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Accutane and Its Terrible Side Effects

December 4, 2017

Very frequently – like every single day – we get potential clients coming to us telling us that we are their last stop before going on the dreaded Isotretinoin, commonly referred to as Accutane. People think they know how awful it is… but they are so desperate for clear skin that they are willing to take that risk. So we decided to delve into what we believe are the top 6 risks of taking Isotretinoin. It should be noted that we will be exploring the SERIOUS potential health side effects. The most common and minor side effects of this drug, like chapped lips, dry skin and nosebleeds, we assume most people are already aware of.

Serious Side Effect #1: HAIR LOSS

This may seem minor until you hear the stories. One woman claimed to have lost 75% of her hair while on Isotretinoin. According to drugs.com, hair loss while on Isotretinoin is common. Most people do start to regrow hair after their cycle has ended BUT there are instances of continued hair loss after stopping using Isotretinoin. Why is this? The simple answer is that Accutane is a form of Vitamin A. Vitamin A, in low doses actually promotes the growth of strong, healthy hair. HOWEVER, an excess of Vitamin A actually creates a Vitamin A toxicity, results in hair loss and damage to the shaft and follicles.

Serious Side Effect #2: Peeling skin

Now, we are sure you all know about the extremely dry skin that most patients have who take Isotretinoin, but do you know about its more serious cousin, PEELING skin?

So the first thing everyone should understand is that Accutane is essentially highly concnetrated, synthetic Vitamin A. What Vitamin A does is decrease the activity of your sebaceous glands – in other words – you become less oily. Your skin becomes so dry that people experience cracking, bleeding lips and skin sensitivities so drastic that even warm water becomes painful to touch.

People resort to drastic measures to combat this extreme dryness – like taking baby oil baths, constant use of eye drops and 24/7 use of sunglasses to avoid the painful glass into the sun or light with extremely dry eyes.

Serious Side Effect #3: Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Between 2007 and 2012, Roche, the company behind Accutane, lost 9 of 13 lawsuits and ordered to pay over $25 million in damages. Why you ask? Because Accutane was found to have caused, in these cases, inflammatory bowel disease. Lest you not know what inflammatory bowel disease is, it is actually an umbrella term used to describe disorders that involve chronic inflammation of your digestive tract. These disorders can include Crohn’s Disease, Ulcerative colitis and many others. What do these diseases actually do? Well on top of making your day to day life more difficult and uneasy, you can experience nausea, vomiting, bloating, constipation, and abdominal pain due to intestinal blockage. As a result many people experience extreme weight loss and inability to process foods that they were able to process prior to having the disorder. For more information on isotretinoin and Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, check out this report: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2210836X12000103

Serious Side Effect #4: High Cholesterol Levels

In 2006, a comprehensive study was published that examined the link between isotretinoin and high cholesterol/triglycerides. It examined over 13,000 patients (that is a BIG study!) over the course of 7 years, all of whom were taking oral isotretinoin and it found that 44% of those patients had elevated triglycerides and 31% had elevated cholesterol levels from the normal baseline. In case you all aren’t aware of what high cholesterol and triglycerides lead to – generally speaking they are the main culprits for heart disease and heart attacks. No good right? In addition to this alarming study, there was another (smaller) study done in 1997 which examined 104 patients of isotretinoin and found that the levels of HDL cholesterol (the good kind) fell significantly in those patients while the LDL (bad) cholesterol increased. Since cholesterol levels are basically monitored on a ratio basis (LDL to HDL), this also highlighted an alarming side effect for people taking isotretinoin.

Serious Side Effect #5: Depression

Now this is a tough one for us because for every report that says isotretinoin causes depression there is a counter report saying that there is no proof that this is the case. But we personally have heard enough clients tell us that they suffered from depression as a direct cause of isotretinoin that we feel it is important to highlight it as a potential side effect. And it is extremely serious. Anywhere from 1-11% of patients who use isotretinoin report suffering from depression. A subset of the population seems to be more susceptible to isotretinoin-induced depression than others. People with a family history of depression, substance abuse or who have experienced high-stress events in their lives report a higher rate of depression while on isotretinoin than other groups.

There is good news when it comes to this side effect – firstly, just because you take it does not mean that you will become depressed. And secondly, the majority of patients who do report depression while taking isotretion also report that their symptoms disappear once they stop taking the drug. There is a small percentage of patients who continue to suffer from depression while off the drug as well. If you want to know WHY it would cause depression – you are not alone. There are various theories out there. To us, the most understandable of them is that because Vitamin A, from which Isotretinoin is derived, plays a vital role in the central nervous system, it has been theorized that it disrupts the body’s natural product of serotonin. Lower levels of serotonin lead to – you got it – depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, and aggression.

Serious Side Effect #6: We are going to end with one of the most serious side effects… the risk of birth defects while using Isotretinoin.

Over the last 29+ years of working in the skin care industry, we know that the majority of our clients are 1/ women and 2/ in their prime child-bearing years. Many of our clients have specifically rejected using Accutane due to this extremely serious side effect not because they are eager to get pregnant at that time but because this side effect is so real, so proven and so dangerous, it is hard to believe that something that is this bad for a baby could not cause damage to you as well.

So let’s put this one in perspective for you. When the FDA is reviewing and approving new drugs for the market, they used assign the approved drugs “risk” categories so that the consumer can easily understand the amount of risk of birth defects they are taking by ingesting this drug. There were 5 categories as created in 1979 – A, B, C, D and X. Now this system has since been overhauled, in 2015, but when Accutane came out, it was assigned X – which meant that if you were to fall pregnant while on a round of Accutane, you were virtually ensured of causing damage to your baby, if not death. By 2015, Accutane was the ONLY GLOBALLY DEVELOPED DRUG to receive this rating. The risk is so real that patients going on Accutane are required to sign a form promising that they are 1/ on a form of birth control and 2/ will take every precaution not to get pregnant. This continues to be a risk until at least one month after stopping using Isotetrinoin. 

We hope that this blog post has helped you understand some of the more serious side effects of using Isotetrinoin. Of course, there are plenty more possible side effects that we haven’t listed. If you, or someone you know or love is considering taking this drug PLEASE consider calling us first. We can help you get your skin clear without taking ANY oral antibiotics.  Topical is the way to go when it comes to treating acne!

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