Accutane for Clogged Pores, Whiteheads and Blackheads?

I have found that many patients with clogged pores, whiteheads, and blackheads DO improve with Accutane (though not always). The cause of the clogged pores or comedones is the stickiness (on a microscopic level) of the oil you produce and way your skin cells in the follicle mature, and Accutane addresses both of these problems. I have had dramatic results (and a few failures) treating this type of acne with Accutane.

I agree that Accutane is not very effective for this type of acne - in fact, in my experience, even retinoids such as tretinoin cream or tazorac may not result in significant improvement in these kinds of pore-clogging lesions. These lesions may need to be manually extracted by your physician or an experienced aesthetician. Good luck.

This would be an off label indication for acne since it does not sound like you have severe cystic acne. Whatsmore, accutane is not particularly effective for this type of acne, ie comedonal acne. I would suggest either changing to Tazarac or if you are not on Differin gel 0.3 switching to that. Topical salicylic acid along with Beta peels would help also. Find a good aesthetician who will perform a full pore cleansing with extracion. Find one who likes their work and will spend a lot of... more