Accutane is a prescription medication used to treat moderate to severe acne. Its generic name is isotretinoin; other trade names include Amnesteem, Claravis, Clarus, Isotane, Izotek, or Sotret. It is a retinoid, meaning it is a synthetic form of Vitamin A and is found in small quantities naturally in the body.

Accutane creates a potentially long-lasting change in the cells lining the pore. This change prevents pore openings from getting plugged, so oil can flow freely to the skin’s surface. It also reduces the amount of oil secreted by oil glands in the skin and helps your skin renew itself faster.

Accutane is usually used for acne only after other treatments and/or antibiotics have been tried but failed to produce successful clearing of symptoms.

What’s interesting to note the drug was first developed to be used as a chemotherapy medication for the treatment of brain cancer, pancreatic cancer and other cancers. It is still used in the treatment of these cancers because of its ability to kill rapidly dividing cells.   

Accutane Side Effects

Adverse drug reactions associated with isotretinoin therapy include:

* Common: Mild acne flare, dryness of skin, lips and mucous membranes, infection of the cuticles, cheilitis, itch, rosacea, skin fragility, skin peeling, rash, flushing, nose bleeds, dry eyes, diffuse alopecia areata, eye irritation, conjunctivitis, reduced tolerance to contact lenses, hyperlipidaemia, raised liver enzymes, permanent thin skin, headaches, permanent hair thinning (This could start or continue after treatment), myalgia and/or arthralgia, back pain.

* Infrequent: severe acne flare, raised blood glucose level, increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate, fatigue.

* Rare: impaired night vision; cataracts; optic neuritis; menstrual disturbances; inflammatory bowel disease; pancreatitis; hepatitis; corneal opacities; papilloedema; idiopathic intracranial hypertension; skeletal hyperostosis; extraosseous calcification; psychosis; and it is believed that severe depression can occur, although there is no conclusive evidence for this.

The following adverse effects have been reported to persist, even after discontinuing therapy: alopecia (hair loss), arthralgias, decreased night vision, inflammatory bowel disease, degenerative disc disease, keloids, bone disease. High dosages of isotretinoin have been reported to cause rosacea (a disease of severe facial skin redness and irritation).

Isotretinoin – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Accutane and Pregnancy

* For your baby’s sake, you must NEVER, EVER take Accutane when you are pregnant.

* Accutane can cause severe, life-threatening birth defects if the woman takes the medication during pregnancy. A single dose of Accutane can lead to defects of the baby’s eyes, ears, skull, heart, and brain. It can also lead to miscarriage, premature birth, or even death of the baby.

* Fertile women of childbearing age who take Accutane must not be pregnant or become pregnant during treatment or for three months after discontinuing treatment.

* Prior to starting the treatment any woman of child-bearing age must agree in writing to take two forms of birth control and take pregnancy tests prior to, during and following the treatment.

Accutane Side Effects: Pros and Cons of Using Accutane for Acne

Accutane Treatment

Accutane has been in use for acne treatment since 1984, and for many people suffering from severe and persistent nodular acne – it certainly is a miracle drug they have been praying for.  The treatment lasts 5 to 6 months, and the dose of the medication is adjusted according to patient’s weight.  Most patients need just one course of treatment to see improvement in their condition. Only about thirty percent will need a second course, and about ten percent will fail to respond.

Accutane in the US is available only under a special program called iPLEDGE. To take the medicine, you need to register in the program and sign the release forms and consent to the terms.  Patients are required to take blood tests during the course of treatment to make sure the side effects are kept under control.

Natural Alternatives to Accutane

Even though Accutane can sometimes produce truly spectacular results, if you have read this far you now obviously realize that it is not an ideal treatment to free your body from acne.

As most conventional treatments, Accutane only addresses the symptoms of the condition, not the internal cause. Everybody who has severe acne, or even suffers a sporadic breakout every now and then, should know that getting rid of it should be a multilayered task. You should treat the entire body and target the true causes of the problem and not just symptoms. This is of course often a very difficult task…

Read more about Acne Skin Care: Acne Removal using natural methods, Natural Acne Removal Treatment, and Baby acne.

Top Health Sites

How to get rid of acne fast is a question that is on the minds of many teenagers and adults who are desperate to finally get rid of their skin problems once and for all. If you suffer from skin acne you know how difficult this is. You may feel that “permanent acne removal” is like the “mission impossible.” There are so many products on the market that claim to work. However, most of them will not provide you with the outcome you desire.

Most individuals who suffer from severe acne (teens and adults alike) get hopeful when a new acne-removal product is released. You purchase it hoping that this will be the product to make a difference. Unfortunately, usually you will be disappointed with the results. You may wonder if you will ever see an end to the irritating skin blemishes.

Getting Rid Of Acne Fast: Should You Use Medications and Antibiotics

If you want quick results, you may turn to anti-acne drugs and antibiotics. However, you may be surprised to find that they can make your acne ever worse. By taking prescription medications on a regular basis, you are making your acne and your health worse in the long run, without being aware of this fact.

If you are prescribed antibiotics (mainly Tetracycline and Minocycline), they generally work by decreasing inflammation and fighting bacteria. Adapalene – another medication, helps control acne and prevent breakouts, but works short term and can result in nasty side effects. Steroids or Accutane are very powerful medications (form of Vitamin A) prescribed only in severe cases on acne, infamous fro its serious and side effects (read my article about Accutane Side Effects.

how to get rid of acne?

It is important to know that no matter what your dermatologist tells you, taking acne medications and steroids of any kind to treat your acne will significantly damage your internal system and destroy your natural internal balance. It will NOT cure your acne or prevent/fix the ‘environment’ responsible for acne formation. As a result they will make your acne and your health worse in the long run. Source: Acne No More.

So, although the discomfort, desperation and embarrassment of acne can be a tempting situation to visit the dermatologist and get medications to treat your acne from the many options available, even though it may work short-term, this solution is not advisable in the long run.

Getting Rid Of Acne Fast: What About the Anti-Acne Diet?

The most important cause of confusion, however, is the conflicting information about the connection between acne and diet. Ask any family physician or dermatologist if he or she believes that there is a connection between diet and acne and you will hear almost a unanimous answer that there is none!

According to the Journal of the American Medical Association: “Diet plays no role in acne treatment in most patients…even large amounts of certain foods have not clinically exacerbated acne”.

My answer to that would be “Do you truly believe that there is no connection whatsoever between what goes into your body each and every day, and the largest organ of your body – namely your skin?”

Personally, I don’t. (Read my post about “Foods That Cause Acne and Acne Free Diet“.

And I don’t need to search for scientific research to support that belief – which by the way is not hard to find if you really look beneath the surface of what most physicians and pharmaceutical companies are saying.

Promoting a clear skin diet simply means less profits for the drug and pharmaceutical companies.

The truth is that conventional medications will never cure your acne, simply because they are pre-designed NOT to fix the internal cause of acne. They are pre-designed to deal with the external symptoms of a disease as they create more and more dependency and more dependency means making more money all at our expense and ignorance.

However, even if you do believe that there must me at least some connection into what goes into your body, has strong influence on the largest organ of your body – your skin, the information and advice that is out there is confusing and often conflicting.

For example, some acne “gurus” tell you to avoid all fruits, soy and carbs, others tell you that soy is actually good for your health and that eating whole grains and some fruit wouldn’t interfere with your acne healing process. Some say vitamin B-5 is excellent; others say avoid that at all costs. Some say benzoyl peroxide is great for treating acne, others tell you it can actually aggravate your condition. Some say the only way to cure acne is to apply a clear skin diet, others say diet is not a factor when it comes to curing acne, probiotics are. I can give you a dozen more examples but you get the point. Source: Acne No More.

How to get rid of acne fast?

So, how do you get rid of acne fast?

Is fast and permanent acne removal a goal that is really possible to achieve?

Well, it really depends on your definition of fast.

If you are expecting results in a couple of minutes or hours, then in my opinion this expectation is not realistic.

However, if waiting a few days or weeks, or even a couple of months, is something that would interest you, I advise you to read all you can find about the connection that various foods play in our health and appearance, and DRASTICALLY change your diet to the most if days or weeks. (You can start with my post Acne Removal: Clearing Acne Naturally.

Natural, plant-based diet is always best. The key appears to be that there is nothing refined or processed in your diet, but instead it should be high in fresh vegetables, fruits, greens, fiber and low in sugar. Eat as much raw as you can, or just lightly cooked foods – such as steamed veggies, soups or stews. Green smoothies will be a great addition to your diet – read some smoothie recipes for green smoothies here.

There is good news for all of those who are desperately seeking a cure for their acne. If you have found a product that at least works temporarily, you are lucky. However, the pimples and blackheads will keep coming back. Wouldn’t it be great to get rid of them forever? You probably think how to get rid of acne fast that it is completely impossible, especially if you have already been trying to accomplish this for years. Chances are you have already spent hours of your time and hundreds of dollars trying to achieve clear skin. When you keep trying everything, you often begin to feel hopeless.

How would it feel to be able to take all of your creams and medications and throw them in the garbage, never to use them again? How would it feel to be finally free from skin problems and blemishes?

If that sounds interesting to you, then you should definitely try a natural approach to treating acne. Natural remedies – the ones that involve changing your diet and lifestyle – have more lasting effects and are better for your body. With some of the conventional treatments you can actually aggravate your skin condition and ultimately make it worse. In vast majority of cases, there are no risks or side effects when using a natural remedy.

Here are some interesting Youtube videos talking about the subject:

As a side note I want to add that, even though I am a big believer in natural acne prevention methods, this does not mean I do not approve of using conventional methods of dealing with acne. Sometimes we just need to see the improvement quickly – perhaps we need to get rid of pimples on our face, or have acne scarring and want to know more about acne scar laser removal treatments, or other conventional treatments (I will soon be writing about drug treatment therapies and other surgical procedures). This is all fine and you can read about these topics on this How to Get Rid Of Acne: Acne Removal and Skin Care blog. But in the meantime work on improving your diet and lifestyle habits.

If you are interested to learn more about foods that are truly health promoting, read the books I am recommending on my “How To Get Rid Of Acne” blog – they truly changed my life. You may notice that none of these books is specifically about acne free diet – but they will surely help your overall health and improve your skin condition.

Your body will thank you for it with beautiful, healthy, glowing skin!