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 Date added. 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 | severe acne | extremely dry skin; difficulty healing minor wounds; itchy bumps on the neck which, when scratched, get bigger and bleed; tiny itchy bumps on forearms; irritability; dry mouth, eyes, nose (sometimes resulting in nose bleeds); increased appetite; strange pain on bottom of feet, particularly heels; fatigue; and reduced sex drive. | I am SO HOPING that these symptoms are worth it. I can take it for now, and I have an incredibly supportive partner, but I'm on my third bump-up in dose and the symptoms are becoming more pronounced. My acne interfered with my self-confidence at work (I do a lot of public speaking), and these side effects are interfering somewhat now, as well, in both my work life and my personal life. I'm going to power through this thing and take the advice that someone offered earlier: take better care. Pay attention to the sex drive stuff, drink more water, and take vitamins. | F | 40 | 3 months | 2/27/2008 | 5 | cystic acne and extremely oily skin | dry lips, eyes, & skin, occassional but treatable rash on the tops of my hands, periodic sore/fatigued muscles, occassional bloody nasal mucous, slower healing of minor cuts | I am a 35 year old mother of two, working psychologist, taking my third 20 week regimen of accutane. I have never had "severe" acne but did have the cystic acne with extremely oily skin, sometimes needing two showers daily. My first two consecutive regimens began at age 31, almost two years after the birth of my first child. The benefits were permanent until my hormones were sent back into flux again during my second pregnancy and birth of my second child a year and a half ago - the oil and minor cystic acne breakouts reemerged. I am currently taking 120 mg/day, a very high dose but I suppose I'm able to tolerate it due to high oil production. I have never posted a drug review but feel compelled to do so after reading some the absurd anecdotal accounts of this medication. I caution those considering taking accutane to base their decision on sound medical literature and take subjective reports with a grain of salt. While I have been extremely pleased (decreased oil prod | F | 35 | 12 months | 2/26/2008 | 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 | 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 | 5 | Cystic Acne | Very dry and cracked lips, moderately dry, flaky facial skin, increased skin allergies (hives at first, but Claritin took care of it completely), dry hair, itchy scalp, joint pain, tired all the time. | There are some pretty unfortunate side effects to this drug, but it has proven FANTASTIC for me so far. I have been on it for three months, and my skin is immaculate. Prior to starting, there wasn't a day since I was 12 years old that my face did not look like an oil slick with multiple cysts...over the past year, I had multiple very painful and red cysts on my neck daily. These are all gone. I feel very comfortable on this drug, as my dermatologist checks my blood monthly, and I have been fine. As long as you see a dermatologist who cooperates with the iPledge system, and insists upon doing bloodwork monthly, I would highly recommend this drug. A few months of inconvenient side effects WAY outweighs the emotional and physical pain acne causes for years. Do your research and monitor your health, and you should be just fine. | F | 26 | 3 months | 2/18/2008 | 4 | for acne | dry lips, ichy head, dry spots on face, and dry mouth | i have only been on it for 3 weeks and it seems to be working. my lips are dry and i use aquaphor all day, it comes in a small tabe an di take it to school and apply it about 10 times a day! i hope my side effects dont worsen. though my face isnt as bad as it was, i have horrible black heads since ive started. my mom tries to tell me that it is becasue all the shit on the bottom layer is coming up but i really dont know. my face is sometimes dry and i use hydrating lotion every morning. i take 40mg at night and in the morning. i go to the doctor next week to check back. | M | 16 | 3 weeks | 2/13/2008 | 4 | Persistent cystic acne since age 13 | Dry lips, dry eyes, occasional eyelid twitching, unable to wear contact lenses every day, numbness in fingers, occasional muscle cramps in legs and feet, headaches, and general anxiety induced by reading about all the possible side effects. | I am a 33 year old female, 125 lbs. I have had severe oily skin and moderate cystic acne since age 13. I started taking Accutane a little over 2 months ago. My derm started me out on a regimen of 40/80/40mg alternating daily, and after 4 days my body could not handle it so I stopped. I developed a twitch in my left eyelid, a severely dry left eye with blurred vision (due to dryness) and drug-induced arthralgia in my ring and pinky fingers. He wasn't very understanding so I switched derms and my new doc started me out on 10mg daily the first month, 20mg daily the second month, and now I am on 40mg daily (20mg 2x daily.) My body is tolerating it much better and my skin is improving daily. The best advice I can give you is 1.) Find a doctor's office who understands the iPledge system, 2.) Have your doctor start you off on a low dose, and 3.) Take your medicine with a full meal. You may be afraid to take it at first, but when you start seeing the results you will be amazed. | F | 33 | 10 weeks | 2/5/2008 | 3 | Acne | Severe dry lips, rectal bleeding, coughing up a very small amount of blood, very light nose bleeds, mood swings, depression, no energy, weakness; very itchy tiny bumps popping up all over my body..I've had them for about 5 days and not sure when they are going to go away, acne is a little better. | This medicine really henders your relationships with people. I wouldn't recommend it, there are also too many side effects. These rash like bumps all over my body and are 10 times worse than having acne on my face. If you have any more questions, feel free to write me at [email protected]. thanks. | F | 25 | 5 months | 1/31/2008 | 5 | Moderate to Severe Cystic Acne | Just like everyone else: extremely dry lips and skin, hyper-sensitivity to the sun, dry and sensitive eyes, mild joint pain. | It was all worth it. I took Accutane when I was 12. The doctor told me I may have to take it again since I was pre-puberty and the acne could flair up again during puberty. It was a tough 6 months and I wanted to quit many times but my mom wouldn't let me. The joint pain wasn't too severe because I continued to play sports. I never did have to take the meds again because the acne never reoccured. I am 21 now and have perfect skin with no permanent side effects and no scarring. I suffered from depression but that was because of the acne, not the meds. I was embarrassed to be seen. Taking Accutane continues to be one of the best decisions I (and my parents) ever made. | M | 21 | 6 months | 1/11/2008 | 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 | 2 | acne | dry dry lips | I had mild acne and this cleared it up for just a year, then it came back fullforce. would not recommend this to anyone. birth control pills+retin a were more effective longterm. | F | 18 | 6 months | 12/7/2007 | 1 | Cystic Acne | Chronic bloody nose, dry lips, but the worst part was the pain in my feet! My toes and the bottom of my feet pealed and I shuffled around like I was 80 years old. I took this drug in 1997 for about 6 months and my acne came back within 6 months after completing. I still have terrible pain in my feet - primarily my heels. I would never recommend this drug to anyone. I think it is very dangerous. | F | 46 | 6 months | 12/4/2007 | 2 | acne | First dose I experienced dizziness, blurred vision, heart palpations, and a pressure headache, which I have never experienced before. | I'm really disappointed. I thought accutane would be the miracle cure to the acne problem that has plagued me for years. Aside from the side effects, can I just point out that going through I-Pledge and actually obtaining the drug was a headache in itself that took over a month to accomplish. Please make sure you have a good doc cause if not, good luck getting i-pledge, the pharmacy, and your doc all on the same page. when I finally got the drug, I took my first pill at 40 mg. Within 6 hours I felt dizzy, my heart was beating funny, I was disoriented, and my vision was blurry. It hadn't even crossed my mind yet that it could be in the accutane. I thought it was side effects from the Gardasil shot I got a couple weeks earlier. I thought maybe I was having an anxiety attack, and layed down to relax. I felt better but was woken up at 5 a.m. with a horrible headache. My dizziness, etc. came back. By 3 p.m. the next day I was so scared I checked myself into the emergency room. I was diagnos | F | 21 | 1 days | 11/25/2007 | 4 | Acne | Dry skin and lips | I have to take it again because the acne returned after a few weeks when I stopped taking it. | F | 18 | 5 months | 11/22/2007 | 5 | Tough Acne | Chapped lips, Dry arms, and other dryness. VERY annoying but really not life-ending side effects. | All you people who bitch about all the side effects probably did not take care of yourselves during the treatment or were treating yourselves badly. Stress is one of the main causes of acne.For those who really hate acne, i dont know why, I really suggest the treatment of the digestive system. This may sound nasty, but drink vinegar!!!!! DAILY! It clears out your system. Put it on your face as well! Also drink loads of water. Another helpful thing is to serial vegetable diet a week here and there. One medicine wont do shit for you if you dont help yourself! | M | 17 | 5 months | 11/19/2007 | 5 | Severe Disfiguring Nodular Acne | Dry lips and everything else; decreased night vision;prolonged healing of skin; hair thinning; hightened agression, thoughts of suicide(during the first 3 months when it got much worse) | After suffering over a decade with disfiguring acne, the third course of a 15 month low dose treatment finally worked. Accutane is the best thing to ever happen to me. I would recommend it to anyone who is like me, and isn't afraid of going through hell to have a life. This is not for people with pimples, but for those with serious cystic acne that literally deformes their face like mine did. The benefits outweigh the risks so don't be a wuss. | F | 25 | 15 months | 11/11/2007 | 3 | cystic acne | dry lips, lack of energy, severe joint pain, high cholesterol and high triglicerides the last month of treatment | The first year and a half after discontinuing accutane was wonderful. No cystic acne and the oily skin was gone. Then, overnight, the oil production increased and I was back into a full blown cystic acne nightmare. Don't be lulled into thinking that accutane is the be all end all to your acne problems. Most likely they will return. If they don't, you are one of the lucky few. My dermatologist had told me that the results would be life long....My new dermatologist said that is never the case. It only helps to control the acne. I will never regret taking accutane..but the results were not permanent. | F | 38 | 6 months | 11/9/2007 | 5 | Cystic acne | Dry lips, arms and hands. | I am about to start my third month of accutane. At first I was on 30mg/day, but I was increased to 60mg/day after my first month. I have struggled with acne since the 4th grade. I also have polycystic ovarian disease. I have tried every treatment available and/or suggested, from other antibiotics to disgusting home remedies. My skin was EXTREMELY oily. Within no more than 30 minutes after taking a bath/shower, my skin literally had a layer of oil on it. I had at least one very painful, swollen, cystic outbreak around my menstrual cycle, that usually resulted in a large scar. So, I decided to take a chance. I'm dealing with having to take birth control and with the monthly blood tests and doctor visits. My skin cleared up within the first month. I never imagined what it would be like for my hair to stay oil free for a few hours much less more than a day at a time. My skin and hair is super soft and clean - I don't need to take three showers a day anymore! When the derm increased my do | F | 26 | 2 months | 11/7/2007 | 4 | moderate acne | painful dry lips, painful rash on arms, less painful rash on stomach, slight depression, headaches, back pain | It took almost 6 months before I really noticed a difference. I am at the end of my 7th month and do not have acne ANYWHERE. Not on my face, chest, back or shoulders! I cant remember the last time not having any! I am so excited to get off this stuff so hopefully this rash and chapped lips goes away. Then I can wear a tank top! | F | 24 | 7 months | 11/2/2007 | 4 | 10 years of acne | Dry lips, no oil in hair, dry skin, rash on hands and forearms, headaches, nausea, exhaustion, joint pain (severe), red skin on face, and increased appetite. | I'm on 120 mg a day (150lbs). Joint pain and headaches were so severe, saw another Dr. for 2nd opinion. Found out dose was an illegal limit. Now am down to 80mg a day. Was fine for first 3 months, 4th month is hurting. Days I can not get out of bed or walk up and down stairs. Living on Execedrin Migrane (2-3 a day). But skin is somewhat clearing up and that's the point, I guess. Hopefully, I do not experience the long term side effects. Clear skin is worth just about everything I have experienced so far. | F | 28 | 4 months | 10/30/2007 |