My Story with Accutane

What is Accutane?

Accutane is a very strong medication to treat cystic acne. Accutane is a derivative of Vitamin A. It decreases the amount of oil production in the skin. The only way to get on this medication is if your acne is so severe and has not responded to any other type of medicine.

Since the medication is so strong there are many rules you have to follow while being on it. All girls and women have to be on birth control, no matter what, because there could be horrible birth defects if someone was to get pregnant. Once a month blood tests must occur so the doctor can keep any eye on the triglycerides, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels. You must also sign the iPLEDGE program and answer questions every month while being on Accutane.

My Story: I was on Accutane twice.

I have had a pretty rough, annoying battle with acne for the past 11 years. It all started when I was 10 years old. I tried so many different treatments by the time I was 13, but it was just continuing to get worse and worse. When I was 13, I went on Accutane for the first time. Since I went on birth control at such a young age, I learned that I had PCOS (I'll get into that in another post).

I had the side effects that were expected: extremely chapped lips, dry mouth, my back hurt (still hurts a little to this day), and very dry skin. My triglycerides, cholesterol, and blood sugar went up incredibly high, but they went back to normal quickly after my treatment. I never felt depressed or suicidal, which you have to keep an eye out for.

After the five months of treatment, my skin was amazing. I was acne free and had nice, soft beautiful skin that I could finally be proud of. A few months later, I started breaking out again. It was a slow process, but it ended up being just as bad as before the first round of Accutane. When I was 16 I went back on Accutane. My second course of treatment was much better. The only side effect that I had was chapped lips and some of the back pain. Other than that it was a breeze. After the second round my skin was beautiful once again. Sadly, that only lasted about six months.

For anyone with acne, that does not have PCOS, I would highly recommend going on Accutane, if your acne is that severe. If I did not have PCOS I probably would have had great skin from the first round of Accutane. My skin has never gotten as bad as it was before Accutane though. Accutane definitely helped my skin in the long run.

Have you ever taken Accutane? What were your experiences?

xo, Sam