Did your DC take Roaccutane, and how old were they?

[DaphneCraneMoon]

Roaccutane is being suggested for two of my kids - both have quite bad acne and both are very down about it :(

I know some people who've taken it, but only as adults. My kids are 15 and 13. Has anyone else had a child taken it this young, and was it OK? I'm so nervous because of the possible side effects, but I also want to help them and none of the other treatments has worked so far.

Many thanks in advance.

I really wanted it to work for my DS who was an older teen but the side effects were horrendous for him - dryness to the point of causing eye irritation where he had to use three sets of eye drops multiple times a day; as well as a fissure.

But this was prescribed in lockdown and I don’t think they took account of how little fat he has - extremely lean so I wonder if he was taking too much.

Other family members have taken it with really good results.

Hi

Not much help with age I'm 29 and have suffered from adult acne for years my self confidence was on the floor. I'm one month into taking roaccutane and for me personally it's been amazing. There is risks of low mood but I was low in mood with the state my skin was in anyway so I took the chance.
It's cleared it massively I haven't had any side effects as of yet but I do know is how having severe acne makes you feel I was so down and didn't want to look in the mirror. Ive added 2 photos this is the beginning and 1 month in. I'm 5ft5 and weigh 56kg they adapt dosage to your body weight xx

It definitely made me depressed as a teenager, but it did also clear up my awful acne that was causing me to be nicknamed, "pizza face".
Not entirely sure it was worth it though.

Two of my children, at about 17 years, both of them. Particularly one of them should have gotten it much sooner, their acne was severe and has caused scarring that won't fade completely. From my experience I'd actively encourage parents to let their children take it, severe acne can cause such terrible damage to self-esteem and mental health. But I can also understand why you'd hesitate of course. Dry skin was the only side effect, but it was very dry.

Sorry your kids are going through this-it truly is a cruel disease.

My ds was 18 when he took Roaccutane, he was on high dose for an extended period.
As others have said he was heavily monitored, and aside from the common side effects of dry lips/inside his nose, the only side effect was that we got our boy back!
He’s been left with some scarring but we’re dealing with that -he’s almost 21 now

DD took it age 14-15 for 6 months, totally cleared her skin and she was really bad. She had very, very dry lips, but she used lanolin to help keep them moisturised. The hospital were excellent at monitoring her and I would not hesitate to recommend it. Acne doesn’t just affect the face (back and shoulders etc) but has a huge affect on their self esteem.

My ds took it when he was around 16/17 and whilst it did take what seemed like ages to start working , it did work a treat in the end without too many side effects. he does still have some quite significant scarring though, fortunately he now has stubble so it covers a lot up. He is 22 now and recently has had quite a bit of a flare up again which is upsetting/ disappointing. I don't think I'd want him to go on it again as have read a bit about it potentially causing infertility etc but we didn't know that at the time and nothing was said to us about it. At the time we were just desperate for help and to avoid scarring. All four of my kids have had acne to some extent but ds2's was definitely severe and only he has needed Roaccutane.

Wow! What an improvement! You Your skin looks really lovely now.

I also really recommend (cera ve) moisturising in the round tub for the dryness xx

Ds1 took it aged 16+, nearly 17. He didn't like it, his skin was tight and sore, lips bleeding. Plus other problems. He took it for a bit and then said he didn't want to. It did make a huge difference though.