Been struggling with adult acne for a while now. My derm. and I have tried a handful of RX topicals. No luck. We’ve discussed accutane in the past. And we have run out of lotions , RX’s, creams ,soaps etc…
I read the iPledge booklet she gave me and signed away. We are planning on starting n Sat. after my bloodwork. A lil’ nervous considering I take Lexapro for anxiety/dperession. She said I should be ok. But if it gets worse to stop and let her now. What do you guys think
Be very careful man. I highly suggest a low dose regimen.
Do you mean Roaccutane? I went on this after a bood test before hand for a 6 month dose. My cousin (female) went on 2x 6 months doses. Quite sure it was a 6 months lay off in between. We both had it unbelieveably bad. Her skin cause of 2 doses afterwords was PERFECT, kinda like on those proactiv ads :P.
Maybe its called Roacutane here in AUS.
Also tried te realtively weaker gear called Minomycin.- no good for me anyway.
i was on it for 3 months and literally was one of the best things i have ever done…you skin will be so dry it will flake which means constant lotions and potions.
I took a medium-high dosage my sophomore year of high school…6 months…
If you have any questions id be happy to answer em.
I’m looking forward to the results. But am concerned with my anxiety/depression. I read many people say this can make it extremely worse. Thatsmy biggest concern. Next to the not drinking alcohol…
She said I didn’t have to give up alcohol completely , but alcohol with accutane can fuck up my triglyceride levels. Which I wuld then I have to stop the accutane until my tri. levels were in order then start over.
FISH OIL! Massive amounts of fish oil was the only thing that got rid of my acne when I was younger. Helps with depression too.
[quote]Malevolence wrote:
FISH OIL! Massive amounts of fish oil was the only thing that got rid of my acne when I was younger. Helps with depression too.[/quote]
Extra fish oil is never a bad idea, but I don’t think you can compare fish oil to accutane for acne.
I did a low dose 6 month ‘cycle’ of accutane junior year in HS, and even though the sides can be pretty nasty, it worked when nothing else would.
If it’s your last option, I say go for it. 6 months of moisturizer and aquaphor were worth years of clear skin that followed.
if you are under supervision of your doctor that should take some of the worry off.try it…if you feel worse go back to your derm. its a great drug but if you dont feel like your in a place to do it…dont do it
For the love of god, do NOT take accutane if you already HAVE depression or are PREDISPOSED to depression (family). Otherwise most people come out unscathed.
Accutane kickstarted my 15 year battle with depression and chronic fatigue. Depression runs in my family, so it may have developed anyways, but it probably wouldn’t have started at 17 and probably wouldn’t be as treatment resistant.
Fish oil makes my acne worse.
[quote]Dopa wrote:
Fish oil makes my acne worse.[/quote]
Um…it shouldn’t.
Accutane works very well, but the side effects are a bitch, weigh your options.
I’m glad I took it, I think it permanently changed my skin.
My friend had horrible acne and accutane cleared him right up. Not a zit since.
Only thing was when he dropped his other medications at the start of the accutane cycle he broke out worse than ever. Be prepared for that.
You’ll look great if you finish though.
Dude its amazing! just get ponds dry skin face lotion, and the gel chap stick in the yellow container with red print (forgot the brand. not chapstick or burts bees)
you will have dry lips, skin, possibly be more suseptible to colds but warm weather is coming, contacts may annoy you if u wear them, and you may even have some strange thoughts enter your head from time to time. But once you finish you feel like u have a new start at life
When in high school my dermatologist had me go on Accutane all I can say is amazing. Nothing else even came close. The only thing that made me depressed was people calling me pizza face. Damn being a teenager really sucked. Best of luck to you.
I was on Accutane twice as a teenager. It worked decently. Had some bouts with depression for a few years afterward but those are all gone.
I’m 33, and still get acne. Until I stopped believing the bullshit that food doesn’t effect acne. Those were flawed studies. Western foods introduced to tribes that had little to no acne issues (I’ll get the link) cased weight gain as well as deteriorating skin complexion.
The western diet is responsible for severe acne. Last year I stopped eating any foods made with gluten, processed grains, dairy, corn fed animals.
I primarily eat fish, grass fed beef, tons of veggies and fruits, but no dairy (not even whey protein or creamer in coffee). I also take large doses of Vitamin D and Fish Oil.
My skin cleared up. I’m not talking a few pimples; i had the nasty stuff on my arms, chest and back and now it is gone.
Acne is a symptom of a problem. Most often the problem is hormones in food and insulin spikes. Avoid foods with a high glycemic load, as well as anything processed. I’d avoid dairy as well.
[quote]Rape Weight wrote:
My friend had horrible acne and accutane cleared him right up. Not a zit since.
Only thing was when he dropped his other medications at the start of the accutane cycle he broke out worse than ever. Be prepared for that.
You’ll look great if you finish though.[/quote]
When beginning accutane you have what is referred to as the “initial breakout” which is supposed to be worse than any you have ever had before…maybe that’s what it was?
anyhoo good luck Op if you choose to go through with it.
i had a buddy that had horrible acne on his face and back…and the stuff cleaned him up pretty good
but he said the doc said he coudnt take any supplements or anything…an i guess the shit is supposed to be tough on the liver…
im not to familiar with it but it worked for him pretty well
Some excerpts:
“Herein we report the absence of acne in 2 nonwesternized populations: the Kitavan people living on the Trobriand Islands near Papua New Guinea and the Aché hunter-gatherers of Paraguay. Additionally, we evaluate how elements in nonwesternized environments may influence the development of acne.”
…
“Tubers, fruit, fish, and coconut represent the dietary mainstays in Kitava. Dietary habits are virtually uninfluenced by Western foods in most households. The intake of dairy products, alcohol, coffee, and tea was close to nil, and that of oils, margarine, cereals, sugar, and salt was negligible. Estimated carbohydrate intake was high, almost 70% of daily energy, while total fat intake was low (20% of daily energy). Virtually all of the dietary carbohydrate intake was in the form of low?glycemic load tubers, fruits, and vegetables.”
“Not a single papule, pustule, or open comedone was observed in the entire population examined (N = 1200). Although no closed comedones were reported, it is possible that they were present but undetected. Single bruises, scars, papules, or pustules of infectious origin were fairly common, including tropical ulcers, which rapidly healed following treatment with penicillin V. A number of intramuscular abscesses were also encountered”
"Of the 300 Kitavans at greatest risk for acne (aged 15-25 years), not a single case of acne was observed. In a similar Western population, some degree of facial acne would be found in at least 120 subjects.2, 4-6 In Western populations the development of acne has hereditary and environmental components. Familial studies have demonstrated that hereditary factors are important in determining susceptibility to acne,28 whereas twin studies have suggested that although sebum secretion is under genetic control, the development of clinical lesions is modified by environmental factors.29
Clearly, genetic susceptibility to acne cannot be ruled out in the interpretation of our observations. However, it is unlikely that the effective absence of acne in the Kitavan and Aché people resulted entirely from genetic resistance to acne, since other South American Indians10 and Pacific Islanders30 whose ethnic backgrounds are similar to the Aché and Kitavans but who live in more westernized settings maintain considerably higher acne incidence rates than those we report. Consequently, our observations are suggestive that elements common to the Aché and Kitavan environments but not present in Western settings may operate together with genetic factors to prevent acne."
Lots more at the link
[quote]steadfastred wrote:
I was on Accutane twice as a teenager. It worked decently. Had some bouts with depression for a few years afterward but those are all gone.
I’m 33, and still get acne. Until I stopped believing the bullshit that food doesn’t effect acne. Those were flawed studies. Western foods introduced to tribes that had little to no acne issues (I’ll get the link) cased weight gain as well as deteriorating skin complexion.
The western diet is responsible for severe acne. Last year I stopped eating any foods made with gluten, processed grains, dairy, corn fed animals.
I primarily eat fish, grass fed beef, tons of veggies and fruits, but no dairy (not even whey protein or creamer in coffee). I also take large doses of Vitamin D and Fish Oil.
My skin cleared up. I’m not talking a few pimples; i had the nasty stuff on my arms, chest and back and now it is gone.
Acne is a symptom of a problem. Most often the problem is hormones in food and insulin spikes. Avoid foods with a high glycemic load, as well as anything processed. I’d avoid dairy as well.[/quote]
I can’t help but think that this could help the vast majority of people. Amazing how western medicine over looks the importance of good nutrition
While good nutrition did help, it never fixed the problem for me.
Low dose generic isotretinoin (accutane) @ 10mg/day for 4 months sorted me out after about 6 years of fucking acne.
I still get some on occasion, but my skin just dries out and they all disappear again.
I would never take it any other way though, low dose and that’s all.