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.