I have taken it and I often describe it to other people as the best decision I have ever made, bar none. I used to have very severe facial acne in high school and nothing worked up until accutane. The five months I was on it were hell because your skin is INCREDIBLY dry, like even smiling will make your lips crack and bleed (it isn't this bad for everyone though) but I have suffered no visible side effects since then and I have almost no acne whatsoever nowadays. I was scared of the potential side effects when I first looked into it, but I'm incredibly glad I did it. I know 4 other kids who took it at my school and none of them have experienced any side effects either aside from the extreme dryness obviously

Yeah I took it at a pretty high dosage for like a year, I got real dry skin and chapped lips, which is a pain in the ass but it does work.

Did you end up using lots of lotion or chapstick to fight it or was it not working?

Chapstick helped a tiny bit with the pain but the dryness is more or less unavoidable lol so it didn't really work too well. That's why it's pretty painful and shitty when you're on it, but the payoff is huge

don't you have to take blood tests every month?

Yes you do, so they keep track of anything and make sure the treatment is going well

did you wear alot of sunscreen to?

you shouldn't take accutane unless you have super debilitating acne. like there are so many less invasive and harmful treatments. you should re consult you doctor because accutane is incredibly harsh on your body, and not just your skin. people describe it working, but if you did any other acne treatment for over a year, it would probably work at some point too.

I personally don't have the best skin (read: it is bad) though i don't have any real experience with being prescribed anything, but I would recommend anyone who even has a little issue develop a skincare routine. I found this guide very helpful and honestly regardless of your decision to take accutane or not, I would recommend making a good skincare routine.

Oh one big thing I learned early on (regardless of taking accutane) is to wash/replace your pillow cases often. I found that made a noticeable difference for me

I was on antibiotics and epdiduo ( a really good cream) for a while it did some real heavy lifting but after i stopped using it it came back kinda

try benzoyl peroxide first, if acne is causing you real problems that is. it works for a lot of people.
it'll dry your skin up a bit but at a relatively low strength (2.5-5%) it should be all good.

yeah that's the main turnoff for me. i'm currently on a routine of tretinoin and clindamycin/benzoyl peroxide but it hasn't been doing much

iirc its cause its a form of vitamin A which is fat soluble and will build up in your blood

also no one mentioned drinking more water, which you should already be doing but w/e

i was prescribed accutane not because my acne was extensive, but because it was really painful and while i dont regret the decision in any way, this medicine is no joke and you WILL have side effects

as others have said, the dryness of your skin and lips is really really awful (MAKE SURE TO GET SKIN CREAMS AND REALLY GOOD CHAPSTICK AS SOON AS POSSIBLE) and gets very uncomfortable at times

you also burn really easily in the sun so make sure you regularly put on sunscreen

i reacted particularly poorly and got side effects that arent normal as well as the normal ones being worse for me than for most

i got really dry eyes that would cloud my vision so i had to put in eyedrops multiple times a day

the worst was a super rare side effect i got where id get really intense muscle pain in my left leg (essentially like a charley horse) that wouldnt go away and without managing it it would get to the point where i couldnt walk or focus on anything. if this happens to you, MAKE SURE TO TAKE ADVIL. for some reason, ibuprofen works wonders on this pain, but you need to take it multiple times a day (like every 6-8 hours). take advil with you wherever you go if this happens to you

my 6 month course ended in june and even now my lips get chapped super easily and i have to take advil once or twice a day. the good thing about accutane though is that it works and it destroys acne.

you should get this for your lips during the day and to carry around with you, this to put on your lips at night before bed, and this to put on your face in the morning and at night

edit: forgot to mention but drink lots and lots of water take water everywhere

Fuck dude this shit is scary

its serious shit for sure but as long as you stay on top of it and get into a good routine with it youll be ok :)

most of the stuff in this thread is accurate

you're lips are going to be very dry and like others have said get a good tube of lip moisturizer, not cheap chapstick. youll also get patches of dry skin on the back of your arms, legs etc, but it isnt bad

however, accutane truly is a miracle drug at what it does. more than likely it will clear up all of your acne in the 4-12 months they will have you on it. yes, there will most likely be blood work every month for the first few months, but it is well worth it

do keep in mind though, accutane will clear up your acne quickly and effectively and even keep it away for some time but once you finish it you will get spots again. it wont be nearly as bad as before though, as Im assuming you are around the age of 16-20ish so hopefully you are nearing the end of growing so the end of the treatment coincides with a decrease in puberty induced hormones and shitty acne patches.

all in all i would 100% recommend accutane to you if you have moderate to severe acne. it will change your life and make your complexion so much better and help to keep it that way once you have finished treament

good luck

I should also chime in on this, I had insane acne when I was 14 and nothing worked for me but accutane. The best kind of lotion you can get is while on accutane is Cetaphil. Also load up on sun block and chap stick. Also DO NOT DRINK WHILE YOU ARE TAKING THIS MEDICINE it will damage your liver so badly. As far as the horror stories on mood swings and deep depression I did not experience any of those side effects. It's going to suck total ass for the 6 months to a year that you're on it but it is worth it.

As others said ONLY take Accutane if your acne is so bad that it's painful/will leave scarring. Otherwise go to a doctor so they can prescribe you like 2% benzoyl peroxide/erythromycin which is stronger than over-the-counter acne medication. Regular counter acne medication I think only contains 0.5% benzoyl peroxide.

My brother took it when he was in grade 9 or 10 and had barely any side affects, completely got rid of all his acne permanently. Just saying your mileage may vary, it's not all horror stories.

I take it right now. If you do what the doctor says, you'll be fine. It's noticeable at first, but your body gets use to it. It definitely works tho.

https://streamable.com/gbku1

Used to take this thing but stopped after one month. Not only my lips were so dry that they started to bleed whenever I showed any sign of emotions on my face, but I also had pancreas pain which was gone 1 week after I stopped taking accutane. Would not recommend.

It's been around 10 years since I had this and it was also the best decision I ever made. Cleared up my face and not a bit of acne since.

Side effects for me were dry skin and lips, I carried one of those little metal Vaseline tins in my school bag, not particularly annoying although from reading this thread seems I got off lightly.

The only spots I've had since are random isolated ones that go away after a few days.

I was prescribed this drug a couple of years back - basically it's the same as accutane, just the one given in my region. stopped after about 2 months due to these weird dry circles appearing on my forearms, which was apparently a very bad side effect. My acne hadn't fully cleared, but just following a good routine of cleansing, and keeping basically anything from touching my face, everything has cleared up. I still get the random small one once in a while, which wouldn't have happened if I completed my course. Make sure to complete your full course of doage as your doctor says, and you'll be rewarded well

Accutane is scary you're right, it should really be a last resort.

Have you tried other options? Like others have said, you an do benzoyl peroxide but that is really hard to put on your back and doesn't work for a lot of people (including me).

There are other less drastic acne treatments that are non topical (for a lot of people topical ones just don't work). My dermatologist prescribed me minocyline (antibiotic) which has had no side effects on me but basically cleared up all of my acne. Maybe see if you want to try something like that before resorting to accutane.

Just wash yourselves. JK. Try to find another solution as others have stated.

Wanted to bring this back up any stories or experiences with hair/scalp dryness and or thinning