2010-03-25, 03:02 AM
Isotretinoin.Is.GOD.
I had bad acne on my face, and NOTHING would work on me. No creams, no face washes, nothing. Eventually I hated going outside and near refused to do it without at least trying to cover spots with foundation. Self confidence took a huge hit, hid in the shadows etc. Then I finally went to a doctor about it, and he prescribed me isotretinoin. One week and my skin was clear. I stayed on it for 6 months, I only came off it around February this year. I was nervous when I first came off it, in case everything came back. However, my acne seems to be 'cured'. My skin looks great. I do get the occasional spot, but the longest one lasted overnight. One even went away in 2 hours.
As for the side effects. One side effect you're going to get is dryness in skin. I moisturized every single night of those 6 months. Your skin will not LOOK dry, it's not going to crack or anything, but you can just feel it. It's not horrible, not even bad, but you can definitely feel it. Just slap on some moisturizer and you're good to go (I still actually use it, because it's just become a habit and it's good for my skin). Another thing I want to warn you about is your lips. While I took care of my face, my lips actually got too dry and actually cracked. I forgot about taking care of them. I just bought a small, inexpensive tube of lip repair ointment stuff and they were fine in a few days, but just watch out for it. While I didn't experience it, I also know depression can be a side effect. Every month my doctor would check up on how I was feeling, but I always felt better, because I could finally go out in public again. People may think it sounds sad, but acne is a real confidence killer (for me, at least). Another thing I had to do was monthly blood tests, because something could have done something and something could have happened (I'm not really clear on what they were testing for). But I know they did something to do with my liver / lippids (whatever those are). Any side effects can really be found on the Wikipedia page, but all side effects were minor and no negatives could have trumped the overwhelming positives.
Overall, I say go for it. I'd tell anyone who wanted to cure their acne to take it. The second best part was that it was fully subsidized by my government. Every month my 30 miracle capsules would cost me 10 cents each.
I had bad acne on my face, and NOTHING would work on me. No creams, no face washes, nothing. Eventually I hated going outside and near refused to do it without at least trying to cover spots with foundation. Self confidence took a huge hit, hid in the shadows etc. Then I finally went to a doctor about it, and he prescribed me isotretinoin. One week and my skin was clear. I stayed on it for 6 months, I only came off it around February this year. I was nervous when I first came off it, in case everything came back. However, my acne seems to be 'cured'. My skin looks great. I do get the occasional spot, but the longest one lasted overnight. One even went away in 2 hours.
As for the side effects. One side effect you're going to get is dryness in skin. I moisturized every single night of those 6 months. Your skin will not LOOK dry, it's not going to crack or anything, but you can just feel it. It's not horrible, not even bad, but you can definitely feel it. Just slap on some moisturizer and you're good to go (I still actually use it, because it's just become a habit and it's good for my skin). Another thing I want to warn you about is your lips. While I took care of my face, my lips actually got too dry and actually cracked. I forgot about taking care of them. I just bought a small, inexpensive tube of lip repair ointment stuff and they were fine in a few days, but just watch out for it. While I didn't experience it, I also know depression can be a side effect. Every month my doctor would check up on how I was feeling, but I always felt better, because I could finally go out in public again. People may think it sounds sad, but acne is a real confidence killer (for me, at least). Another thing I had to do was monthly blood tests, because something could have done something and something could have happened (I'm not really clear on what they were testing for). But I know they did something to do with my liver / lippids (whatever those are). Any side effects can really be found on the Wikipedia page, but all side effects were minor and no negatives could have trumped the overwhelming positives.
Overall, I say go for it. I'd tell anyone who wanted to cure their acne to take it. The second best part was that it was fully subsidized by my government. Every month my 30 miracle capsules would cost me 10 cents each.