I’ve been on Accutane for almost 7 months with barely any improvement - suggestions?

Accutane is a go-to medication for patients with recalcitrant cystic acne. It can reduce pore size and also reduce sebum production in your skin, making it less oily; and in turn, dryer. Accutane can be used to control acne, but patients receiving the medication should be carefully monitored. In terms of skincare, always wear an appropriate sunscreen and reduce direct sun exposure. In my patients, I recommend a good ceramide moisturizer such as Elevase whenever they are on Accutane. This will keep the skin hydrated and reduce the oiliness of the skin that is associated with oil-based moisturizers.

Best,
Dr. Karamanoukian
Realself100 Surgeon

you need much higher does for longer time and you need monthly lasers and peels (see link which can be sent to you worldwide).

All of my accutane/isotretinoin/acne patients do our accutane protocol from emeragecosmetics.com (where we do free skincare consults daily) and peels like aerify/cosmelan/enlighten.

Acne requires a combination approach to get long term improvement.  For all patients on isotretinoin, we require them to be on skin care such as vitamin C (Skinceuticals Phloretin CF, EmerageSkin AOX-C), glycolic cream (jan Marini bioclear, EmerageSkin enzymatic polish) , kojic acid serums (Skinceuticals phytoplus) and hyaluronic acid serum (IS clinical hydra cool serum, Skinceuticals B5, EmerageSkin hyla B) in the morning and retinols (reve skin 1.0 and sente biocomplete serum) and salicylic acid (reveskin acne purifying enhancer), growth factors and peptides (anetageMD, EmerageSkin Re-Fit Face/Eye) night.   

All of our patients get clear+brilliant non ablative laser along with a microsecond YAG laser such as aerolase or laser genesis and microneedling with PRP or microneelding RF like intensif or fractora monthly to help improve breakouts, speed the healing process, and improve scarring and facial redness while on the isotretinoin/accutane.  LED light therapy, cosmelan/enlighten/AERIFY peels, salt facial or dermalinfusion can be done as well to speed up the improvement. I suggest tyou go to an expert who combines skin care, lasers, microneedling, PRP, and facials while on oral medications for acne.  Best, Dr. Emer.

Thank you for your question. Accutane is a weight based therapy. Generally the dosage should be 1mg/kg per day for 4 months. If your weight is 50kg, then 20mg is less than half the daily dose, which means it'll take twice as long for results. However, the type of dosing regimen is also based on the diagnosis and severity as isotretinoin can be used to treat other skin conditions. I highly recommend you consult with your dermatologist regarding your questions and concerns. Take care and good luck.