Acne

[Michael Dorosh]

I took Accutane in junior high as well - miracle drug, it was.  My uncle told me about his acne problems growing up in the 1950s; we're pretty luck.  He tried everything including pissing on his hands and rubbing his face with it - they didn't know a lot about it back then.

 

[winchable]

My dad had it when he was a kid as bad  as I did, his mom used to force feed him the water leftover after boiling veggies to cure it.

 

[Torlyn]

You're not supposed to give blood if you're on antibiotics, much less accutane.  Any sort of medication reduces your ability to give blood, not just accutane.  As for what's in it:

http://www.rocheusa.com/products/accutane/pi.pdf

T

 

[USSRsovietsnake]

cept for the interview he failed and was told that one of the reasons he couldnt join was because of his horrible acne.

HMMM id rather have the people who drink and do drugs when they arnt old enough, to not be able to join.

 

[CurtisWoodworth]

I had pretty bad acne, face, back. I didn't take my shirt off where ever I was. I started with the really basic stuff. Topical stuff. It didn't work at all, so I was put on Minocycline. 20 months later, no real improvement. Then I got put on acutane and it didn't work for the first couple of months. But then bang, it worked like a charm. Everything cleared up and my scars are now fading. Acutane does have serious side effects, like extreme mood swings. There are cases of suicide. And about the giving of  blood. Thats only while your on Acutane, and a few months afterwards. Something inside of Acutane raises your cholesterol level in the blood. It would show up on a blood test for sure. It drops back down afterwards.

 

[winchable]

It is pills.
To put in simple terms its a couple of pills which are antibiotics that attack acne at the root of the problem rather then putting a bandaid on (Topical creams)
Stronger then tricyclene or other pills it either works alot, or does nothing and you only get one shot at it.

The normal procedure is progressive treatment. You start off on topical lotions (Very painful actually) move to pill (not accutane at first) then onto accutane as a last step.
All in all it really is a miracle drug if you're experiencing severe enough acne to warrant it, by severe I mean...acne on top of other acne kind of acne, not jessica simpson "proactiv" acne.
Doctors (good ones) monitor the progress to make sure you're not suffering the more dangerous psychological side-effects (which if you read the statistics are very,very rare cases)

 

[tabernac]

and you only get one shot at it.

Waht do you mean buy only one shot? Just 1 six moth treatment period and thats it?

 

[winchable]

My understanding was that it either works for you or it doesn't and if it doesn't work the first time it's not going to work a second time.
I don't know if you can have the initial period extended however.
But if you took it when you were 16 and it didn't work, there would be no point in trying again at 19.

 

[Michael Dorosh]

Waht do you mean buy only one shot? Just 1 six moth treatment period and thats it?

Che posted the correct answer - however, I'll add that I was only on it for a short period of time, and cleared things up to the point I never needed it again.

 

[winchable]

Oh yeah I noticed a difference after a month, 6 months into it I had no need to be on it anymore.
Like I said, works beautifully or not at all.

 

[CurtisWoodworth]

I had to meet the dermatologist every month, as well as a blood test. It either works on you, works somewhat or it doesn't. It's not really a "one shot" deal, it either works, it works slowly, or it doesn't work at all.

Also, while being a miracle drug, it doesn't guarantee you'll never get some pimples later, but never as serious as when you begin.

 

[stukirkpatrick]

I was on acutane a few years ago...it worked alright, but it didn't entirely clear up.  I agreed to try a smaller dose for a while last year (my face was really drying out), and it helped a lot, and stopped again in september to go back to topical stuff...  so it does vary, and can take more than one shot.

 

[tabernac]

Oh yeah I noticed a difference after a month, 6 months into it I had no need to be on it anymore.

So did I, but about 3 or 4 months after the treatment was over, the acne returned. So I'm back on it.

 

[CurtisWoodworth]

Oh, and have like... 2 or 3 things of chap stick, because dryness around the lips is a pretty common side effect of Acutane. You really can't go/do anything with that kind of chapped lips.

You end up licking them, then they get even worse and then you start begging for some chap. Always have some on you where ever you go, if you go on it. And this isn't like just dried out either, it hurts to smile if you don't have anything on you, and sometimes your lips will bleed from the cracking.

 

[scm77]

I've tried all of them except for the first one.  The sprectro jel sometimes cleared up little minor ones but didn't do anything for the larger ones.  The minocin I took for a number of months and had no effect.

 

[tabernac]

Right now my doctor has given me samples of
Stievamycin (Gel that goes on after soap)
Spectro Jel (Facial Soap)
Minocin Minocycline 100 mg Pills (Once a day)

Has anyone tried these products or heard anything about them? I'm on 10 weeks of samples, then there will be a check-up where he will see if I should see a dermatoligist or not.

The minocycline is a pain because you can't take within an hour and a half of drinking milk. Because you can take milk with Acutane, I love it even more.

 

[BDTyre]

I ocassionally get acne on my back, but generally only after I've been doing heavy physical work and haven't had the opportunity to shower for a while.

But mine's never been bad enough to cause me any discomfort.  It never even breaks open.

 

[Spr.Earl]

When I was a kid I stopped wanking and that helped lot's. ;D

 

[winchable]

When I was a kid I stopped wanking and that helped lot's

LOL

Hear it also gets the hair off your palms

 

[eod/combatdiver]

You have to be kidding me if you think that acne will stop you from becoming a war fighter then you have bigger problems. I don't think that your friend was telling you the truth about why he was not excepted. I think that he had other problems then acne and he was not what the military was looking for. We already have enough of those and it is really hard for the military to get rid of once a mbr has signed a BE.