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.