Accutane experiences?

[tinkerbellandpeterpan]

I never was on it, but my college roommate was and she had a very traumatic eyebrow waxing experience so something to keep in mind. She was pleased with the results but there were a lot of side effects.

 

[kyton]

Our 18yo has been on it for 4mths so far. It along with monthly laser treatments at her dermatologist has seen her skin become much clearer.

It dries EVERYTHING out - so hair is no longer oily (yay) but she also had extremely dry skin / lips / mouth in the beginning. The worst were really inflamed mouth ulcers which made her first week or so a nightmare. Baby teething gel as well as chewing gum to increase saliva helped that hurdle. She has lip balm in every conceivable place ready for application and uses the skin treatments that her derm recommended (actually she was pretty impressed that our daughter was well read and already using the best choices in skin care).

She has to have blood tests every 3mths when her script is finished before getting the next and as PP said luckily she was already on birth control for another issue otherwise the derm would add that to her recommendations prior to issuing accutane.

The other massive thing is SUNSCREEN. Our daughter has always been drilled on using it - my father passed from melanoma, my husband has had skin cancers removed and so we have always pushed sunscreen usage on our kids. She is religious about it - every day without failure it is applied.

 

[kyton]

I never was on it, but my college roommate was and she had a very traumatic eyebrow waxing experience so something to keep in mind. She was pleased with the results but there were a lot of side effects.

My daughter complains about our dogs being a little too energetic - they are 2yo and tend to smother her with love. Any scratch comes up with a huge red welt which eventually subsides but looks angry for a while.

 

[lifesavacation]

We tried a bunch of treatments with my son. I did not want to put him on accurate, but nothing else cleared up his back and face acne. It took a few months, but cleared everything up.

 

[720L]

My son took it when he was in 10th grade. We tried everything before putting him on it because I was so scared of it. I wish we would've done it sooner (so does he). It wasn't fun....the dryness is terrible. He is fair skinned and it turned his face pretty red for a while. He ran cross country and he said his joints hurt when running. I was mostly nervous about the suicide warnings, but I never noticed a change in his behavior. His blood test numbers stayed good. It's been 7 years and at about 5 years a little acne started showing up once in a while. His acne was severe. I feel really bad for not doing it sooner.

 

[Cadiewampus]

My now 30 year on son was probably 16 or 17 when he was on it. Took it for about 6 months. Like others had to have blood test every couple of months. He's never had any issues or need of any kind of acne medicine since

 

[tzolkin]

Both of my now adult daughters used it (19, 24). Neither one had really severe cystic acne, but apparently both are very prone to scarring. I have had guilt about not doing it sooner for my oldest as she does still have some scarring on her cheeks and is a fanatic about skincare and makeup. The younger one did accutane in middle school. She mainly had acne on her back, but the first few times she had any breakouts on her forehead they left some deep scars (that she still has) so I immediately took her to the dermatologist before it became a major problem.

My son has had what I would consider "normal" teenage breakouts and has not had any scarring, so we have not felt any need for him to see a dermatologist.

 

[mefordis]

Thank you everyone for your input! Accutane seems like a miracle drug for acne! She's had bad acne for 3 years and has tried everything topical known to man, so I think it's time for the Accutane. I believe if we do a low dose we can avoid the nasty side effects. Thanks so much! Once again the dis-community comes through with great input!

 

[MrsPete]

A student at the high school where I taught developed severe -- was it kidney or liver problems? It's been years -- after taking Accutane. Of course, this is quite rare, but it can happen. It's important to have a doctor monitor the teen.

 

[FQLover]

I was on it for 5 months while i
n my 30s. The dryness hit my lips and nose so badly that I would just start bleeding while teaching class. That was a problem.

Later I learned that the drug dried out my vocal folds so thoroughly that I lost the top octave of my soprano singing voice. Sadly that did not come back once I finished
treatment.

I am someone who regrets taking it very much. My acne was persistent but not severe. The derm recommended it to me to get me off the antibiotics I was needing repeatedly.

 

[bcla]

A high school classmate had really bad acne and was taking it, but that was decades ago. My understand is that it can be really effective and more or less shrinks oil glands but also supposedly last well afterwards. However, his acne was really bad an even after a full course it didn't seem to change that much. It might have improved a bit later on.

There are of course the well known side effects, especially of fetal development. I get that it can be an uncomfortable subject to discuss, but it's an extremely serious concern.

 

[mrs. magoo]

So my son did Accutane in high school. He was on it for 6 months and it did clear up his acne well. He has had some flair ups in the past 6 years but he is happy with the results. He is deathly afraid of needles so the monthly blood tests were a big deal to him but he survived. We invested in both chap stick and good moisturizer as his skin was always so dry.

We did not do a course of it for my daughter. She already has some depression that is treated with therapy. She has used topicals and things have finally cleared up for her but it has been a long road. She tried 3 different forms of birth control but all of them made her gain weight so she stopped using them. Her friend who did Accutane in high school is going to have to go on it again as her acne has come back 4 years later. Just be aware that the acne can return.