Mike, East Stroudsburg, PA

Hello everyone, my name is Mike and I am a 19 year old college student. I have been on Sotret, a generic brand of Accutane, for 3.5 months. I have to tell you that this has been the most unpleasant experience of my life. I have had pretty bad nodular acne for about four years. I have been on about eight different medications before exploring Accutane. I was always skeptical of going on this medication because of the side effects. My dermatologist has always said that great success involves great risk. I eventually caved in and went on Accutane. I immediately noticed that my lips started drying up and I wondered how much worse it could possibly get. I started developing sebaceous cysts on my back, chest, and even face. I looked absolutely horrible and felt even worse. At month two I talked to my derm again and he said that it was only a matter of time before it started getting better. Month three rolled around and I heard the same story from him. However, this time around I was in a lot of physical pain. My ankles continuously swell up, my tailbone is constantly hurting so I can not sit in a chair for a long amount of time, my shins hurt, I have a horrible pain in my chest and it hurts even worse when I sneeze. One side effect that I had from this drug, which apparently less than one percent of all users experience, is severe depression. I did not want to go to class, hang around with my friends, or do anything that I normally used to love. This drug was absolutely killing me. He prescribed me Prednisone to help out the inflammation. When I take the Prednisone, I feel great. The downside to Prednisone is the simple fact that it creates more white blood cells in your body, which in turn makes your acne flare up. I either have to live in pain or I have to have my acne swell up, particularly on my cheeks and forehead. I am constantly in pain and my derm said that there is nothing that he can do. I am at the 3.5 month mark right now and my acne is severely worse than it was before I began Accutane. I am not one to regret anything in his life because I believe you learn from past mistakes, but I will say that I regret going on Accutane. This medication has severely and slowly destroyed my social life, my mental health, and my emotional health. I am extremely upset with the results and I do not know what to do anymore. After hearing everyone talk about how their skin had gotten so much better by month two, it makes me wonder if Accutane is just not going to work for me. Maybe I am being a little greedy right now, but I just want to be normal and have clearer completion than I have now.

teddy, Toronto, Canada

accutane is such a god send.
i first took the medication two years ago and had no break outs for a year and a half. within a week of being off the medication all the chapping and dry skin goes away.
but accutane is not a permanent solution for everyone and i started getting some breakouts again. nothing like before but to make sure it didn't get worse my dermatologist put me back on accutane so i'm in my second month right now and don't really have any breakouts but one lonely one.
i love this medication. when everything else failed this one works wonders.

JESSE, Hackensack, NJ

I ALSO AM AT THE END OF MY 3RD MONTH AND SEEING VERY GOOD RESULTS. ACCUTANE STARTED OUT ROUGH BUT IS NOW LOOKING LIKE MY SKIN WILL CLEAR UP AND LOOK LIKE IT DID YEARS AGO. IF YOU HAVE SCARES, I DO RECOMMEND THE LASER TREATMENTS THAT ARE OUT THERE TO REMOVE REDNESS AND SCARES. I JUST HAD SCARING AROUND MY MOUTH AND CHIN AND IT ONLY COST ABOUT 60 BUCKS A SESSION(4-5 SESSIONS)yOU DO HAVE TO WAIT A COUPLE OF MONTHS AFTER THE ACCUTANE TO GET THE TREATMENTS.

betty

I, along with everyone else, am one who has literally tried everything under the sun to get rid of my acne. I am 18 years old, and have had acne for about 4 years. I mainly struggled with the little bumps under the skin, that were most noticeable in photos which was just terrific for my senior year..prom pictures, graduation pictures. YUCK! nightmare...Anyways, I finally got on Accutane after switching my dermatologists...I almost finished with 3 of my 5 months, and I honestly couldn't be happier. At first, it really was horrible. My skin was so dry, my lips were disgusting and my face..well it wasn't getting better, only worse. Up until a couple of weeks ago I didn't see a difference...but now, I have nothing...No pimples, no blemishes, no little bumps. My face is completely clear no matter how stressed out I am, no matter what I do...I haven't broken out. It's amazing. I strongly suggest those of you that are looking for something that works...ask your derm about Accutane. And if you do get on it...Buy the big tube of Aquaphor for your lips. It will save your life!...Let me know if you have any more questions or if I can help you with anything. Best of luck to all.