Accutane Acne Medication

Posted by John

July 13, 2010

If you have acne then there is a chance that you have heard of Accutane acne medication. There have been some great results achieved through accutane but you there are some things that we at AcneTreatmentAdvice.org think you should know about this drug and what it does so in this article we will cover What Accutane Acne medication is, How it works and what the potential side effects are.

What is Accutane acne medication?

Accutane is the brand name of the acne medication “Isotretinoin” and is a form of Vitamin A.

How does Accutane work?

To understand how Accutane works we first need to know how acne is caused. We will briefly explain what causes acne in this post but if you would like to know more you can visit our Causes of Acne post.

Acne is caused by the excessive production of sebum (the skin’s natural oil/grease) by the sebaceous gland in the hair follicle. This sebum gets trapped beneath the skin’s pore and as more sebum is released it starts to inflame and cause acne symptoms. This is made worse by the presence of bacteria which thrive in this Sebum rich environment.

Accutane acne medication works because it shuts down this production of Sebum in the hair follicle meaning that if there is no excess sebum there can be no acne symptoms. This is why it can be so effective at treating acne but unfortunately, as with all drugs, there are some side effects.

Accutane Side Effects

Accutane has been associated with several side effects. Here are the 5 that we believe are the most severe:

Ulcerative Colitis. This is a severe gastrointestinal condition that can cause death if it spreads to the entire colon.
Crohn’s disease.
Depression that has even lead to Suicidal thoughts.
Birth defects and even miscarriage.
Liver disease

Although these are uncommon there is still a risk and that is the reason that Accutane has been removed from the US market. Other, less serious side effects include: dry skin, acne breakouts, hair loss, muscle pain, sensitivity to sunlight, to name a few.

Alternative to Accutane

Fortunately there is now a natural alternative to Accutane. Vilantae is an all natural acne treatment that is derived from B-vitamins rather than Vitamin A which means that it is non prescription and has very few side effects. It works in the same way to reduce sebum at the core but instead of shutting down production altogether, which can be harmful, it regulates it to a more manageable and natural level.

If you would like to find out a bit more about Vilantae, please click on the image below: