<p>My son has had an ongoing battle with acne for a number of years now. Antibiotics help some but if he is off them for just a few days the acne starts to get worse again. I think we now need to move on to the Holy Grail of acne treatments – Accutane. I have resisted this until now because there can be side effects. Blood levels need to be regularly monitored by a doctor. The dosage is one pill a day for 4 to 6 months and most people are clear after a month or two. Many report it never resurfaces again or if it does it’s several years later in a milder form.</p>
<p>Does anyone here have any experience with this drug? Would you recommend that we go this route?</p>
<p>My friends daughter had pretty bad acne that had scarred her face by the time she finally went the accutane route. Being female she had to go on birth control (she was a teen and did not have a boyfriend at the time) because of the birth defect risk. As far as I recall, they monitored her closely because of the depression risks. For her it was a miracle worker and did clear the acne up.</p>
<p>Ask your dermatologist about the new laser treatments for acne…ususally a series of three with fabulous results…I would try them before drugs with serious side effects (the laser treatments are often covered by insurance)</p>
<p>It worked well for my son. He started on it the summer he turned 16 and it did work wonders. The cystic acne came back two years later, so we did a second round, just as he entered college — he did the blood lab monitoring through the university health services. He’s 20 now and hasn’t had a recurrence other than small breakouts.</p>
<p>This is one of those things where you weigh the risks of the drug’s side effects against the damage being done by this type of acne — facial disfigurement, psychological pain, waning confidence and self esteem. We tried everything else — antibiotics, topicals, skin-cleaning systems — but the cystic acne doesn’t respond to those treatments. When my stoic son finally said, “I don’t want to talk to people, I don’t want to go out — it’s affecting my confidence” about the acne, we “went nuclear” and got him on Accutane and it did work very quickly.</p>
<p>jazzymom’s advice is spot on (as it were)–it’s a risk vs. benefit analysis, and the risks are serious enough that (in my opinion) the acne should be quite serious before choosing to use this drug.</p>
<p>It was a miracle worker for my best college friend. She did one course in high school and another in college when she had a recurrence of the severe acne. You should be careful about side effects, of course, but she didn’t have a problem with them other than very dry skin (a welcome trade-off).</p>
<p>Our S was on Accutane with wonderful results. The monitoring is done both before and after each monthly refill of pills is prescribed and then once again after the 6 (or sometimes 7) month period is completed. I believe what they monitor most closely is either the liver enzyme levels or kidney function (but not too sure which one). The only side effect that I noticed was obvious drying around the lips, on the forehead, etc. Both my kids were on these meds, or an equivalent, with great results and there have been lots of previous posts on CC with the same success stories.</p>
<p>It worked very well for one of my kids who was had acne that was very resistent to the other upteen treatments. Monitoring of blood levels was done prior to the dispensing of next month RX. My kiddo also had to take Lipitor at one point because his cholesterol went way up…it went right back down when he was done with his treatment.</p>
<p>I would echo the comments above. My son had severe acne that was threatening to ruin his handsome face. He tried the topicals and antibiotics with no results. He used Accutane and it is truly a miracle drug. He has been off the treatment now for three or four years and has no recurrences, except for one or two pimples. </p>
<p>He did need the blood tests every month. They test for liver function. He also had the dry lips problem, but no other side effects. </p>
<p>I’ve recently read something about colitis possibly being associated with Accutane. Something to look into.</p>
<p>You may also want to check your medical insurance coverage before starting this prescription and do a financial evaluation. Look at prescription cost, doctor visit copays and lab copays. </p>
<p>I did that and realized that it was just too expensive for us. We do not have prescription coverage (and this is a pricey drug) and our co-pay for a specialist (which a dermatologist would be) is $50. This prescription requires many dr visits so our out of pocket costs would be very high. So we are trying other methods for now with moderate success. </p>
<p>Anyway, I just thought I’d bring up the financial angle.</p>
<p>And I agree with M2C, just skip the BC pills if they are not deemed necessary.</p>
<p>Our S, who had some acne issues in HS, had an explosion of massive cystic acne freshman year of college. (I was shocked when he came home for Thanksgiving.)</p>
<p>Our dermatologist would not start our S on Accutane until he was back from freshman year at college. She wanted Mom around to watch/monitor for side effects of depression, etc. She also knew that there probably would be drinking that first semester of college…a big no no, since accutane really stresses the liver.
Our dermatologist did try Aczone first, which helped about 50% more than any previous drugs. Has only been approved in US for about 6 years. </p>
<p>When S came home for summer, we went Accutane route. Monthly monitoring–no drugs can be dispensed without blood test. Made a HUGE difference by the time he went back to college in fall, not only in his physical appearance, but his confidence/outlook on life. Had we known, would have pushed harder to allow him to take at college (many kids do–health center very familiar with accutane blood tests).</p>
<p>One side effect was massive dry, chapped lips. Aquaphor (sp?) worked best for him, but not perfect. He was also very sun sensitive–needed copious amounts of sunscreen, hats. Looked like he was sunburned most of the summer…</p>
<p>Accutane is also VERY expensive. ($350+ a month). Be sure to ask dermatologist for
any coupons that pharmaceutical company hands out. Brought our costs down to about $25/month. But at that point in time, I would have paid just about anything…</p>
<p>As a last resort, my S used Accutane with great success. Used it his last year in high school. Five years later, there has been no recurrence. (Knock on wood!) His only complaint with Accutane were the perpetually chapped lips it caused while in treatment.</p>
<p>I think I’m remembering this correctly…there is a generic for Accutane which is what my kid took. The insurance company actually had to contact the doctor to see if the RX had to be dispensed as written or whether the generic would be OK. My kiddo used the generic which was a fraction of the cost of the brand name.</p>
<p>S did a round of accutane in HS. He had been through all of the usual precursors, such as antibiotics and peroxide ointments, none of which made much difference. He suffered badly from chapped, highly sensitive lips, but it cleared his skin. I think he was at a fairly low dosage.</p>
<p>About a year later, the acne came back, perhaps not as bad as the first time. He started another course of accutane, just as he was going to college, and was supposed to bump up the dose. I eventually found out that he stopped taking it. He said that he felt that his mood was negatively affected by it. Although I think his life would be better if he didn’t have acne, there was no way I could argue with that. He’s now a senior, and I’m still waiting for his acne to totally disappear. :(</p>
<p>I took 10mg a day for six months a few years ago, and I’ve had (knock on wood) pretty near perfect skin ever since. You can’t go wrong on a low dose - the only side effect I had was severe dryness (wearing contacts was almost impossible). One of my friends had cystic acne, so she took a much higher dose - 80mg. Your body basically stops producing oil while you’re taking it - this was amazing for me because my hair always looked great (no oil) and my makeup would literally not budge for the entire day. I could run to class in 90 degree weather with 100% humidity and still look flawless! You definitely get that pore-less, Accutane glow. Accutane is MUCH easier for boys to take because they don’t have to go through all the birth control/pregnancy test crap and they don’t have to take an online birth control quiz every month. Obviously the downside to Accutane is having to get blood drawn every month (yuck) and finding a place that will do that for you if you’re at college. I lived 25 minutes from home, so my mom would just come pick me up from school and take me to our LabCorp office to have it done - that ended up being easier than having it done by the university health people. Good luck!</p>
<p>ETA - I believe I also took a generic because the real Accutane isn’t on the market anymore (correct me if I’m wrong) - I took Claravis.</p>
<p>My daughter took accutane for 6 months when she was 15 and has had clear skin ever since. I thought that she seemed moody and slightly depressed while on the medication, but she said that she was depressed about her acne. Her lips and scalp were very dry, but she had no other serious side effects. She felt so much better about herself once her skin cleared that I think it was worth it.</p>
<p>My son was treated with one round (three or four months) of Accutane about seven years ago, with excellent results in terms of his acne (which had been very bad).</p>
<p>But he developed permanently chapped lips as a result. He is always treating them with something, and if he still played a wind instrument (which he does not – he gave that up a few years before starting the Accutane), he would probably have had to give up the instrument.</p>
<p>Chapped lips are not the type of side effect that people talk about, but in some instances – particularly for wind instrument players – this side effect could be a major issue. I know that my daughter, who had much milder acne and also was a more serious wind instrument player, would never have considered Accutane after seeing her brother’s experience.</p>
<p>I have no personal experience with it - but a good friend’s son was on it last year - during spring of junior year. At the same time - they were experiencing lots of behavioral problems with him - moodiness, grades slipping, etc. Hard to decipher what is just typical teenaged behavior and what was caused by the Accutane - but they really felt his behavioral changes coincided with the introduction of the drug. Once he went off the drug - his behavior improved as well. It did clear up his skin - but they had a very difficult time with him while he was on it. Just FYI.</p>
<p>We have not used Accutane. Friends have, varying degrees of happy results and not so happy results. My kid also had cystic acne. We went with a high dose of Solodyn, 90 mg. After nine months went to a lower dosage, 65mg. It is working really well. No problems with behavior, mood or depression with this drug.</p>