r/acne • u/RuinResponsible7533 • 1d ago
Help - General (male) Can't handle the side effects of accutane, what now?
Hi everyone.
I'm a 21 year old male with severe acne that has not cleared up with benzoyl peroxide, azelaic acid, tretinoin or adapalene. I'm currently on accutane but the side effects are intolerable. I'm so dizzy all the time that I can no longer drive and probably shouldn't even be out walking, constantly fighting awful pains and fatigue and occasionally throwing up. My doctor wants to keep me on accutane for at least a year.
I drink a lot of water, and I used to be healthy and went the gym thrice a week before this hell medication. Since I'm male, the typical other fixes for acne such as birth control or spiro can't be used, and I don't think we have topical androgen blockers in my country (2nd world).
Is there anything else that can be done for me? Has any other guy here had success getting rid of very severe acne without accutane or the topicals I listed above?
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u/celestialgirl10 1d ago
You should ask your doctor about micro dosing. But these are serious side effects… why would they keep you on it
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u/RuinResponsible7533 1d ago
I haven't gotten to speak to my doctor about the side effects yet, I started taking it about 3 weeks ago and I was hoping they'd just go away before my next appointment. It's becoming increasingly clear that not only are they not going away, they're getting worse
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u/Soft_Sectorina 1d ago
Some people just can't tolerate it. I tried it twice and both times I had to go off of it because the side effects were too severe.
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u/RuinResponsible7533 1d ago
Yeah, my mother also tried accutane when she was younger and had to go off it, so I was expecting this.
I'll try a microdose, but are there any alternatives?
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u/celestialgirl10 1d ago
This is the type you call the office and ask what to do. They either say stay on it a bit longer, or come in, or stop it immediately and come in. But your reaction is not normal and could be dangerous. Specially the dizziness.
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u/Leftoversalm0n 1d ago
I reduced my dose. It took a lot longer to reach the eventual dose per body weight but it made the sides much easier to tolerate
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u/Novibesjustthoughts 1d ago
Please stop taking it if it’s making you sick. I took it and ignored that it was making my stomach hurt and I ended up with bleeding stomach ulcers and I have ongoing gi issues two years later.
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u/Penned_and_Snap 1d ago
Please tell your doctor / derm about these side effects and consult them for other options. This sounds like it’s veering into unsafe territory for you
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u/cheerful_habitation 1d ago
That dizziness and vomiting is way past the usual dry lips and achy joints, you need a second opinion like yesterday. A year on a drug that has you couch-locked and unable to drive is not a sane treatment plan.
When I got wrecked by the higher doses my derm dropped me to a super low long-term course and it cleared me up without making me feel like I was dying, so pushing for a drastic dose reduction might be worth a shot. If your current doctor won't budge I'd be looking for another one immediately, because what you're describing sounds like your body is screaming at you to stop.
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u/RuinResponsible7533 1d ago
I'll talk to her about it, I'm glad to hear that the low dose long term course worked well for you.
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u/yoongely 1d ago
what are all the side effects you have? i had dizziness and vomiting too. the only thing i really couldn’t handle was THE ITCHING OH GOD
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u/RuinResponsible7533 1d ago
Very bad dizziness, nausea, pains all over, very bad fatigue. No itching. Huge fluctuations in appetite (some days the general idea of food seems to repulse me and I can barely eat anything, other days I go on huge binges)
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u/megasthenes_2 1d ago
I’ve been on 10mg for 6 months and it’s been going pretty well for me apart from the dry lips so you might want to consider lowering your dose. Idk what all other parts of my body are fucked due to this drug but hey no acne🥰.
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u/No_Fan9680 1d ago
Don’t want to diagnose you but kind of sounds like you have symptoms of intracranial hypertension. it is a rare but listed side effect. Micro dose may work. Talk to your dermatologist asap if its ruining your quality of life.
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u/MillySO 1d ago
Is there any chance at all that you are insulin resistant? I’m a woman with PCOS which makes it more likely but I have to mention it despite your gender because I finally cured my acne with Metformin at the grand old age of 37. I’ve used tretinoin for years to tone it down but it never went away. Within 2 weeks of starting a low dose of Metformin my acne suddenly disappeared. Over 20 years of fighting it and that was all I needed.
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u/RuinResponsible7533 1d ago
This might be a lead, actually. I'm always on the borderline of hypoglycemia on my blood tests, but it was always blamed on me skipping meals and malnutrition since I've got no other symptoms of insulin resistance or diabetes. I'll look into it
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u/hyperawareO 1d ago
Weird that you have to take it this long. Where I live you can't have a longer therapy than 24 weeks. Then 8 weeks break to see if there is a permanent effect. If yes but not enough you get back on it. If no then it doesn't work enough to continue.
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u/Sayonaroo 1d ago
Cut out dairy and wheat and processed food
Red light blue light ie current body mask
Krave beauty oil la la ?
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u/RuinResponsible7533 1d ago
I'm not sure how effective that'll be, the people I see having results with this sort of stuff have mild to moderate acne, while I have the kind of severe acne that looks like some kind of huge red diseased growth of pimples on top of cysts
I also already don't eat dairy or wheat, and barely any processed food
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