To go private to get ds accutane

[coffeegirl73]

He’s been battling acne for a few years now and has asked to go on accutane. His friend had even worse skin and went on it and he looks fine now. So went through the doctor etc after having tried all different creams and antibiotics etc over the years. Referral made to dermatologist. More than a years waiting list. GP said wait or go private. I feel so sorry for ds his face looks terrible. He’s in year 12. Does anyone know how you go about going private? I do t know where to start. I don’t know if I could afford it. I know they need blood tests when they go on it. Would I have to pay for the medication and all those extra things. Can anyone explain the system to me. Am Irish where it’s easy enough to go private you just ring up the consultant. But I’m not sure how it works here?

Has he tried topical tretinoin? That can really help.

I spent 450 on the environ from the skin place and am so kicking myself now. Thanks for all the info. There’s a private hospital in the town and there’s a dermatologist there so I’m going to make him an appointment and like you say try and find the money . Bugs me that his friend who he sits next in school got it for free tho. Seems very random.

It's not random though - my child waited 9 months for dermatology appointment and then 3 months for the actual prescribing appointment. This person might have done the same!

DS asked him again and he swears he went to the GP and got an appointment with dermatologist 2 weeks later. So I dunno

We were in a very similar position a few weeks ago. The GP eventually agreed to refer to dermatologist and the first appointment was January. I researched on MN and decided to go through skindoc.uk based in London. It was an online appointment and it was £189 and then £65 for the Accutane. Our GP agreed to do blood tests and then we had a follow-up appointment for £ 149 with another blood test. In three weeks time we have another follow-up appointment. I banged all of this on my credit card as my DS was completely miserable. Wish i had done this 18 months ago. His skin is so much better and he is happier. So far no side effects.

@coffeegirl73the private GP will only give you a private prescription however you can go straight to your NHS GP who can put it on your DC’s clinical record and issue an NHS prescription. I was able to do this within 3 days so if you can wait for the medication, that’s what I would do. The alternative was to pay around £28 per item with the private prescription. We continued to get the stronger cream on a repeat prescription but it was a generic brand, not necessarily the brand the private doctor had prescribed.

@WentworthMillerMadthats so helpful thanks very much - I have a credit card and try not to use it but for this it would be worth it I think. He doesn’t want to go visit his grandparents and cousins cos he’s embarrassed so I need to do something

Not directly but my son recently visited a dermatologist privately (different reason). He wrote a prescription that could be given to our GP so that our GP could then prescribe the medication on the NHS rather than us paying for it. I’m not sure if this is only limited to certain drugs but I’d enquire if this is a possibility. However bloods taken through the private hospital would be chargeable on top of the consult.

I was lucky when I booked a private consult for myself for Roaccutane, the consultant also worked for the NHS and following my private consult took me on as an NHS patient bypassing the NHS wait but that was 20 years ago. Not sure if you could still find a duel consultant and get in quicker this way.