Should I use accutane?
The last couple of years my skin has gone from clear to disaster. I wouldn't say my acne is severe but i have been on medications from a dermatologist for about 7-8 months and none of it works! I take VERY good care of my skin, everything im supposed to. Have tried thousands of face washes and supplements (proactiv, murad, clinique, nuetrogena, etc) use all oil free products, and even stopped eating so many bad foods! I would get exicted because my skin seems to get better for alittle from that stuff but then just seems to explode again. The reason i have bad skin is mostly hormones and such. I just want clear skin and am considering going on accutane. I'm willing to deal with the chapped lips/skin (i moisture alot anyways), birth control, whatever! I try so hard to make my skin clear again and it never does! sounds dramatic but its tearing me up inside, something i truly work so hard to make better and it never does. im willing to deal with some discomfort and risk. help?
August 31st, 2010 - 16:32
If you think your skin is bad enough and it is affecting you enough, go on accutane. This is a product that has worked for a lot of people and why waste any more time on products that don’t work if there is one out there that does. You also know the side effects and you are willing to live with them to get your clear skin, you’re not just jumping in blindly. If this is important to you, do it.
August 31st, 2010 - 16:32
well, if you do, you can absolutely not get pregnant, it causes birth defects. Try a cosmetics office, call and ask first, but many have high tech methods of procedures to rid your skin of this.(And I mean an MD certified in cosmetics) I have seen it work.
August 31st, 2010 - 16:32
1) If your acne is really truly due to hormones, Accutane won’t help. Have they tested your hormone levels? My dermatologist checked my androgen level early on. I think that if the acne can be explained by hormones, they would treat it by treating the hormone imbalance.
2) If your acne is just bad acne that just won’t go away despite using Differin, Clindamycin, the best drugs your dermatologist can throw at it, Accutane is really a great "treatment of last resort" I tried it and I wished I had done it sooner. My male dermatologist barely mentioned it as a possibility but a woman dermatologist acquaintance told me at a dinner it would "knock my acne into remission" and it did. It is really a pain (pregnancy tests every month, blood tests to watch your liver function/cholesterol) but it worked and it has kept on working for a few years. Also, my hair isn’t oily any more. Amazing. It is getting harder to get this drug; it truly causes awful birth defects if you get pregnant while using it. The chapped lips type side effect wasn’t bad. I did have cholesterol side effects but the hyperlipidemia went away after I went off the drug. Going on Accutane is really a last resort but it is an AMAZING drug. If your dermatologist says it could help you, I would go for it.
August 31st, 2010 - 16:32
I just started using Accutane. I’ve been on it for about two weeks. Two days into taking the pills, my face was peeling. My face was already pretty dry, but Accutane took it to a whole new level. So far, I have experienced, terribly dry lips (I love my Chap Stick), dry skin (mostly just my face), headaches (but only when I take two pills a day, which is recommended but does not always happen), bone pain (in my back and ribs) and on some days, redness in my eyes. From what I have read, dry skin and chapped lips happens to about 90% of people using Accutane and headaches happen to about or less than 30%.
And like you, as it sounds, I tried everything…ProActiv, Mary Kay, Clinque and everything available in the cosmetics department. It seems as though it works about a month and then my skin doesn’t react to it anymore.
Before you can be prescribed Accutane, you and your dermatologist will have to prove that other treatment has failed. My dermatologist placed me on an antibiotic, a face/body wash and cream. The anitbiotic made my stomach hurt (which is normal but can have side effects in women)…the face/body wash, dried my skin out very bad which causes you to use tons of moisturizers…and the cream kinda burn my skin a little until I got used to it.
But you have to take a pregnancy test and have blood work done a month before you start Accutane. Then, once you start Accutane, you must go back to the dermatologist every 30-35 days, or you must start treatment over again. So, every check up, you do a pregnancy test and you have blood drawn. Blood is drawn to measure levels in your liver, which can be effected by alcohol consumption.
If you are a young age, I would recommend you wait until about 20 years old or so before taking Accutane. That way your body is finished growing (or close) so by then you’re out of the "teenage years acne" stage.
Also, I acne was worse in high school from stress. So, there’s a lot that plays on acne…and even though you keep your face clean, it doesn’t mean you won’t have acne.
I would definitley do some research before you go into treatment. And I would speak with your regular doctor as well.
Good luck with the acne.