This stuff works... Some people get bad dry skin and lips while on it but I really only noticed my skin flushing easily, like if I went in the sun or if it was warm. All in all...anyone with moderate to severe acne simply needs Accutane. It will change your life.

I have finally stop procrastinating and decided to write a review for Isotretinoin. I urge anyone who is considering Accutane to read this whole review: It has been two years since finishing my Accutane course. I was immensely pleased with my profound clearing of acne (seeing as antibiotics and over-the-counter products did not work for me), but was disappointed that I was left with redness, broken blood vessels, and joint pain. Presently, I am having Vbeam treatments to have the vessels shrunk. For months after finishing my course, I was very angry at my dermatologist and at Accutane for my predicament. I would rather have had the temporary severe acne and found an alternative treatment than have horridly permanent broken vessels that take (on average) thousands of dollars to remove. But as time went by, I realized it was completely unrealistic for me to be mad at Accutane or my dermatologist. We agreed on Accutane. I signed up for it. There can be no blame for him. And as for Accutane, it is truly a fantastic drug (and I say this without sarcasm). For those of you who are hesitant about going on Accutane, do not let me deter you from making that decision. The ratio of patients who experience severe side effects to patients who do not are not alarming in the least. If you believe you are developing any of the possible side effects, discontinue use. Blood tests are routinely taken, and your dermatologists checks for symptoms. I truly do recommend this drug (though, only as a last resort. I am currently as clear as I was when I got off Accutane by eating a strict diet, and living healthily). P.S. Keep this is mind: If everyone who ever used Accutane through the IPLEDGE system had written a review for it, the rating would be higher. Do you truly believe that 100% of happy users come back and are anxious to tell us about their experience? Nay, it's the users who have had less-than-satisfactory experiences who are anxious to dissuade

Nothing has ever worked on my acne as well as accutane. I used to have severe nodular inflammatory acne and was finally put on accutane when it got really bad my junior year of high school. I started at 10mg first month then 20mg second month, 30mg the third and topped off at 40mg the remaining months. It took about 4-5 months before my acne was noticeably better. I didn't noticed a IB probably because my acne was already pretty bad to begin with. By 6 months there was only a few red marks left. After 9 months my skin was completely flawless and my confidence was never so high. This was the time I got my senior picture and my skin looks absolutely amazing in that picture. However around this time my monthly blood test showed very high liver enzymes out of the blue and my doctor immediately took me off without hesitation. It may have been because I started drinking around this time. DON'T drink while on accutane, it can only do you harm. About 2-3 months later my acne came back, though not nearly as severe. Now 2 years later, it has slowly gotten worse and could be considered moderate acne now. Currently I am trying tretinoin to see if it can replicate accutane's results. If you have severe acne like I did I'd give it a 5, however if your acne is only mild to moderate I'd recommend trying retin-A or another topical retinoid.

I had severe cystic and nodular acne. Hated looking in mirror. Accutane has changed my life!!!!!!!!!!!! It has made it back to the way it was before stupid acne. I really recommend this drug

I'm a 21 year old female on my 3rd month of taking Accutane (Claravis) at 30 mg twice a day. I love accutane so far, it has completely cleared up my skin and saved my self-esteem and social life. My Side Effects on Accutane: -High Cholesterol: my cholesterol increased the first month after I started taking accutane and is still high at month 3. It isn't much above the normal range and apparently it is pretty common, so my doctor said she isn't worried unless it continues to increase. -Dry lips: my lips are only really dry if I forget to bring/put on chapstick, but if I keep them hydrated then it's not too bad. -Dry skin: my skin wasn't too dry the first 2 months, but this 3rd month, it's been much more dry, so more lotion and aquaphor! -Dry hair: makes my hair frizzy but it doesn't get greasy like it used to -Sore joints: very mild the first month, very painful the second month, and now very mild the third month Tips for Those on Accutane: -You may have to get used to a new skin type. My skin is much more delicate and dry now that I'm on accutane. It took me a while to get used to this and in my first month I made the mistake of trying to pop a pimple and I ended up tearing off a layer or so of my skin which lead to a big, red, painful, dry spot that was much worse and lasted longer than the pimple would have. So, be very gentle with your skin! -Also, now on that I'm on accutane I've noticed that pimples go away on their own very quickly, but a dry spot is usually left behind for a week or so. -So, I've learned to only pop a pimple if it's a white head and I pop it very gently! -If you have a particularly dry spot, aquaphor healing ointment works really well to help heal it up! I usually apply it to dry spots when I go to bed (after I put on lotion) -Cetaphil gentle skin cleanser, Cetaphil sunscreen (spf 50), and Cetaphil moisturizing lotion all work great for me. I wash at least twice a day and always apply lotion afterwards Other (possibly irrelevant) Tips: -I don't let anything dirty touch my face; I never touch my face with my hands unless I've just scrubbed them with soap, I change my pillowcase every night, I use a clean towel each time I dry my face, I make sure my hair doesn't get on my face, etc. I know it's a bit excessive but I'm just terrified of breaking out -I don't eat/drink dairy. I stopped eating dairy 6 or 7 years ago and it really helped improve my acne. It may be worth it to cut or reduce your dairy intake and see if it helps you at all -I try to get a lot of sleep because if I don't, I often wake up with a pimple or two (which is a lot now that I'm taking accutane) The side effects and blood work, Dr. appointments, etc. for accutane can be pretty annoying, but it's totally worth it to me. Acne is a terribly painful disease--psychologically and physically! Before I took accutane I was very healthy, but I was also very depressed and isolated because of my severe acne and hopeless that I would ever feel normal again. Now, I am not as physically healthy (high cholesterol, sore joints), but I am incredibly happy, confident and excited about life. For me, the side effects are worth the benefits. What's the point of keeping your body completely healthy and pain-free if you're too depressed and embarrassed by your acne to actually go outside and live your life? For those of you who are struggling with acne, especially if you are avoiding your friends and family or are scared to look at yourself in the mirror or cringe every time you have to wash your face or cry because you feel like a monster, like I was, please try Accutane. I was so scared and embarrassed to take it. I didn't want to accept that my acne was so severe and I was worried about all the side effects. But thank god I did because Accutane has given me my life back. Good luck!

8 months after taking my last pill it's hard to say whether it was worth the risk. 25 year old male with a pizza back sucked. I'd had enough of slathering handfuls of BP and AHA over my back and neck, face (with minimal improvement) so I did some research to see what I could do to put acne to rest from the inside out. First it was vitamins - no luck. Then Doxy, which failed. My problem was OIL, way too much of it. Accutane was the only option (or B5). I was prescribed 60mg a day then worked up to 100mg over two months or so. This was a little past the recommended dose 0.5 ' 1 mg / per kg body weight being 95kg. My thinking was I never wanted to do this again so let's get it right first time around. I reached a cumulative dosage of 150mg in just over 5 months to say bye acne for good. And it worked' I'd never been so happy in my life with my skin. But then it came. 2 weeks after my last pill I was washing my hair in the shower and there in my hands was over 50 hairs. I totally broke down knowing what it was: telogen effluvium. Since then I've lost 200 ' 300 hairs a day for 8 months. It happens due to a physical stress on the body which causes your hair to prematurely enter a resting state (generally from between 8 months' 2 years with accutane). The hair doesn't fall out for 2 -4 months after the stress event so you probably won't know until it's too late. I suspect my telogen effluvium was due to my high dosage. My advice would be not to take any more than 1mg p/kg of your total body weight a day. If I could do it all over again I'd take less each day for a longer period of time to reach the recommended cumulative dosage of 120 ' 150. Wish I could post a more positive review, but this is my story and it's real. Everyone is different will react differently. I give Accutane 5 stars for acne because I'm pretty much cured (so far), but I will never get all my hair back. It's a risk that didn't pay off for me.

I have had acne my whole life but after college, age 23, I had a horrible breakout and VERY oily skin. I am not a typical candidate for this med but I tried everything and nothing worked. This drug is a last resort b/c there are so many potential side effects. Do your research before you start. Luckily I only experienced very minor side effects. No initial breakout, dry lips(no cracking), and back pain that was manageable. I did have to stop going to the gym b/c of the back pain but looking back it was worth. All negative side effects resolved after I completed the 5 month course. I weigh about 68kg. My first month of treatment was 40mg. I did not see many improvements at this point and my skin was still oily. At this time my cholesterol shot up to 240 (before treatment 198). Month two I went up to 80mg and this is when I really started to see results although this is also when the back pain started. The final 3 months I stayed on 60mg and the back pain lessened but was still there. My lips were dry all through treatment and it was unbearable to not have Aquaphor on my lips even though they never cracked or flaky. My cholesterol is now back to normal. I have been off of Claravis for over a month now. My skin is finally normal, no excess oil. I do get pimples occasionally but no painful cysts like I used to. When you are on the treatment make sure you use SFP on your WHOLE body, gentle cleanser like Cetaphil, and Aquaphor is your friend. All of the cons are worth it in the end! It is a short term treatment, hopefully for a lifetime of acne free skin. If my acne comes back I will definitely take another course of the medication because of the amazing results.

Acne was literally crushing me, I was anti social and deathly insecure, I avoided any socializing with anyone besides my closest friends, I mostly just spent my time playing wow or getting stoned by myself (I blame this destructive behavior solely on my insecurities rooted in my acne symptoms.) Accutane, despite its negative side effects gave me a life, I am slowly gaining much more confidence in myself when it comes to meeting new people, talking to girls etc. I am now proud to go and hang out with friends at the football game, go to parties and flirt with the opposite sex. I should have taken this back when I was 14

Ok, so I went on this drug after about 12 months of deliberating and trying other medications, mostly antibiotics and various creams that my dermatologist prescribed me. This was to be the "final solution". I was prescribed 40 mg a day for three months - a relatively weak dose. The first two months were fine. I experienced increased sensitivity to the sun (far worse than what I had experienced on Minocyline and other various antibiotics/creams), dry eyes and flaky skin - but nothing that I was particularly thrown or worried by. Just before the three month mark, I had the option of extending my treatment to four months as I had one more repeat left. I seriously considered this as I thought it would be good to give it a final punch. This is when the psychological stuff kicked in. Now I first want to mention that I was not the kind of person expecting to experience psychological dramas - albeit a genetic predisposition to depression, I considered myself healthy and mentally strong. In the lead up to my exams, I experienced very bad severe anxiety. Now - most people I told thought it was a case of me being "a little nervous about exams", it being "just normal". No - I experienced anxiety so bad and so persistent that it made me want to kill myself. It was like waves of continual anxiety that drowned me and destroyed my self-confidence, almost making me depressed. I know that it was the drug because I have been through many exam periods and have never had the same situation. In all other aspects of my life I was fine - I was fit, had plenty of social time with friends etc. - I definitely knew that it was the drug that was inducing this anxiety. Fortunately I told my mother who had similar problems as a depressant. She got me straight off the drug and ever since I have felt the anxiety receding. I want to stress that this is a very good drug for severe acne. But please be aware it can have very serious psychological

Accutane was a last ditch effort to get rid of my acne while I was in college. Everything else I had tried didn't work. The accutane dried me out. I was so dry I had to put a vitamin A & E cream on my lips so I could talk without them cracking and getting bloody. I would randomly have bloody noses. My cholesterol levels jumped up 50 points, and I was moody and stressed. I only had to wash my hair once a week because I wasn't producing enough oil to get it dirty! For about six months after my skin was beautiful and flawless. No acne at all! Then it came back. Not as bad at first, but a couple years ago it got worse than it had been before. Long term the drug might have given me Lupus like symptoms. The warning label for that has now been added to the drug, but when I was taking it I had no idea it could do that. Now my joints ache all the time and my eyes have never regained their normal tear producing abilities. My cholesterol did drop back down to it's normal levels after I stopped taking it. I wouldn't recommend accutane for anyone. Too many long lasting effects and it was hell while I was taking it. Even as a last resort I would urge people to really weight the pros and cons before taking it.