Everything You Know About Isotretinoin (Accutane)
Isotretinoin's a huge, huge prescription med. This is one retinoid, men, that you get by mouth. Your dose varies, yes. It's down to your weight! You'll take 0.25 to 0.5 mg for every kilo you've got. Many of you, so many, are going to take this 2 times in a day! You're not going to go over 2 mg a day for every kilo you weigh, though. Of course, you'll be in this for 20 weeks. Remember your doc's instructions! Get your meds from a certified pharmacy, and join the registry for tracking your treatment! You'll stop this med early when it's been more than 70% effective with your acne. Win!
Men, you know about this being a strong, strong prescription acne treatment and acne scar treatment. It's going to come after topical acne spot treatment and OTC acne washes, even other acne meds! Many of you, so many, will try home remedies for acne first too. Men, get your isotretinoin prescription after diving into a topical retinoid. And yes, understand how this med for acne works before you take it!
How It Works
You what this med is. Men, isotretinoin is a strong, strong oral retinoid. So strong! You'll already know it as Accutane. This is synthetic vitamin A! Men, you'll see your sebaceous glands get smaller on this med. They'll get so much smaller! Yes, it's even going to mean you don't make nearly as much sebum. Not nearly as much! You called this one, men. Obviously, your skin's going to be a lot less inflamed thanks to this strong med. You won't have a lot of bacteria on your skin with this one too. Men, you know how this one works: it dries your skin!
Many, many of you get fewer clogged pores on this. It works by making your skin cells change a lot faster. So much faster! It's going to work in your sebaceous glands by making your skin make so much more of things like neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin. The thing about your sebum? This med blocks MMP-9 action a lot. It's so strong for you, men, so strong.
Best Uses
Yes, this one's an acne med! Men, it's a strong, strong prescription for nodular acne! Your doc's going to give it when you've got severe acne, especially if other treatments haven't worked! Yes, even when antibiotics are enough. Many of you, so many, will get it for acne scarring or if acne is really getting to your psyche. Obviously, men, you know you'll get a lower dose for these cases! So obvious.
Isotretinoin isn't just for acne though, you know that! Men, you know it's going to help you a lot for cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. This med's even great for preventing things like skin cancer when you're at a high, high risk for it.
Side Effects
Men, you know this med's got many, many side effects. So many! It's why you don't get this one for acne right away. The most common things you'll see, the absolute most common, are things like back pain, headaches, vision problems, and nosebleeds. Obviously, your skin is going to get very, very dry. So dry! This means your lips too, men. It's also very common to get dry eyes and a dry nose too! Other side effects you know about, of course, are skin reactions and common cold symptoms. Men, get ready to call your doc about the huge ones. That means peeing more often, being very thirsty, hearing issues and vision problems, and hallucinating. Men, keep your guard up. You've got to do it if something like depression symptoms hit. Yes, that's a huge side effect. The good news? It's rare, so rare!
Men, you know it's also possible, so possible, to see problems in your liver and pancreas with this med. Keep a sharp eye out for jaundice, dark pee, a fast heart rate, and losing your appetite. Call your doc about all of those, and vomiting or nausea too! Don't rest, either. Stomach pain spreading to your back means you need your doc also. They're going to need that call for severe, severe diarrhea, swallowing pain, chest pain, and rectal bleeding. Yes, these can occur too!
Precautions
Hold your horses! Men, isotretinoin isn't always the right choice! It's going to be unsafe when you've got something like asthma, high cholesterol, diabetes, IBD, heart disease, liver disease, or osteoporosis. Your doc knows this, so make sure you talk about it! Men, mental illnesses make this med unsafe too. You've got to go over everything in your medical history. Everything, absolutely everything! Also, you can't take it when you're younger than 12. But you knew that!
You avoid a lot, though. Men, you don't need to worry about the issues this med has with women and pregnancy. Amazing! The best! But wait, you've still got some precautions. Take the tablets whole with a full glass of water. Talk about taking it with some food with your doc. And remember, men, you've got to fill your prescription within a week. No longer! You'll get a 30-day supply. Obviously, be ready, so ready, for regular blood tests on this med.
Medication Interactions
Yes, like anything else, isotretinoin's got some interactions! Men, get your list out! It has all your prescriptions, OTC drugs, and supplements listed. Your doc needs all this info, all of it, everything, to avoid interactions with isotretinoin. Here's what to expect. This med interacts with oral steroids, yes. One huge one? Dexamethasone! It'll trigger interactions with anticonvulsants too, yes, like phenytoin. You'll get adjusted doses or alternate meds when this happens. And men, you know about vitamin A here. You can't take these supplements. Yes, you can't. Isotretinoin's a synthetic vitamin A, as you know. You know!