I’m another Accutane success story. My dermatologist prescribed it for me after over a year of futile attempts with a combination of tetracycline and tretinoin. The tretinoin was good stuff, but insufficient for severe acne.
As far as side effects go, the only problem I had was one morning I went in to have my blood drawn after having a few drinks with Gant the night before. Not a lot, mind you—two or three. My triglycerides shot up to, IIRC, 160mg/dL from a baseline of around 40. When the results came back, the doc sent me down to the lab for another test, which came out fine, and all was well.
After six months of treatment, the acne was pretty minimal. Around a year after starting treatment my skin was looking damn good.
I’m not really convinced that Accutane has a direct effect on mental health. Its important to remember what’s being treated here—severe acne. If the drug works, the patient will be experiencing some very significant changes in their life. And if it doesn’t work, they’ve just wasted a good $4000.
Trying to separate a disfiguring disease like acne and the resulting emotional distress is impossible. Its like trying to separate a language and its culture—they’re too interrelated for it to be worthwhile to look at them independently.. A good dermatologist understands that treating acute acne involves more than just making the pimples go away.
