I tried roaccutane/accutane when I was younger - my dermatologist said is 95% of people it was a complete cure. When I took it my skin was amazing while I was on it, except it was really dry, my lips were particularly dry, I could peel the whole of the top layer of skin off my lips
Then when I came to the end of the course and the dryness went away I had perfect skin.
For about 6 weeks. It turned out I was in the 5% of people for whom it is not a cure. My dermatologist was shocked as he said that for most of that 5% it still gets rid of it for a couple of years. So he gave me another course of it. Same thing happened - perfect but very dry skin while I was on it, then great skin for 6 weeks or so, then back to how it had been.
My derm made me wait 6 months before having a third lot. He said he had no idea why it wasn't working. He had never seen this happen before, but since I have spoken to others who have had experinces like mine. We may be in the minority but it ins't necessarily the cure it is billed as. After the third lot I had the same experience again. I think maybe my skin was slightly better afterwards but still not cured, and not really worth all the dryness IMO.
I didn't have any more, and he said he couldn't do anything else for me that a standard GP couldn't.
I then went on dianette (it's a contraceptive pill with a dual licence as an acne treatment). In fact most pills will have some effect on your skin, just this one is a bit better. I took that for 2 years, then my doctor told me I had to come off, then I took microgynon (pill) which also kept my skin clear, but gave me headaches, then celest which made me fat, headachey, moody and spotty (all the fun there then!). I asked to go back on dianette prior to getting married so I would have clear skin for that. My GP at the time was very over dramatic telling me it had high risks associated with it, higher than with other pills and she wouldn't recommend I took it. Tried to get me to try a new pill (which I refused in the run up to my wedding I couldn't risk somehting going wrong). In the end she said I could have it but made me agree that it was against her advice!! I decided to take it for a short while so I could look nice on my wedding day and in the photos.
Having changed doctors I asked them about the risks and whether I should stop taking it, and they have said not. I have been back on it for 3 years. There are increased risks for certain cancers and thrombosis, even when compared with other pills, but there are also some benefits regarding some other cancers compared with other pills. The difference between dianette and others pills isn't very big, there are risks with any pill. Also my GP said to me that even if the risk was increased 10 fold, when you are young and in a healthy weight range, and you exercise then your initial risk was incredibly low, so mutiplied by 10 it would still be very low.
As I said though, there are many contraceptive pills which may be of benefit to your skin. I don't find that I never get a spot when I am dianette. I do still get them, they are just less frequent, smaller and go quicker. I am 28 though, so I was expecting this would happen with time anyway! I was led to believe spots were a teenage thing. Kept waiting for them to go. I have come to the conclusion they never will
The whole reason why im in this situation is because i was put on pills... so im kind of wary of them!!! is my fear of being drugged a reasonable one or do you think the pill is harmless?
