ACCUTANE Reviews (ISOTRETINOIN)Average Rating: 3.3 (746 Ratings)Filter ResultsCompare ACCUTANE with similar:
Type: Brand name discontinued; available as generic
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Results are sorted by length of time drug was taken longest to shortest. Key to Ratings: 1=LOW (I would not recommend taking this medicine.) Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 |
More on ACCUTANE: Reviews Summary | Drug Safety Information
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR ACCUTANE | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
| 3 | Darier's Disease | Severe joint damage in my left knee, dry lips, constant bloody noses, dizziness, severe depression, liver infection caused by accutane. | Don't be too scared by my side effects because I have been taking this medicine since I was 12 and I am now 28 so the length has played into the side effects. Especially the joint damage, and liver infection. Plus the reason I take it still is because no medicine has been designed to help treat the very rare disease I was born with and accutane helps to keep me looking like a normal human being. | M | 28 | 16 years | 2/20/2009 | 5 | I honestly have not experienced any major side effects that would keep me from taking accutane. I have been on and off of accutane since I was about 12 years old (I am now 27). I just started another course of it as of today. I have suffered from acne for a very long time, and accutane has been the only thing that has ever been able to truly help me. Although it always seems to come back within a year of my stopping to take accutane, my acne gets less and less severe each time it does return. Accutane has truly been a life saver for me. My usual side effects include very chapped lips, a sore rash that usually develops on the backs of both of my hands, and dry skin in general (especially on my face). I have never suffered from depression, or nausea, or any of the other terrible side effects that I have read about. I am living proof that accutane works... and I will contine to take it for the rest of my life if needed! It clears me up fast and makes me feel so much better about | F | 27 | 14 years | 11/18/2008 | 5 | Cystic acne, nothing else helped | Dry eyes and lips, curly hair (yay!), thinned skin, vague aches and pains in joints. | Started at 40mg/day went down to 10mg every other day. At 40mg got instant smooth, dry *touchable* skin, but eyes would stick shut and lips exfoliate in 30 sec.s - talk about conversation stopper! Kept taking less Accutane until found a minimum maintenance level. At 10 mg had a few pimples, blackheads, shiny nose, but no more cystic zits! Did miss the curls, though. If I stopped the Accutane, the acne came roaring back. It was like a toggle switch. Finally, went off for good in anticipation of minor surgery, decided to stay off because concerned about effect on bones, starting to feel achy. That was ten years ago. Aches went away but acne got worse and worse, spreading further and further, tho. didn't get cystic until just 6 mo.s ago, when seemed almost as bad as just before I started Accutane. Worse, my older skin does not heal or resist scarring as well as before. No point in going back to Accutane, though: started going through menopause (at normal age for it) and acne comes | F | 54 | 8 years | 5/4/2007 | 5 | Cystic acne, nothing else helped | Dry eyes and lips, curly hair (yay!), thinned skin, vague aches and pains in joints. | Continuation of previous post: No point in going back to Accutane, though: started going through menopause (at normal age for it) and acne comes and goes, riding hormone roller coaster. When hormone level drops, wipes out acne, brings on hot flashes and need to keep tweezers handy! Bottom line: Accutane made huge difference in my life - from disgusting, oily pizza face and upper body to silky skin, no need for make up, felt attractive, fell in love, got married, etc. Hoping bones not so affected by Accutane that it will make a second, huge, more negative effect on my life sometime down the road. (Have read that studies of bones changes due to Accutane mostly in German - not well known in N. America.) | F | 54 | 8 years | 5/4/2007 | 5 | Acne, OIL, cystic acne | Dry lips sometimes, soft non-oily hair, happiness, normality | I am on LOW DOSE Accutane for the last few years. I'm a professional in my 30's & didn't want to deal with acne anymore. If you don't want side effects, take low dose & you will be happy. ANYONE who says Accutane causes depression (or any other ridiculous thing they blame it for) is not right & needs to get help to find out what actually did it & what's wrong. This drug is a miracle & helps millions of people. | F | 33 | 7 years 10 MG 1X day | 9/11/2013 | 5 | Body acne (Face, back, chest, etc) | - chapped lips - exacerbation of eczema - (after 5 years) One episode of joint paint, thumbs, wrist... went away on its own after I discontinued the drug... | Very good medicine. It saved my life. I was very depressed because of my severe acne. | M | 30 | 5 years 20 1X W | 10/6/2015 | 5 | cystic, persistent, adult acne | Dry lips, a few nose bleeds on higher dosage, no oil, soft hair. | LOW DOSE is the way to go! Ask your doctor/derm! After my first course of 40mg/day for 6 months, I'm now on a maintenance dose of 10mg/day and it's GREAT! All the advantages of accutane with none of the side effects. This drug is a miracle, period. People who complain are just trying to blame their problems on accutane, even when it's proven accutane did not cause it. Take responsibility for your own issues! Accutane cures acne, THAT IS ALL. | F | 30 | 4 years 10mg 1X day | 3/3/2010 | 5 | Rosacea, Rhinophyma Skin Lesions | Skin and Eye dryness. | THIS DRUG SAVED MY LIFE! I developed severe rosacea and accutane helped to clear up the lesions that I developed all over my face. Ive been on 2 courses. One high dose for six months and the other was low dose (10mgs every other day) for about 3 years. After seeing many specialists and trying EVERY other drug out there I got a doc to prescribe me accutane. Almost overnight my skin lesions stopped! Once off accutane, they started coming back so i did a low dose regime to treat the swelling in my nose. THIS DRUG WORKS WONDERS BUT MUST BE USED WITH CAUTION! | F | 42 | 3 years | 4/4/2008 | 1 | acne | Accutane has more long term side effects that go along with the depression and anger. My brother was on accutane when he was between 16 and 19. He became a very angry person. He was irritable and had thoughts of suicide. He is now 40 years old and his depression, irritability and anger have not gone away. I would love to have my brother back, but the drug has ruined him forever. who in their right mind would want that for their child? A few years of bad acne or lifetime of anger, depression and irritability? | F | 35 | 3 years 30mg 1X day | 11/14/2010 | 1 | For acne and it worked! | Changed my life forever, physically and spirtually. | All I gotta say is f* this drug and i hope nobody takes it. | M | 18 | 3 years 70 2X day | 6/21/2012 | 4 | acne | I have been off of Accutane for almost 6 years now...During and after taking Accutane, I experienced a serious loss of vision which has turned out to be permanent and is getting worse. My acne became seriously worse for a long time before it got better. I developed and still have digestive problems and urinary problems, but the urinary problems may have been from before. The texture of my hair changed; my hair went from thick and straight to very thin and curly. It didn't change back until after I stopped taking Accutane. | I did get slightly depressed, but I do not contribute it to the Accutane. I think I was upset that the medicine wasn't working as I had hoped. BUT...today, my skin is clear as a baby's butt, and I couldn't be happier....except for the side effects I am STILL experiencing. | F | 22 | 2 years | 8/11/2006 | 4 | Cystic acne | Very dry lips, dry skin. No negative mood changes, if anything it improved my mood. | This drug made me feel amazing when I was on it. I called it my "beauty pill" gave me such confidence. No more oily skin or scalp. Only downsides were the dry lips and the routine blood tests. I recommend this to anyone suffering from acne! It's a wonder thing! | F | 27 | 2 years 30 mg | 5/24/2015 | 3 | acne that would not go away | Im 21 now and I took Accutane in 2004-2006-ish and my skin dried up like a desert. I had oily skin tobegin with but now, its all dry. Every little thing I touched that was remotely sharp, i would get a gash in my skin from and going to get my eye brows waxed?! Forget it!!! I am still trying to find a lotion that actually works, Ive been using Gold Bond healing with Aloe and I need something different soon cuz my body is getting used to it (like it did with the Curel and the vasaline lotions and the Aveeno and Jergins and Johnson and Johnson.) Be careful with accutane, if you have dry skin already, either do not take it or be prepared to spend a lot on moisturizers( I recommend starting out with either Aveeno or Gold Bond)!! And for women on the medicine, get men's disposable razors, they dont have the moisturizing strips that will actually make your skin worse (my MAJOR problem area is my legs and arms) I would definitely proceed with caution with this medication! | F | 21 | 1.5 years | 11/2/2009 | 3 | Bad Acne | Nose bleeds, dried skin, sunburn very easily, slight depression, etc... | I started when i was 20 years old and stopped about a year and a half later. Acutane helped all of my acne, but the after effects are horrible. Im convinced it caused my extreme heartburn, hair thinning, low energy levels, digestive problems, trouble concentrating, anxiety, and several other problems. If i could go back,would i take it agian? its hard to say if my acne going away was really worth all these problems. I just hate that there is nothing i can do about it now... | M | 28 | 1.5 years 2X day | 4/21/2010 | 5 | Because its the best solution | I have chapped lips and dry skin but easy to fix with lotion an blistex. I do feel pain but only from my knees down. | M | 17 | 1 years 40 mg | 4/19/2012 | 5 | severe cystic acne | Dry lips, dry skin, sensitivity to cold weather- welts on legs, very painful. Nose bleeds, especially after a flight. Now burn in the sun more easily. | Had suffered with acne from teenage years until mid 20's, no other treatment touched the problem at all. Had accutance treatment for approx 1 year at a fairly high dose (full dose for my weight) and the acne cleared up. 3 years later it hasnt returned and when I do get the odd spot it vanishes very quickly. No side effects remain other than chapped lips in cold weather and odd dry patches on legs and arms if exposed to cold. | F | 31 | 1 years | 12/11/2007 | 5 | acne | dry lips, eyes sensitive to light | cleared up my acne that i had for 6+ years. | F | 23 | 1 years | 2/25/2008 | 5 | roseacea | dry lips | i have been taking accutane for 1 year now for roseacea. it has help me a great deal. it has been prescribe 1 20mg tab 1x per week. it has kept acne roseacea under control to the point that i do not suffer with pain. still some slight reddness/flushing of skin with minimal breakouts. | F | 38 | 1 years | 4/29/2008 | 5 | acne | severe dry eyes & lips. extreme tiredness | skin looks great now but i had to repeat the course about 4 years after the 1st course. and i still break out occasionally, but not like before. | F | 27 | 1 years | 9/20/2003 | 4 | Acne on Face | Very Dry cracked lips, Dry skin, Respiratory problems,mood swings | I really thinks it works my acne started clearing up like in 3 weeks I saw a major diffrence.I took it for a year and I have no acne | F | 23 | 1 years | 5/19/2009 |
ACCUTANE (ISOTRETINOIN): This medication is used to treat severe cystic acne (also known as nodular acne) that has not responded to other treatment (e.g., benzoyl peroxide or clindamycin applied to the skin or tetracycline or minocycline taken by mouth). It belongs to a class of drugs known as retinoids. It works by decreasing facial oil (sebum) production. High amounts of sebum can lead to severe acne. If left untreated, severe acne may cause permanent scarring. FDA Approval Date: 1982-05-07 (Sources: U.S. Centers for Medicare Services, FDA)