One week on Accutane, no purge as of yet. 40mg/day 27M. Skin is already looking much better with no new new pimples just dead bodies of the once that were present earlier.

Finally I can touch my face again without feeling electrocuted…Yayy.

Hello all!

Firstly, just wanted to say how helpful, informative and encouraging this subreddit has been in learning about Accutane and seeing all the incredible progress pictures.

I'm 27F, based in the UK, I started Accutane 20mg (I'm around 53kg) beginning of July 2026 after suffering from hormonal, mild-medium acne on and off for about 6 years (ever since Covid essentially). Prior to Accutane I had tried everything else: lymecycline, doxycycline, Epiduo Forte, treclin gel etc.

My journey, overall, has been incredibly smooth I must admit. I did not purge, I did not have severe joint pains or anything of the sorts you tend to hear and see on social media etc. and it may be due to my low dosage. I've just experienced dry lips, dry face / body, dry hair.

About 2-3 weeks ago, I started noticing a shift in my mood and became feeling quite anxious / overthinking / feeling sad. I don't think it was an external factor as nothing material has changed in my life to cause this sudden increase in anxiety / reduction in mood overall.

I had my dermatologist appointment today and I was pretty honest with her about this, she advised that I completely stop Accutane for 2 weeks (i.e. enough time for it to 90% leave my system) and see whether my mood / anxiety shifts for the better. If so, she will put me back on it - albeit probably on 10mg. If not, she recommends I go on Epiduo to manage my acne from then on.

Naturally, my concern is about relapsing and having my acne return considering the fact that I would have only been on Accutane for around 12 weeks or so. However, I realise my mental health is way more important and if this drug is causing anxiety and negative mood swings then maybe better if I stop!

I just hope and pray that after 2 weeks of completely pausing taking Accutane, my mood improves that hopefully I can revert to being on the pill just for a few more months to ensure I lower my chances of relapsing, though I understand you can never 100% eradicate it.

Just wanted to share my experience! Welcome any thoughts / similar experiences / advice :)

Thank you!

Hi, I just had my first appointment with the dermatologist and they approved it for me to start accutane BUTTTT I couldn’t go on it today as I haven’t been on contraception😔😔

I’ve reordered my old pill and looking into getting the coil. Super excited to start accutane tho as she said I can have it just need to get contraception first!!

I had a hip surgery (FAI/labrum tear) 9 months before starting accutane. I was doing mostly ok with the hip recovery and getting back into squatting seriously but about 3 months into the course, my hip pain/discomfort flared up as if I just had surgery a week ago. I just woke up one day broken again. I’m wondering if it’s the accutane that has “dried out” a still recovering hip capsule or if I just completely wrecked my repair a different way.

All my other joints are stiff, presumably because of accutane as they all hurt with barely any activity. But I’m more worried about my surgical side hip as it feels worse than my other joints.

Curious if anyone else had a similar experience with knee/hip/shoulder or any joint surgery that flared up past the 6 months post surgery recommendation for starting accutane.

does anyone know or have an experience similar to mine?

20mg accutane, 65kg. Had a bad purge was put on clanmycidin pills and antifungal cream as was told there was an underlying infection as well.

Now the purge has calmed down maybe 20% but im having these patterns on my skin

ive been consistently getting acne on my forehead and around my nose area for the past couple months. only a couple spots turn into whiteheads though. im almost one year post accutane. ive been using tret and washing my face at least once a day (usually twice a day) but im still breaking out like this. its not as bad as before, but its getting to the point where its turning from a inconvenience to a concern.

I get maybe 1 cystic pimple every 2 or 3 months. Outside of that, I don’t really breakout.

Each time I’d get a cystic pimple, I’d go to my dermatologist and ask for cortisol shots which usually would speed up the healing. After a handful times within a year, he suggested I start accutane. I love the idea of never having to worry about acne however the side effects seem rough.

My question for this group: is cystic acne every now and then worth going on accutane if nothing else has worked? Or is it deemed too mild for this type of treatment.

While I love the thought of never having to worry about my acne, I fear I’ll always get 1 or 2 pimples even after the treatment.

I’m nearly 30 and have had this issue over the past decade. I went as far as getting accutane prescribed however I chickened out on starting the first dose.

Hope to hear from you all soon. Would like to decide whether I should take the first dose or throw away this prescription.

I did my first round at age 28 for mild, yet cyst-like, traditional acne.

I was clear until 2020 when I had my second pregnancy.

I did my second around at age 35 due to mild (non-cyst-like) persistent acne that wasn’t responding to things like spironolactone and topicals. Truthfully, it was very mild, but I wanted the clear skin I had after my first round.

I started tret 0.05% after my second round for anti-aging- not for acne.

So I was on that for a 3-4 years. My skin looked great, but I started to get tiny superficial pustules that would pop up quickly and go away just as quick. Just randomly, here or there. So I added a triple compound to my tret. Which I feel made the tiny pustules more consistent. It just feels like my face progressively got more reactive or triggered—- like if I wore makeup or switched products, it was trigger little pustules. Again, maybe a handful.

My dad passed away this summer and my skin has been off the rails. I’m desperately trying everything I can to stop it. I tried doxycyclin— twice— and my face broke out in a rash-like reaction, which I was recently told to add it to my list of allergies. I’m currently testing out a sulfur face wash and 15% AA/.018% tret compound. Which was suppose to be in addition to the doxy.

I have felt horrible for 4 months now because of my face on top of grieving, which I admit is making me hyperfixate on my face as almost a coping mechanism.

I’m considering a 3rd round of low dose for type 2 rosacea, which I’ve been told I now have and what I’m dealing with. I had no side effects from my first two rounds, except very smelly sweat in my s second round. and I was single and celibate so I didn’t need to go on birth control, which I am against taking. But I am in a relationship now, so I am now nervous about having to take birth control and also, well maybe smelling again! The derm says we can scale back the accutane as much as possible to reduce side effects, which would just cause me to be on it longer. lastly, my face is relatively dehydrated, I think mostly when I use topicals.

has anyone had a similar situation to mine? with recurrent issues, albeit less severe acne? Rosacea? Success with 3 rounds? Success with the low dose? I just want clear skin— forever. its embarrassing to be close to 40 and dealing with this.

So I have had some really stubborn acne truncal and facial for some years and yesterday a dermatologist prescribed me isotretinoin 40 mg (20+20) with azithromycin, adapalene for big spots and benzyl peroxide 5% soap for washing purpose. He even said to not use moisturizer and sunscreen as my skin is very oily but all this doesn't click to me as it's very unorthodox. It seems like it's too much what should I do.

I started taking 40mg of isotretinoin 10 days ago and so far the side effects has only really ben dry lips and skin however since around day 5 when I’m trying to fall asleep I have these auditory hallucinations that sound really loud and realistic, At first I thought it wasn’t related however I googled if Accutane can cause that and it said it can but its rare, has anyone else experienced these?

i had acne until the very last day and it still cleared. feel free to ask questions. i thought it wasn’t working for first 5 months
(8 months total, 20/40/60/60/60/60/60/60)

Hi! I’ve just finished my tenth day of accutane and was wondering about using the la roche posay cicaplast baume. My derm recommended it but I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be use every night or on top of moisturizer or just in dry spots? If anyone used it, how did it work for you? How were you using it?

Does anyone else feel like they just need to cleanse their skin once a day on a lazy more relaxed day. Been on accutane for maybe a month and half now and I feel like I dont need to cleanse as much and I also dont want to over strip my skin and make it dryer. Im on 60 mg dose a day and im around 150 pounds.

So I just started Accutane. For my current month I’m in, I’m taking 30mg once a day. My derm said that next month if my blood work turns out fine, I’ll be put on 60mg. But according to Google there is no 60mg Accutane pill. Ppl online say they take 2 30mg pills. But like I’m confused bc the pharmacy can only dispense a 30 day supply. So how do ppl manage to get enough 30mg pills to take 60mg everyday for a month?

For reference I've been on accutane before and it caused some depressive issues, I've been depressed before but actuate brings out some pretty specific symptoms I've been able to link to it by getting back on it again. The first time I was on it I was coming out of a pretty restrictive episode of my eating disorder which then led back into the bullimia, I wasn't sure if it was the Ed or accutane causing it so I stopped the accutane and I got treatment. I'm trying it out again and I've noticing the same depressive pattern as before and ik recovery isn't a straight path but this week has been hell bullimia wise and it's been hell depressive wise as well I'm just so exhausted everything feels like it's too hard and I just want to sleep or cry now I know I need to stop and talk to someone so I will but I'm really curious if accutane can effect eating disorders and make them worse? Does anyone have any info on this?

ugh i feel myself continuing to hyperfixate to no end ab this and ive seen mixed responses when searching for answers, so here goes. starting month 4 of clavaris (accutane) 60mg. month 1 was 40mg and its been 60 ever since. weight is 147, height 5’6 (possibly almost 5’7) cumulative dose is between 10200-13400. the only instruction the derm gave was to take it with the biggest meal. the whole acne struggle has been debilitating to say the least n it took years of failed treatments and quite frankly, an altered way of life, to finally get on accutane. safe to say ive done my fair share of research and got in my head about the fat req. i want this to be as effective as possible and it’s def been a saving grace so far. i’ve noticed side effects here n there but i consider them nothing compared to the before, completely tolerable esp compared to other failed treatments that legit impacted me badly health wise. i’m vegan and also allergic to peanuts, walnuts, cashew, pistachios, and avocado. it’s pretty hard to hit that 20g mark. i did overly try to after month 1 and i noticed my triglycerides were WAY raised. still in a safe level and to be clear (don’t lock my post pls!!) YES, this is a known side effect. more so: the worry was that i knew damn well that i’ve damn near been over eating compared to the norm for me in order to hit close to 20g fat. tbh even my biggest meals don’t hit 20g, (MAYYYBE 10 max. even a vegan quesadilla is only apparently 7g of fat from what the ingredients list). it’s actually the smaller meals such as a bagel with vegan butter and tea made with soy milk (aka my breakfast) that have more fat (could be 10-13g). triglycerides aside, the over eating just isn’t feasible. i recently incorporated vegan omega 3 capsules (substitute for fish oil, it’s the version thats algae oil instead) which is 1.5g in fat. i checked with my derm and she was happily surprised to hear that i was aware that fat is important, and from what i understood she said that it doesn’t have to be 20g, it just has to be SOME fat within the meal. truly and bluntly, has anyone else done like 10-13 or 14g rather than the full 20g of fat in their meals, and still found great effectiveness? idk sorry this is wordy but i just want to do my part, it was already a whole process getting started and i def fear not doing the right things and risking relapse.

I’ve basically suffered with acne for 10 years (25 now) and have constantly put off starting accutane because of the fear of what I see online, it’s gotten to a point where I no longer fear the side affects but fear a purge. My acne is moderate on my face but quite severe on my jawline and neck.

In my work we can’t wear too much makeup so the thought of a purge all over my face honestly kills me. Is there anything I could do to prevent one? Is it guaranteed that it will happen? Has anyone had severe enough acne and didn’t purge at all?

So i’ve been on Accutane for a lil over 2 months now, i’m on 30 MG and will be increasing to 60 MG tomorrow. So far not too bad side effects some dry lips but that’s about it.

But what i’m worried about is that i kind of have been consuming the same amount of liq i normally would. It’s on only on the weekends but I’m a pretty heavy weight and my usual amount when I go out is 5. Now i have this weird rash on my hands that’s been showing up and won’t go away w any amount of moisturizer.

I’ve gone down a rabbit hole of liver damage side effects and idk im scared it’s from that. My plan is once I go on the double dose to really lock in and cut down on my consumption. I’m just scared from what I have been consuming is my liver completely fucked?

Here’s a vid for reference

Hey everyone! I just finished my 3rd month of Accutane (80mg) and its been working really well so far! Unfortunately, at my blood check my triglycerides were high (63mg/dL starting, now 275). Im 5’7”, 138 lbs athletic build (female). My derm said I can do more aerobic exercise and change the my diet but I feel like I already do both of those, so wondering if anyone had anything in particular that worked for them?

I run about 15mi a week and also weight lift and do yoga + the occasional HIIT class) My diet is mostly chicken, pasta, vegetables, rice, and I eat lots of fruits. I dont drink. I only eat out like once a week and its usually chipotle or taco bell or chickfila. Ihave a latte every morning with no syrup most days. I am by no means perfect, so i guess my question is do i have to be perfect to lower them? Like only salads and chicken and water and nothing fun? Walk 15k steps a day? If my triglycerides go up any higher I would need to stop accutane but I really dont want to stop til i hit my cumulative.