Thread: Have you taken Accutane?

I took Accutane about 5 years ago. Apparently, there are lawsuits out on this drug.

One morning I woke up with my faced covered in Acne. I had tried all sorts of medicines, vitamins, facials, etc. Nothing helped. Finally my derm. prescibed me Accutane. He said it would get worse before it got better. Boy was he right. It got so much worse, I looked like I had a disease on my face. My pimples were like sores and at times when I would smile or laugh, they would pop on their own oozing out puss and blood. Talking about embarrassing! I tried hiding my face with my hair, tried covering it up with make-up, anything not to be seen. It was so bad, I did not like leaving my house just to get gas. Not only did my face get worse, my skin was so dry I felt like I was made out of sandpaper. My skin flaked everywhere, my lips were constantly chapped and would bleed, I had nosebleeds all the time, dry mouth and throat, etc. I had crying spells, was depressed, and did not want to be around anyone.

This was very hard while being in college. Years later, I still break out a little here and there, but now I have SEVERE acne scars from it. I was on a blind date once and the guy told me I was a cute girl, but what happened to my face? And asked if I was a burnt victim. I get mirco-dermabrasion facials at least once a month to possibly help with the scarring. Gels, creams don't work. I've heard horror stories with Laser treatment. At times I still get down from it when I notice all the scars. Sometimes I'd give up my in shape body or my breast argumentation just for smooth non-scared skin.

Anyone else gone through this medication before? If so - please share your experience.

Originally Posted by kristina45208

I took Accutane about 5 years ago. Apparently, there are lawsuits out on this drug.

One morning I woke up with my faced covered in Acne. I had tried all sorts of medicines, vitamins, facials, etc. Nothing helped. Finally my derm. prescibed me Accutane. He said it would get worse before it got better. Boy was he right. It got so much worse, I looked like I had a disease on my face. My pimples were like sores and at times when I would smile or laugh, they would pop on their own oozing out puss and blood. Talking about embarrassing! I tried hiding my face with my hair, tried covering it up with make-up, anything not to be seen. It was so bad, I did not like leaving my house just to get gas. Not only did my face get worse, my skin was so dry I felt like I was made out of sandpaper. My skin flaked everywhere, my lips were constantly chapped and would bleed, I had nosebleeds all the time, dry mouth and throat, etc. I had crying spells, was depressed, and did not want to be around anyone.

This was very hard while being in college. Years later, I still break out a little here and there, but now I have SEVERE acne scars from it. I was on a blind date once and the guy told me I was a cute girl, but what happened to my face? And asked if I was a burnt victim. I get mirco-dermabrasion facials at least once a month to possibly help with the scarring. Gels, creams don't work. I've heard horror stories with Laser treatment. At times I still get down from it when I notice all the scars. Sometimes I'd give up my in shape body or my breast argumentation just for smooth non-scared skin.

Anyone else gone through this medication before? If so - please share your experience.

I'm sorry about your luck with acne! I have had acne since was about 12 years old (i'm now 18). I have been on many different acne medications, and my derm this year decided maybe I would want to try accutane. I am about to start my 4th month of it. Before I started my accutane, I had bad scarring on the sides of my cheeks. Raised red scars. I also had milder scarring on the rest of my face. Before accutane, I used different at-home dermabrasion/chemical peel kits and those seemed to improve my scars alot and make my skin much smoother! As I have been on accutane, my scars have faded ALOT and i'm kinda shocked because I didn't expect it to do that. My experience with accutane has been a very positive one. The only side-effect I really have is dry skin and REALLY dry lips. I can deal with that for clear skin. I can't believe how much my face has cleared up and will continue to do so. I just really hope it doesn't come back. I'm sorry for your bad luck with it I guess it just varies from person to person. I wish you the best of luck.

I have struggled with acne since I was about 13 or 14. I am 19 now. I took Accutane when I was about 16 and my skin did improve drastically. But, now I am not so quick to give Accutane all the credit. My acne is generally hormonal. Ever since I was about 11 or 12 I have been easily stressed and always had terrible PMS (killer cramps, mood swings, vomiting). I noticed whenever I was stressing out, my acne would get worse. The Accutane helped, of course, but looking back I definitely DID NOT need it. As it made me EVEN MORE emotional (as you said) and it has lots of negative effects, I continued to take birth control to regulate my hormones, periods, PMS etc after stopping accutane and my skin didn't get worse until I got off of the pill (was too expensive before the Bayer cards came out) and went through a really ugly break up and living on my own (stress). Now, back on the pill my skin is getting better, fast.

In addition to my birth control I use Neutrogena face wash it's a pink grapefruit acne wash ($8) twice a day. After I wash my face I use First Aid Beauty 5 in 1 Face Cream (it says "Age Delay" but that is only because of the nutrients, spf 30 and filters uva/uvb rays, it is NOT a wrinkle cream). MOUSTURIZATION IS KEY. YOUR FACE WILL ONLY GET [BWORSE[/B] IF YOU LET IT DRY OUT. This can be found at Sephora for $38. As far as make up goes I use Bare Minerals from Sephora. BEST.MAKEEUP.EVER. Hands down, and I've tried everything lol. Not only does it make my skin look amazing but it actually helps heal my skin. A basic starter kit is about $60 at sephora, but a customizable starter kit is about $49. Yes its pricy, but well worth it. Take it from someone who has tried concealers from MAC, Nars, Aveda, Victoria's Secret, Chanel, Lancome, Clinique, Maybelline, NEutrogena etc and pretty much everything else you can imagine.

I don't want to hear anyone say that a good concealer is not a key part of acne "healing". In order to make it go away, you need to embrace it. Trust me I've learned. Using a good concealer makes my skin looks flawless, thus making me feel flawless, giving me less stress about my acne, which made my acne go bye-bye. So stop into Sephora, their employees are always so nice and willing to help. The lady who worked with me showed me how to apply the make up (super easy, by the way!), told me what each thing in the kit is, helped me find a moisturizer that was good for my skin, etc.

Hope my rant helps, feel free to message me if you have any more questions.

I have never had a huge issue with acne until about 2 months ago and I'm 22. I got off the depo shot earlier in the year and my hormones went crazy which lead to pretty bad acne. I have never used accutane but i do know there are a lot of side affects from using it. An ex of mine got bad hemmorriods from using it when he was younger and still gets them every so often. I recently went to my dermetologist. He gave me epiduo, which works wonders! Along with some antibiotics, and another medication. I can't remember what it was called but I only took it for 6 days. Within 3 days my face was clear and has been since. I would talk to your doctor about other options other than accuntane.