Accutane thread

>>18168011
After a few months.
I was on accutane in my teenagers. Helped a lot.
But I stopped going to derm, and the acne returns.

Moral of the story: eat more vegs.

>>18168011
I'm tempted to tell you to stuff it because you asked us to "redpill" you on a fucking medication, but ... fine.

Typing up a big old post, stick around.

Sorry for freaking out at you, I just hate slang that makes me think I'm on /pol/.

It works. It really works. Affects everybody a little bit differently, and you will almost certainly experience negative side effects, but they will not be that bad.

Accutane is basically a very high concentration of a vitamin A derivative (retinoids) that you take in pill form. A toxic dose, actually, but not seriously toxic -- it's not gonna hurt you badly. It disproportionately affects the sebaceous glands, reducing the amount of oil they produce. At its heart acne is just a bacterial infection; poor hygiene etc only "causes" it in that clogged pores lead to oil buildups that provide great environments for bacteria to grow. By shocking the sebaceous glands with a toxic dose of this particular retinoid, the drug shrinks them (it doesn't kill them or anything, they just get smaller), reducing the amount of bacteria-friendly oil they produce permanently.

Altho the drug disproportionately affects these glands, it does affect the rest of your body. The organs, skin cells and hair follicles, and so on. That's why you get side effects. Side effects you reasonably can expect: some tiredness, light sensitivity, mild hair loss (99% chance nothing noticeable, and it will all grow back -- this isn't chemo. I only mention it so you don't freak out if you see more hair than usual clogging up the drain.) Maybe achey joints. Not all of those side effects, probably just one or two, and they are really not that bad. Honestly I barely noticed them. You are going to be given regular blood tests and questionnaires and you will be taken off the drug if the side effects get bad, which they won't. It's not a scary drug.

The only scary side effect is the birth defects, which is why, even if you are a dude, you are going to have to sign forms constantly promising that you won't be getting pregnant.

Accutane is by and large a safe drug.

more coming

Make sure to get in the habit of washing your face in the morning and before bed - with soap.
Get in the habit of washing your sheets once a week.
Continue to do this after your done taking accutane.

fucking lip balm every second you get the chance or your lips will crack and stay cracked

You will not have suicidal thoughts (although for legal reasons they'll be heavily monitoring for these too). Accutane hasn't been scientifically linked to depression or suicidal thoughts in any studies at all. The reason people think it causes depression is b/c a Michigan senator's son killed himself (Bart Stupak) and the senator blamed it on accutane and went on a big crusade against it, but there's really no evidence accutane was responsible for his depression. Stupak just kinda decided that, because grief-stricken parents are known to lash out. It is linked to depression for political, not scientific reasons. Like people who blame vaccines for their kid's autism because they can't handle the fact that it just ... kinda ... happened, and there's nobody to blame.

No way of telling how soon it'll start working, that's different for everybody, but in my case it started working very quickly -- like a week. For some people it takes a few weeks or a month or two. Doubtful it'll be any longer than that. It is not unreasonable to hope for it to noticeably start working in under a month.

sorry for writing so much, one final post

One final word of caution. In a LOT of cases there is an initial breakout. It might be pretty gross. It really looks and feels like the drug is forcing all the developing cysts and pimples under your skin to the surface in a big cleansing purge, of sorts. I have no idea what's going on on a cellular/chemical level, although I'd love to ("I would too," said my dermatologist) but that's what it feels like. After that initial breakout I had, like ... no acne, ever again (or at least just low-to-average amounts). All that was left was to continue the course of the drug, but I'd already gotten the positive effects. Still gotta keep taking it, though, so they'll laugh.

In my case, the initial breakout, although DISGUSTING -- like an STD all over my fucking face -- did not last. But I stayed home those days. After 3 days I took some ibuprofen to make the inflammation go down, washed my face, most of 'em popped (gross I know) and that was it, no more breakout. Like ... ever again.

Again, sorry for writing so much. I know this shit because I studied the fuck up before I started my course because I was nervous putting something with such a scary reputation into my body. I was happy to learn its reputation wasn't really warranted, and hopefully demystifying it will help you a little too.

(also, the bio student in me does find the way it works pretty fucking fascinating, so I don't mind geeking out about it at all)

>>18168048
>Still gotta keep taking it, though, so they'll laugh.
so they'll last*

>>18168031
>>18168042
>>18168048
You didn't have to do this at all, thanks anon! I guess I the pros still outweigh the cons for me. Do you find that it affected cognition at all?

>>18168067
Not in the least. The side effects were purely physical. Some people report it causing some "brain fog," and of course tiredness and possible headaches, which can certainly affect your concentration indirectly. None of it is permanent, it'll go away after you stop taking it, and again, if the side effects ever get to be more than an annoyance, they'll take you off the drug. (Seriously, I've never had to go through so much hassle to convince them to just fucking treat me -- not their fault, it's all legally mandated, but for me the most unpleasant "side effects" were the regular blood tests. I have teeny tiny veins.)

People have been using accutane for decades and it's been quite intensively studied because it's gone through so much controversy. We'd know if it turned people into idiots or psychos or whatever.

And don't mention it -- like I said, I genuinely find pharmacology cool, so it's not like writing about it this much was a sacrifice.

>>18168011
It was a miserable time for me but I have very little acne now. I quit taking it like 3 weeks in because my face was so dry and chapped that I'd wake up with dry blood all over and could hardly make facial expressions without my face crackling and bleeding. 9th grade was a shit year.

Taking that shit was probably the worst mistake of my life. I'd go back to having the cystic acne any day if it meant the side effects from that shit would go away. Ironically I was more confident and outgoing before I started accutane. It really doesn't even work that well because you can still get cysts, just not as much, at least in my experience.
>>18168031
>>18168042
>>18168048
>>18168099
Everything this guy just told you is a lie. Don't ever touch that shit. Just develop a good face washing routine and use more over the counter products. Alternatively, just get over the fact you've got a little acne. The only person that probably cares about the pimples that much is you.

Dry skin and chapped lips was the worst side effects I had. Cleared my face in a couple of months