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 Gender males first. 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 |
| 1 | Cystic acne | Ulcerative Colitis | Developed colitis 3 years after taking Accutane, and I'm 90% sure it's from the drug--even though I was taking a pretty low dose (20mg) for a short time (4 months). Also, cystic acne returned within 5 years. Taking this drug is NOT WORTH the potential long term side effects which now, for me, includes the possibility of loosing my colon and the increased risk of colon cancer. | F | 26 | 4 months | 8/10/2007 | 1 | acne | Extremely dry lips, nosebleeds, return of acne once off of medication, hair loss | I took accutane 15 years ago, and continue to suffer from hair loss which I believe was caused by this drug. Also, the acne I had came back after I stopped treatment. So much for the "miracle" cure. A couple of years ago I found out acupuncture can treat acne, and it helped enormously. I highly recommend it. | F | 32 | 3 months | 8/2/2007 | 1 | Severe acne on back | Accutane worked like magic on my back. I was really, really happy to finally be able to wear a T-shirt after hiding my back for a decade. Then a year later, I started to get dry spots. Now I am 31, and have gone through bouts of major depression. I would not recommend this drug, and I want them to fix my brain. I want the happy life that should have been mine. | I hate the doctor who prescribed it to me without taking care of the side effects. I have now lost faith in most doctors. | F | 25 | 8 months | 5/3/2005 | 1 | mild acne | Major Sexual side effects. I can no longer have an erection (female) and i have lost all sensation in my clitoris. I can have an orgasm, but it's very difficult and can't feel anything before the orgasm. very strange side effect but true. Dr's don't understand this, or know what to do with me. IT'S FROM THIS DRUG! | F | 35 | 5 months | 6/24/2007 | 1 | mild acne causing scarring | It gave me the normal side effects at first, just dry skin, lips, and hair. Then on my 6th month, my skin one day just turned beet red and it was burning like crazy. I dropped out of school. I haven't left my house ever since this happened, only to see 4 different doctors who all told me I have rosacea, which I never had until accutane. And there is no cure for rosacea, and every treatment they've had me try for it so far doesn't work. Rosacea is without a doubt a million times worse than acne will ever be. And my acne is returning now anyways, only 3 months after I stopped the medicine. I regret accutane every second of my life, and I sit in bed all day long wishing I was dead. I'll never have my life back. | This medicine has completely ruined my life. Make sure you really do your research before deciding to take a drug this serious. | F | 19 | 6 months | 3/30/2007 | 1 | cystic acne | PERMANENT severe low back pain, severe joint pain, thinning hair, | I took it when I was 30 years old in 2001. I immediately began to have low back pain to the point I was seeing a neurosurgeon. My derm discontinued the med when she learned of the pain. Being a nurse, I read everything (including the PDR). Nothing was reported about my symptoms. Now, almost 7 years later, I suffer from severe back and generalized joint pain to the point I can no longer work full time. Before Accutane, I was a healthy, active young woman. It definitely ages you prematurely. If you haven't had these awful symptoms, count yourself blessed, and don't take this med again. Just read all the bad blogs on it. CAUTION | F | 37 | 3 months | 2/25/2008 | 1 | 30 years of acne | nosebleeds, dry cracked lips, personality change and loss of smell and alteration of taste. Smell and taste took 8 years to return. Still not 100 percent. Acne was gone while on product. Came back when off. | Many side effects not listed or known.This is a very serious drug. I do not know if it messed up my heart.Think twice before taking this drug. | F | 49 | 90 days | 6/25/2005 | 1 | cystic acne | I did two rounds of that crap in 1997.My skin cleared up.However I started having heart palpitations which have not stopped now for several years. Will they ever stop? Would I trade clear skin for these disturbing side affects? No, I am scared about what the future holds. This is a scary drug. I would never do it again | F | 48 | | 1/8/2005 | 1 | cystic acne | I did two rounds of that crap in 1997.My skin cleared up.However I started having heart palpitations which have not stopped now for several years. Will they ever stop? Would I trade clear skin for these disturbing side affects? No, I am scared about what the future holds. This is a scary drug. I would never do it again | F | 48 | | 1/8/2005 | 1 | acne | Tried to commit suicide | I have never had any sort of depression history in my family or in my life. I figured since this drug was doing what it was supposed to be doing...making me feel better about myself, then why would I be depressed. I honestly thought it was hype about the depression, and I didnt believe it. 5 months after being on the drug, I began having severe mood swings. I would lay in bed all day and just cry. Finally one night out of nowhere, I tried to kill myself. Now my entire family thinks I am insane, and I dropped out of college, because everyone knows. I had to stop taking accutane because it made me nuts. AND to top it all off, I've got pimples again. So I dont even know which is better. | F | 19 | 7 months | 2/14/2005 | 1 | acne | Tried to commit suicide | I have never had any sort of depression history in my family or in my life. I figured since this drug was doing what it was supposed to be doing...making me feel better about myself, then why would I be depressed. I honestly thought it was hype about the depression, and I didnt believe it. 5 months after being on the drug, I began having severe mood swings. I would lay in bed all day and just cry. Finally one night out of nowhere, I tried to kill myself. Now my entire family thinks I am insane, and I dropped out of college, because everyone knows. I had to stop taking accutane because it made me nuts. AND to top it all off, I've got pimples again. So I dont even know which is better. | F | 19 | 7 months | 2/14/2005 | 1 | acne | Tried to commit suicide | I have never had any sort of depression history in my family or in my life. I figured since this drug was doing what it was supposed to be doing...making me feel better about myself, then why would I be depressed. I honestly thought it was hype about the depression, and I didnt believe it. 5 months after being on the drug, I began having severe mood swings. I would lay in bed all day and just cry. Finally one night out of nowhere, I tried to kill myself. Now my entire family thinks I am insane, and I dropped out of college, because everyone knows. I had to stop taking accutane because it made me nuts. AND to top it all off, I've got pimples again. So I dont even know which is better. | F | 19 | 7 months | 2/14/2005 | 1 | 20 years of acne | severe dryness of skin (but the acne still manages to continue), severe dryness of eyes (still have that problem, depression (on and off), migraines | I do not recommend this med after two rounds of it. It worked short term for me, then the acne came back after about a year or so. Try chemical peels from a dermatologist's office along with the other meds they offer. The peels actually have helped the most of all. | F | 38 | 6 months | 8/9/2006 | 1 | Acne | chapped lips, nose bleeds, hip pain, dry eyes-Now have Type 1 Diabetes, IBS, Arthritis, High cholestrol (all associated with this medication) | i took this medication in my early twenties. At that time,(1988) the only caution from my dermatologist was DO NOT GET PREGNANT, can raise triglycerides and cause some joint pain which will go away when medicine is discontinued. Within months of finishing my round of Accutane, my pancreas started dumping too much insulin and I suffered severe hypoglycemia for months. I then developed insulin dependant diabetes. In my mid thirties my skin begin breaking our again. My derm put me on 40mg daily and gave me a BOOK of cautions and side effects. A BOOK! Among them was "notify your physician of diabetes in your family" can cause IBS, pancreatis (which can lead to diabetes) depression, suicide, and on and on. When I spoke with my dermatologist she said there was no proof and to keep taking it, I stopped immediatley. For the month I was on it, my hair fell out, my blood sugars went out of control. I spoke with my endocrinolgist about it and she agrees that is caused my diabetes. Th | F | 39 | 9 days | 6/21/2006 | 1 | cystic acne | Cracking and bleeding from every mucus membrane I had. Drying of my joints (knees, shoulders, fingers). Till this day I cannot sleep on my side unless I sleep on my scapula due to pain in my shoulder. Hair loss, hair loss, hair loss! Irritable bowel syndrome (maybe)... I think its worse as I am chronically constipated. I seldomly have pain as I won't have a bowel movement for over 2 weeks unless I take drastic measures! I can't smell due to chronic edema in my nose. | My face has no more acne, scars stopped forming after I completed my course but.....NOT WORTH IT with the MAJOR SIDE EFFECTS. To use the rest room once a day... priceless. I weighed 100lbs. Took 40 mg for extended period. | F | 43 | 1 years | 9/1/2005 | 1 | - | This is for the girls/women thinking of using the drug. Since skin problems are directly tied to testosterone, either over production or a hyper-sensitivity to it, please investigate possible hormone controlling drugs in addition to the topicals to really get a handle on the problem. Some birth control pills help some women. (like Yasmine or Ortho Tri-Cyclin). Also, please check out websites on P.C.O.S., or poly cycstic ovarian syndrome to see if you have other symptoms, because you may have an underlying ovarian problem which can cause chronic skin problems too. So, look into these things first, because they have a much safer track record than Accutane. And note: all birth control pills are slightly different, so if you get bad results with one, try another before you write it off as a possible answer. Good luck! | F | 28 | 1 days | 1/25/2006 | 1 | acne | i wasnt the one who took it | i know a young girl who had a baby with defects (was missings a kidney) and the doctors said it was because of accutane although she got pregnant 2 years after going off the medication :( i have acne but would never take accutane after i heard of her baby..really scary medicine and my fiance does not want me to take it because of birth defect side effect ..he said its too risky ..plus you cant be 100% sure of not getting pregnant..even with two types of contraceptives also the thinning of hair side effect is really scary .. i love my hair and wont take any risks..i heard sometime the thinning does not stop :O i hope there will be a better alternative to accutane with better results soon..lets pray for that! ;) | F | 22 | 6 months | 3/22/2006 | 1 | acne | Everything in the book and many more. My health was devastated. If you care about your health, don't take it. If you are embarassed about acne and want to take it for vanity reasons, I wouldn't take it either since it made all my hair fall out, my posture hunched and weak, my complexion grey, caused dandruff and grey hair and wrinkles and poor health. Not exactly a freaking beauty improvement. | F | 28 | 7 months | 12/27/2005 | 1 | acne | I had very dry skin, however when I was finshed I broke out with a terrible rash that I still have. It covered the side of my face and got worse. I still have it and have since I got off of accutane. I still have mild break outs. To me I would rather have acne then a rash that breaks out over my body that hurts and itches. | F | 17 | | 10/22/2006 | 1 | blemishes | 1.Swift & immediate extreme hair loss which became permanent. Also permanent unpleasant change to hair quality & texture (more coarse,dry,wiry,"old"). After taking it, hair now grows in more slowly than ever before. 2."Aging" effect, sudden appearance of wrinkles and grey hair practically overnight. Appeared to have aged 5-10 years in that many months! 3. Extreme joint pain/arthritis, temporary. Some joint pain/arthritis, permanent. Tendon damage & fragility, bone loss. Muscle soreness, fatigue with anxiety. 4. Although it did clear up awhile- my skin looked beautiful-, my fleeting experience with near-perfect looking facial skin brought no relief since I felt terribly weak & sore & achy and my hair looked like a gnarly baldy brillo pad. Pain made it difficult to continue exercising as much as I did before. At times, was too dispirited to get out of bed. Accutane cures acne like a fatal heart attack cures cancer. It just swaps it for something e | 7.Giant patches of skin (inches across at times!) flaked off around nose & scalp & ears especially. Still on ears over 6 yrs later:red, raw, flaky.8.Worsening of overall skin resilience & tone throughout body. Brittle nails, fragile skin tears easily, etc.Felt unexplainably "brittle", as if my "bounce" is gone. 9. Chronic, mild irritated, dry eyes. 10.To be fair, I was not traumatized EVERY day. I truly believed the troublesome effects would go & no serious harm was coming to me, as docs said. I had hope, so wasn't 100% dejected. Before, I was a happy girl, healthy, energetic & excited about resolving long- term acne. I was enthusiastic about living a great, suc- cessful life. I was NOT depressed & anxious by nature. I worked out, ate health food, & was a picture of vitality aside from frustratingly persistent acne. I had no idea what I was in for, in terms of years of physical problems afterwards, for the sake of self-improvement. I woul | F | 36 | 6.5 months | 12/27/2005 |