Accutane

[clsykes00]

Thanks for setting this up!

Trying to make a decision on whether I should take the accutane plunge. Can anyone answer these questions?

1) How does low dose accutane help rosacea long term? Is it really just a vacation from rosacea for a bit? Does rosacea come back just as strong after taking the last accutane pill and how do you know when you can start IPL again?

2) Does low dose accutane minimize papules/pustules years after taking the last pill? Many reports regarding accutane on teenage acne seem to imply that such treatment "buys time" to get beyond your hormonal years. Does accutane have a different effect on rosacea suffers?

3) Similarly, does low dose accutane have a longer lasting effect on reducing oil production in rosacea patients than does other conditions? I ask this question since I have noticed a correlation between the severity of my rosacea and my oil production. If low dose accutane has long term beneficial affects on rosacea, then why wouldn't this decrease
oil production in the long term?

4) Does accutane affect a patient's cognitive ability (e.g. IQ)? A recent study linked accutane to changes in brain chemistry in the frontal lobe (specifically in areas that affect moods). If this is true (which I understand this is a big if), then what would prevent such affects to alter other important areas of the brain (that affect reasoning ability for example)?

5) At low doses, does accutane thin the skin? If so, how can one rebuild the skin?

6) I weigh 190lbs to 195lbs (or 86 to 89kg) and was wondering what dosage I should be taking 10mg or 20mg per day? I feel like I should be taking 15mg based on some of the calculations but that seems difficult to do since they dont make a 15mg pill. Also, should I be targeting 120mg/kg cumulative dosage, which will take 2 to 3 years at the above dosages?

Thanks in advance all,
Trey

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[Warren]

If it does "buy time" then it will be a number of years after stopping the treatment. 17 of a study of 20 patents in a follow up one year after stopping treatment had no relapses showing a long-lasting favourable effect in rosacea (1) (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=2436425&query_hl=1)

Before taking isotretinoin I could squeeze my nose and lots of sebum would come out. When I started isotretinoin over the first few weeks the sebum was pushed out and it looked like my nose was flaking. It defineatly decreased oil production and stopped what would probably the startings of rhinophyma for me.

I would start on a lower dose at first, You will get some side effects in the first six weeks, after a few months you can choose to up your dose. Normally it is the culmative dose that counts.

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[Max]

6 months post low dose Accutane you should be ready for lasers

what i've read 6 month is a pretty long time. being "just" on low dose i think you should be able to have lasers earlier...