i was taking the medication i had nosebleads at least once a weak, extremly dry lips, extremly dry arms and hands, and my hair did start thinning late during my use of the drug. i also did notice that when i flew on a plane when i was on the drug i had a really severe headache and very severe pressure in my head, i dont know if this was a cause of the drug but before taking the drug i had never experianced anything like that on a plane. but after i was off everything went back to normal and im so glad that i was able to use it!Read More Read Less

I started taking acutane (sotret) when I was 16 and in about a month or so my acne vanished! I cannot say enough about how much this drug helped me. My hair became less oily and the only problem I had was that my hands were dry.

I took this drug at age 16 and experience major depression and suicidal ideations (which was untreated as I didn't know it was from the meds), terrible cracked lips and hands, and my hair thinned. My skin cleared about 80% then at age 20 my acne had gradually returned to 60% clear. I went on it again with less hand problems, same lip problems...and depression back! I went off the meds early because I told my doc I was feeling really irritable and then described my symptoms it took me two years to restablize my mood! However, no-one ever thinks I EVER had acne...and I could have been a poster child for all the anti-biotic drugs and topicals from age 11-21!! On another note my sister had the same problem and went on the birthcontrol pill at age 15 and her skin cleared, so did mine completely when I went on the pill. Give that a try first then use Caution if you take this med!!Read More Read Less

This drug was a lifesaver. Being a teen with acne was terrible. After 2 weeks my skin was clear. My only problem was that I had dry skin .

I am 50 years old and took Accutane over 20 years ago. Prior to taking it, I suffered with severe cystic acne since I was 13. For those lucky enough not to have this form of acne, it is painful and disfiguring. I am definitely a success story and cannot say enough about how great Accutane worked for me. The worst things I dealt with were dryness in my nostrils and cracking at the corners of my mouth, which frequent use of lip balm took care of, and having to be so careful of sun exposure. These side effects were minor, as far as I'm concerned. Unfortunately, my grown daughter also has this form of acne, which is why I am on this website doing research. Her doctor refused to prescribe Accutane and instead gave her birth control pills to help clear her skin. (Unfortunately, she experienced excessive bleeding, so she can't take the pill). As our acne seems to be genetic - my mother, sister and niece also have it, I think my daughter should change doctors until she finds one willing to prescribe it to her. By the way, my niece also took Accutane and had very good results as well.Read More Read Less

I took Accutane when I was 16 years old (I am now 31). Within a week, I saw MAJOR results--my forehead totally cleared within that first week! I did, however, start getting very bad headaches that same week. My parents called my dermatologist (who I am forever grateful to!) and he cut my dosage in half. The headaches stopped and my acne continued to disappear. Within a month, I would say that 75% of my acne was gone!! I did have the awful chapped lips, but like others, I just kept Carmex with me at all times. Fortunately, within a week of finishing my treatment, my lips started to return to normal--enough that other people started to notice that they weren't as chapped. I feel really bad for those people who have had bad luck in taking Accutane, and I feel so fortunate to have had such great results. My acne disappeared forever-except for the occasional pimple, and I have no other lasting side-effects. Read More Read Less