Hormonal acne accutane/isotretinion

[ar321]

Have had hormonal acne for over 5 years now, and I'm aged 20.
Have been on the pill for 6 years, and have recently been put on accutane/isotretinion to help with my acne.
Has anybody had success with these tablets with hormonal acne? How likely is it that it will come back once I've finished my course of tablets?
my hormones are all over the place as I have endometriosis, which I should be hopefully getting sorted out soon!
but I don't want to be going through these horrible side effects, for my acne to just come back, when I come off the pill when TTC.
Is there any way I could help with my hormones? Or will my accutane do this?
Thanks

Yes me. I took a course for six months. Cleared my skin up completly and I had quite bad cystic acne on my back.

I still get the odd one but would take it again if I had too.

I had it for really severe grim pp Rosacea. It cleared mine in around 5 months. It's stayed away so far so the hideous side effects were worth it. Get some carmex for your lips if you haven't already

It should work permanently for you.

It goes without saying that you should be extremely attentive to the instructions you will be given on leaving time between taking the drug and ttc.

Yes it should do. It did for me, mine was definitely hormonal as it came after my first baby, seven years ago. I tried everything and eventually took it as a last resort, for four months. Blistex is good for dry lips as well and I wore a tinted sun cream every day instead of foundation.

Mine is back after nearly two years. Skin started getting congested after a year and is getting slowly but gradually worse.

I have a ten week old healthy baby boy who was the result of accutane . An extremely stressful and dreadful pregnancy as you can imagine and I was only on the tablets for 4 weeks but I already noticed a difference. My acne actually cleared while I was pregnant but has now returned . I have been referred back to dermatology but not sure if I will be allowed to go back on them . I was using contraception but I sussposed these things happen . In no way was I going to abort. I’m the only person the health professionals I dealt with knew that had went through with an accutane pregnancy. Thought I’d just share my story , I’m still in disbelief X

Yes, it worked for me. Not a nice treatment, but after 20 years of acne and being fobbed off by various GPs I was willing to try anything.

12 years later, I just get the odd spot or two occasionally. Another plus is that it's great for getting rid of the odd wrinkle too.

Hi - sorry I am a little late joining the thread. Hopefuly you're still around...

I took 5 months of accutane last year for cystic acne on face and back, after 15 years of unsuccesfully trying every antibiotic (gave me monthly thrush) and topical treatment (bleached all my clothes) available, and trying Dianette (less oily, fewer spots, but not great) and Yasmin (sent me completely loopy, with vestibular migraine and horrible anxiety, then hair loss when I came off it).

It worked wonderfully at the time, no excess oil, no cysts and almost no spots at all for months. After 4 months, there has been a slow creep back again and within the last couple of months my back is a mess again and I am really oily in every place can produce oil.

I am waiting for a referral to go back to the dermatologist to ask for a second round of treatment - which the GP says I shouldn't have and will probably be refused. If they do refuse, then that's fine but I would rather hear that from the specialist than from a GP that doesn't know me or my history.

My acne is definitely hormonal, but is there constantly. I am 40 and have had enough of hiding my skin. I would say that at 20 your skin will change a lot in the coming years and your body's reaction to hormones (natural or synthetic) will also change. For me, my acne appeared in my early twenties and just hasn't gone away (save for when I was pregnant).

I am hoping round 2 of accutane works, despite the side effects. For me, they were joint pain (hips), a couple of eye infections and extremely dry skin.

Good luck OP!

AlwaysALittleBitTired - I am in a simalar boat! I’m hoping I can get put on round two despite having DS while on round 1. My acne has creeped back to a terrible state again! So scared incase I get refused for falling pregnant last time despite being on the 2 forms of contraception.

alisaaa - how frightening that must have been! Congratulations for the safe arrival of your DS though. I wouldn't think they will penalise you for pg by refusing.

The GP I saw was clearly very capable, and I did apologise for dismissing her advice, but I want any decisions to be between me and the Consultant Derm. If they refuse, then so be it, but I want a sensible discussion to come to that decision. It isn't a drug to be taken lightly, as you have found, but the benefits to me definitely outweighed the apparent side effects.

I am not quite sure how the contraception chat will go for me, as I currently take nothing, so DH and I are at the whim of condoms and cycle monitoring.

Good luck with your referral!

Always, I finished a course of Roaccutane around 4 years ago and so far my skin has been perfect but my consultant derm said when he signed me off that if I ever needed a second round of it, it should be absolutely no problem at all - I should just ask my GP to refer me and we could start the process again.

He said although for most people one cycle was enough to get rid of the acne for good, there were a certain number of people who did need a repeat cycle months or years later and that unless there were other hugely significant factors that had come into play meantime there would be absolutely no problem with that.

Can't see why your GP would have told you otherwise, so here's hoping she was just a bit misinformed!

I had 5 rounds of roaccutane over a 10 year period for hormonal acne.
After every pregnancy my acne returned with avengance and was out of control.
I am now acne free but only due to very tight hormonal management through contraception and topical retional A

I took accutane for my awful cystic acne when I was 18. I'm now 34 and (touch wood) it has never returned.

For a while after finishing he medication my skin was gorgeous. It's a bit oily now and I get the odd spot here and there but it's absolutely fine and would absolutely not justify another course.

That drug changed my life.