Accutane is some nasty stuff my man. Have you exhausted all other options or are you turning to Accutane as your first line of defense?

Accutane is involved in a ton of litigation due to their side effects and I would really consider alternative treatments before heading down this road. I was on accutane as a teen and while it cleared up my skin, it also caused my hair to start falling out in the shower and my thinning hair was noticeable at 18 years old. My hair looks much better now, thankfully.

I don't know your age but assuming you are relatively young, I would say have faith in your food choices and your lifestyle, take care of yourself, and wait this thing out.

One last question for you, is having a ripped acne free body worth it if you're bald? ;)

I'm sorry you're dealing with this. I know how frustrating it is, especially when you've done such a great job with your diet and you haven't gotten the results you wanted. That said, I would be so wary about something as serious as accutane.

It's strange that the acne cleared from your face but not your body. Do you use any soaps, lotions, or topical products on your body? You might be reacting to an ingredient in your shampoo or conditioner if it's running down your back and over your chest. I used to have break-outs all over my back and chest, and after enough time I realized it was caused by my chemical-laden shampoo/conditioner. I swapped them out and my back cleared up very quickly.

Don't give up, and try as much as possible not to stress! You deserve congratulations for making so many good decisions for your health already.

Don't! I was on Accutane when I was 20 (15 years ago). My skin got so dry that when I pulled down my pants dry white skin flakes would flurry. It did really reduce the number of cysts I got on my face, but to this day I still have acne on my face and upper back.

Also, it exacerbated my depression at the time. A side effect I was not warned about. I'm sure you're aware of all the various horrific side effects and the recent class action lawsuits. I wouldn't touch this pill with a 10-foot pole, it is TOXIC, and wish I knew then, what I know now. My skin has been severely dry ever since.

I did a 6 month course of accutane and it was magical. I kind of regret it in some ways, because I didn't really need it, I didn't have cystic acne, but I had a doctor I could bend to my will. Tiny pores, beautiful skin, etc., but I still wish I had done some more research because I work with someone who formerly worked at one of the law firms that defends accutane, and some of the claims out there are pretty scary. What their firm's defense was is that all of the claimants had some sort of genetic predisposition for whatever issue they claimed accutane gave them, so this is how they got off on a lot of their cases. The only one that my friend is aware of in which the claimant was awarded was a lupus case, but the defense appealed the award and then she left that firm so I don't know what happened. All that being said, I know two people who had horrible cystic acne, and it worked WONDERS for them, and it has been several years and they have nothing wrong with them. For me, it was vanity, which is why I guess I feel some regret, also, I had some IBS symptoms last year, but it was also after a super stressful time, so I think it is more of the stress than the accutane I took the year before. Anyway, this is kind of rambling, but, do your research, if I had a six pack, I would want to be shirtless all the time (as a guy!) so I can understand that. Just look it all up, having a great diet like paleo behind you can only help you out I think. Good luck!

I have to agree with others. I took it as a teenager for about 6mo. Both my arms turned into rashes, my iron levels soared, and no amount of lip balm could keep my lips from bleeding regularly. A good friend of mine at the time also took it and had the same bleeding problem. As bad as the listed side effects are, I don't think any of these is listed as side effects. Over a decade later and I believe that it is contributing to my autoimmune issues today, which is backed up by studies now. The effects can last for decades after administration. All that from just a few months of usage!! Accutane is in the same class of class-action lawsuits as asbestos. I don't understand how Cisapride was pulled but Accutane remains. It should never have been approved and it should be pulled off the market today I think. You say you understand the risks but I don't think you appreciate them (smokers suffer from the same problem btw). To be fair, even the makers don't understand the risks and that's part of the risk.

On a related note, a few months may not be enough for the Paleo diet to work. O6 stores can remain in your body for up to a year or two, or so it has been claimed. Same for trans fats. Keep eating lots of Salmon and eventually things should clear up. You can also try supplements and other alternative treatments in the mean time, like Turmeric as an anti-inflammatory or daily aspirin, those little heat element thingies, washes, people who pop them for you, etc.

i took Accutane for 6 months to clear up cystic acne that had resisted all sorts of topical and antibiotic drugs. None of them worked except Accutane, but you know the serious risks associated with taking it. My triglycerides skyrocketted while I was on it, but normalized afterwards. Now I have excessively dry skin when I first get out of the shower, but no other lasting symptoms.

I only wished I had tried topical treatment with coconut oil first. There is evidence that it is 15x stronger than benzoyl peroxide against acne. I'm using it now as a moisturizer and haven't had any breakouts (I have only very minor acne now). Cordain has a book on acne I'd check out too.

This is a big decision. Take some time to be sure you're making the right choice.

My son was on it for about 2 months (this was when it first came out and we didnt know better) and it sent him into a major depression, which was never an issue previously. It took a good year for him to regain strength mentally and I also had a friend who had the same issue.

SOOOO not worth it!!

I understand where you're coming from, as I'm considering Accutane as well (albeit after considerably longer attacking things from a Paleo angle). One thing to consider here is that there are people nowadays taking drastically less than the typical dosage and having far fewer side effects. I believe a typical male dosage (which is dependent upon weight, of course) is something like 60-80 mg/day, whereas I've seen people online taking 10-20 mg per week and having their skin clear up. I have heard of either 2.5 mg or 5 mg per day being a typical dosage for rosacea usage, as well.

Also, given what we know about the relationship between Vitamin A and Vitamin D, and the fact that Accutane is derived from Vitamin A, maybe having an adequate level of Vitamin D in your system would also alleviate some of the side effects of Accutane?

Ideally, you would be able to get to the root causes of your acne and eliminate it in the healthiest possible way, and hopefully that'll work out (it still very well could). However, if you try long and hard enough and can't take it anymore, you could at least look into the low-dose option as a less unhealthy way to achieve your goal.

I creeped your profile and previous answers, and it seems you've tried Accutane before but "had to quit the regimen because of side effects." :(

Have you tried consuming more retinol (liver, egg yolks, ghee/butter, maybe supplementation)? Are you eating any shellfish (for zinc, selenium, etc.)? I'll echo some of the other answers here and recommend trying different soap/shampoo (or none!), as well as going super low omega-6 and wait it out for a bit longer.

Good luck!

Hold up, three months is not enough time for your skin to cycle through. 90-120 days is the minimum and may vary per person. After about 6 months on paleo my skin, back, arms and stomach cleared up completely of acne and that was exclusively avoiding grains, refined sugars, legumes but no extremes. I still eat eggs, occasional chocolate (however I find it triggers greasy skin) and lots of starchy veggies.Do not do accutane. There are major lawsuits against it for causing chrons and collitus. My friend has been admitted to hospital after using it for a couple of months with acute digestive distress, unable to digest any food.I also found a great sea scrub followed by rubbing coconut oil on the skin at night did wonders. Mainly because i had too much dry skin accumulating, contributing to the breakouts.Also I never wear makeup, especially now. And everyone is commenting how great my face is. I wish you luck, I know how hard it is as I'm in highschool.

I took Accutane betweeen 1994 and 1996. I developped IBS in 1996 which has become THE most debilitating illness, has hugely impacted my quality of life, has brought me close to suicide many times, etc. Imagine being profoundly uncomfortable every minute of your life for the rest of your life.

I don't know if Accutane caused my issues, but given that a causal link has been established between the drug and bowel illness, I urge you not to risk it. Acne sure sucks, but not as much as chronic bowel dysfunction. It is pure misery, pure torture.

I recommend you get all your hormone levels tested also. Try to find a good endocrinologist, or at least a dermatologist who's willing to consider that hormones are having an effect.

I agree with all who said three months isn't nearly enough time. One more summer with your shirt on is not a huge price to pay for a lifetime of health. Please believe those of us who do not have our health.

Good luck!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

Don't do it. It cleared up my acne, but: it destroyed my night vision; I developed a really rare autoimmune disorder; I was terrified of getting pregnant the entire time; I am still afraid of any lingering side effects it will have on children I have in the future; the severe drying effect aged my skin years ahead of schedule; I was depressed as hell; etc.

You know what else cleared up my acne? Getting really depressed about it and giving up on washing my face. Now I use the oil cleansing method and NEVER touch any form of soap to my skin. It still has a little ways to go before being perfect, but it is way better than it has been in years and I sure didn't need another round of Accutane to do it.

And wait longer for the diet. I am five months in and I feel like the skin benefits just kicked in because my hormones took a while to normalize.

Please give the diet more time. I was once considering Accutane, but ended up not taking it because I could not guarantee the doctor that I would not become pregnant in the next two years. You have to sign these agreements, and I couldn't do it. Well, I didn't get pregnant, but guess what? My skin ended up completely clearing up in the next few years as I went toward a more and more natural diet. And now I am pregnant!

Accutaine is seriously hard on your body. I think you'll find that eventually you don't need it.

I have to weigh in on the "don't do it" side. My step-daughter took it for six months as a teenager, and now suffers from one side-effect I haven't seen listed here: chronic IBS. Nope, don't do it.

Before resorting to Accutane, I would try high-dose vitamin A first. 10,000 - 15,000 IU per day keeps my cystic acne away. I could get it from my diet, but I don't like liver, sweet potatoes, carrots and the other good natural sources.

I also avoid coconut and other sources of MCTs. I know coconut oil is supposed to be paleo-friendly, but for some reason it produces bumps on my face. I have no problem with chocolate or nuts, in fact I eat some every day.

Don't go the Accutane Route!

I had oily-oily skin, cystic acne on my nose, and also lots of back acne when I was a teen. I cleared up my acne and got compliments on my velvety soft skin a few years ago (and lost a ton of weight) with the help of:

• Probiotics
• Lots of protein (especially salmon and steak)
• Replacing grains with loads of vegetables especially green leafy ones
• Only eating low sugar fruits
• Good healthy fats
• Collagen supplement and other supplements
• and Copious amounts of water

Looking back now, it was kind of paleo but I had no clue what paleo was at the time. Unfortunately life, work, school, and stress took over and I wavered from what I use to do and my skin went from oily-ish to really dry (don’t know if that’s normal) I also gained back all the weight and then some while attempting to go Raw Vegan (grrrrr!!!!!). I am trying to regain my health, bod & great skin! Good luck on your journey!

*Also, maybe you have a nutritional deficiency, so loading up on nutrient dense foods may be beneficial.

Please, please reconsider the Accutane. I know how you feel- I've had cystic acne for 10 years now. I went on Accutane TWICE. I can't say how immensely I regret that. I do now have chronic gut problems, that I believe can be traced back to the Accutane. Other posters have well covered the serious side effects, so I won't repeat it.

One suggestion- I have a device called a DermaRoller, for my face. (They make other models for the body as well.) It's basically a little wheel with small spikes in it. You roll it over your skin, and it pokes small holes so that your product (benzoyl peroxide, salicylic acid, etc) can go into the deeper levels of tissue, where cystic acne begins. It sounds medieval but it really doesn't hurt. I have had really great results when I use the DermaRoller on a regular basis. I would strongly urge you to try something like this before going on the Accutane. It is just so, so dangerous of a drug, and I don't believe the long-term effects are even fully known.

• Drinking Dandelion root tea has also helped with some of the inflammation and redness in my problem areas.

• For active breakouts, a wet cotton ball dipped in tea tree oil, and placed on the breakout for 5-10 minutes, helps it shrink down faster. Make sure the cotton ball is wet- this dilutes the tt oil which otherwise might be too strong and burn your skin. Tea tree oil is an established anti-microbial.

• an estitician (sp?) recommended I use a baby hair brush to gently exfoliate my face. That also helps with breakouts. I think that folks with cystic acne have thicker skin, that doesn't exfoliate as well. The good news is, thicker skin ages well. The bad news is,....well, we already know that.

• whatever I use to wash my face, I let sit and soak in for at least 5-10 minutes before rinsing off. That has made a difference too.

And if you do decide to go on it, don't be a dumbass like me and take 2 different courses of treatment. If it doesn't work the first time, it won't work the second time! My skin cleared up while I was on it, but as soon as I went off, it was back to the same. I even had a Dermatologist offer it to me a 3rd time. Um, no.

Best of luck.

Have you tried TEA TREE OIL? You can dilute the oil in water and wash affected areas or buy a wash with TTO in it. I use TTO with good success. Best of luck!!

I don't know what preventative measures you can take but I want to chime in with the others here and encourage you to try other things first, if you haven't already. I would suggest a salicylic acid (BHA) or alpha hydroxy acid (AHA) liquid, which you can put in a spray bottle to make it easier to get it on your back. Keep going with Paleo... it may help in the end!

I believe Accutane gave my husband IBS (they don't really know what is wrong with him, so they call it IBS) and it is an everyday struggle and has ruined many vacations for us. Last time he missed out on surfing lessons, but you better believe that I went anyway! LOL. He's currently on a low-dose anti-depressant to help treat it, which makes him groggy and forgetful. The doctors don't know what else to do for him. Of course, he's not paleo and will not listen to me when I give dietary advice! You may fare better since you have good lifestyle habits.

I will agree with the other answers here. While I did not personally take it, my ex girlfriend did, and she took it twice. She hated it as it cause her incredibly dry skin, bloody noses, and a few other side effects. After all of that, it still didn't get her skin completely cleared up.

Were I you, would certainly only consider it as a last resort, and even then, I'd likely not take it.

Best of luck

I took accutane in my early 20s and believed it was the miracle drug. The worst thing was the painful dryness. If you take it, don't spend much time without that shirt this summer, and keep the lipbalm handy.

I didn't have any elevated tryglycerides but it had to be monitored at every visit, making the whole thing very expensive. I also did diet and followed the doc's every recommendation. This was way back when accutane first came out and I'd tried everything that was typically done. My face was like one giant bruise. The acne never came back, and I ended up with no scars. However, I can't say for sure, but I still have very dry skin to this day, although at 50 many people think I look younger. Being female it was a big deal for me to finally be rid of the acne, but truthfully if the stuff causes serious birth defects in pregnancy, it can't be good. Guess if it were me I'd try everything else before accutane.

I took it and I was fine. Really dry skin, such as lips but it did the job. I was about 25 at the time.

Hi! I wasn't paleo at the time I took accutane, so I cannot provide diet advice, though I can offer some advice about starting/considering accutane.

I understand your frustration as I had very bad cystic acne on my face and back from the ages of 13-17. I took accutane for 6 months and it changed my life. I did suffer dry skin while on it, but with rigorous moisturizing, sun protection (and complete sobriety of course), I suffered no ill side effects. It has been 6 years and I have not suffered any negative digestive issues. In my experience, your skin does get worse before it gets better, and you do have to commit 3-6 months for real results. Severe acne runs in my family, if your acne is genetically prone as well, fine-tuning your diet can only help so much.

It comes down to exhausting any and all other options before hand. I DO recommend you see a highly-qualified dermatologist. Not someone who will throw you a high-dose of accutane as soon as you walk in. The dermatologist I saw made me try various topical and oral medications for 8 months before we decided to resort to accutane. From there we started at the lowest dose, and after two months, seeing no negative side-effects, upped the dosage. I didn't see if you were male or female, though if you're female be prepared to commit to rigorous testing. I had to do monthly blood tests (testing for cholesterol levels, liver triglycerides, and pregnancy), monthly online quizzes, and a monthly "mood" consult with my doc. (Again, the intensity of all that monitoring may have been due to the fact I was a "high-risk" candidate--a teen girl who could get pregnant, drink recklessly, and/or be prone to depression--or simply have been the way my doctor dealt with all accutane patients. Regardless, the extreme "monitoring" made me acutely aware of how my body was feeling/responding to the drug physically and emotionally throughout the treatment term.)

Hope this helps in some way.

I took roaccutane for half a year and it made wonders, clearly; and no apparent side effects other than the well known dryness [taken care of with hydromol, great soap/ moisturising cream, by the way] But, you should know you've got topical creams containing isotretinoin that do not cause the fearsome side effects.

Also, you've got revivifiable brewer yeast, and some mother tinctures like Arctium lappa, Viola tricolor, Lamium album; a month treatment of each and see what happens.

Eventually, I would give it a go to all these natural stuff; but clearly, if after half a year you've seen nothing, go for roacc; do not let something like acne screw your life when there is a affordable treatment available.

plus do some physical activity but avoid SUN for both acne, erythema and scars; sincerely, even without roacc !

What did you end up deciding? I'm basically where you are, and after 5-6 years of trying literally everything I am about to turn to accutane, maybe trying a low dose treatment first before going through a normal dose.

Perhaps I'm in the minority here, but I think the side-effects of Accutane are widly exaggerated. Not saying people don't get bad reactions from it, but the chances of that happening are very, very small. Considering the millions of people who have taken it. Also studies on Accutane-depression link always come out negative, but this doesn't mean it couldn't cause depression to some people, it just doesn't happen widely.

I was on it 15 years ago. It fixed my horrible backacne. Of course 2 years later I got equally bad acne on my scalp. So it wasn't a permanent solution for me. Side-effects were annoying but manageable. Dry skin, chaffed lips, mild eye pain, etc.

Accutane is the only drug that actually targets the genetic abnormalities in acne. So you could say it attacks the root cause of acne. This was discovered just a few years back.

Really! Let me tell everyone, I am a 39 yo male and have battled cystic acne since I was 13 years old. I have used accutane for 2 months and my skin is already amazing. I am on 40 mg a day and I would recommend it to anyone. Yes it has side affects but any medication does-including the antibiotics that people happily shove down their throats for a common cold, which anyone would know does absolutely nothing. I tried every "herbal" , diet, chinese medicine remedy over and over with very little success. It never ever cleared the acne on my back or thighs but may have mildly reduced it while I "dieted" strickly on these methods. People with cystic acne have an actual skin disease and like all diseases sometimes you need to take a drastic measure to reverse this affliction. Cystic acne is not only an embarrassing part of life- not being able to go out in public, being unable to take your shirt off to go swimming with friends,it is also be painful and depressing in itself. I know the side affects that are affecting me but I personally won't piss and moan about being slightly mentally affected by it but at least it is only temporary compared to the life long depression that cystic acne causes.. Get a grip people- do your research and be prepared for what "can" happen. People also get depressed with many other prescribed drugs but this is a means to an end.

I decided to take Accutane earlier this year after my dermatologist and doctor convinced me the side effects were wildy exaggerated and that their patients had great results.

I only made it 10 days before I experienced extreme tenderness and pain under my left ribs. I kept wondering what I had done because it almost felt like muscle soreness.

Then I experienced rectal bleeding, started reading the side effects sheet and realized my colon goes up that high.

My dermatologist told me to start taking it every other day (I was taking 20mg a day) but after reading about (on the official insert with the medication) that I could be damaging my internal organs I decided it wasn't worth the risk.

It has been a month and I am now taking probiotics but I'm still having stomach issues. I no longer have the pain or tenderness but I am experiencing a lot of upset stomach issues when I eat and bloating, etc.

My brother took Accutane when he was a teenager and it was a miracle for him. I just think it was a mistake for me.

Too many side effects with Accutane. Have you simply tried ProActiv? It really does clear up your skin fast and your skin feels great, not dried out. Rather than buying from the tv commercials where they get a hold of your credit card for auto-shipments, look for a ProActiv kiosk or vending machine at a mall in your area. You can buy what you need, when you need it.