Acne: Accutane

Acne is the most common skin disorder amongst adolescence and adults alike. It has plagued us for generations and continues to affect us today.

There are four main causes of acne, as stated by the American academy of dermatology. These four causes are hormones, increased sebum production, changes inside hair follicles, and bacteria. An oily substance, called sebum, is secreted by the sebaceous glands when the hair follicles and sebaceous glands are inflamed. An excess amount of sebum can clog the follicles (pours) and eventually leads to bacterial formation and inflammation of the follicles.

Accutane is considered to be the ultimate, end-all medication for eliminating acne. Accutane is used to treat severe cases of acne which have not been healed through conventional antibiotics and topical creams. It is used to control all of the underlying causes of acne by normalizing your follicles, decreasing sebum production, reducing inflammation and limiting the growth of bacteria.

However, there are also many side effects that you should be aware of when choosing to use Accutane as a remedy for acne. Two of the most serious possible side effects associated with taking Accutane include birth defects and serious mental health problems (including suicidal tendencies). There are also many other possible side effects associated with Accutane that you should review with your doctor or health care provider before the use of this medication.

In order to decide whether this treatment is right for you; you should discuss with your doctor how severe your acne is, what other treatments you’ve tried, the possible benefits of accutane, the possible side effects of accutane and any other health related issues that may affect you while taking accutane (i.e. use of antibiotics, depression, etc.)

Accutane: Kills Acne, But Can It Kill You Too?

Accutane, the final frontier…for Acne. For ages, acne sufferers had only a few treatment options available to them, many with less than stellar results. Also, they needed to go through the pain staking task of applying prescription topical medications along with taking oral medications. Even then, the more severe cases would never fully be healed. However, nowadays, for those severe acne sufferers there is a “miracle” drug that does the job and does it well. This drug of which i speak, my friends, is Accutane, the Acne Killer.

Accutane is used to treat severe cases of acne which have not been healed through conventional antibiotics and topical creams. It is used to control all of the underlying causes of acne by normalizing your follicles, decreasing sebum production, reducing inflammation and limiting the growth of bacteria. Accutane treatment typically lasts from 4 to 6 months. It is also very costly ranging from $2000 to $4000 (depending on frequency of dermatological visits, lab tests, etc.). Other names for accutane include Amnesteem, Claravis, Isotretinoin and Sotret.

But wait, there is always some sort of “bad” that comes with the “good”. Although Accutane is the most powerful acne medication to date, it has many side effects that prevent many dermatologists from prescribing it to every acne sufferer. It should only be prescribed in worst case scenarios where all other treatments have failed. Even then, the acne sufferer should be aware of it’s side effects, the worst of which is suicide!

The FDA posted an alert in 2005 that said all patients taking accutane should be closely watched for serious symptoms including depression, suicidal tendencies, sadness, short tempers, anger, loss of social interaction, psychosis, loss of motivation and changes in appetite. If any of these symptoms begin to appear, the patient is advised to stop taking accutane and to seek professional advice. In 2002, a director for the FDA told a congressional committee that they received over 3,000 reports of adverse psychiatric symptoms and over 170 reports of suicide attempts connected to the use of Accutane.

In order to decide whether this treatment is right for you; you should discuss with your doctor how severe your acne is, what other treatments you’ve tried, the possible benefits of accutane, the possible side effects of accutane and any other health related issues that may affect you while taking accutane (i.e. use of antibiotics, depression, etc.)