A lot of people wonder how this medicine works. "Nobody is 100% sure of how it stops acne, but it does. It does reduce the size of the sebaceous glands. Now there is some question as to whether sufferers of acne have particularly large sebaceous glands, or whether they are being shrunk smaller then they should. Being a Vitamin A compound, it promotes the regeneration of skin cells. Unfortunately this not only improves the standard of your skin, but also causes flakiness. It also has some

Once you start taking Accutane you get kind of excited because you're going to get rid of your acne and your self esteem is just rising, but before that happens its going to get worse before it gets better. This is because the medicine is bringing up the acne below the surface and resolving it, says Roche (2). You start seeing improvement in about 3 weeks but the most noticeable improvement is in about 2 months. If the patient isn't satisfied in 3 months and their blood work is okay, then the doctor can increase their dosage. They can extend their treatment an additional month but this is done on an individual basis. I would say the dry face and chapped lips happen within a month.

Accutane has a wide variety of side effects. Chapped lips being most common and hair loss being the least common. The medicine causes severe dryness, so your lips are always chapped and your face is always dry. Usually when you are given this prescription you will also get some good chap stick and some good moisturizer. Kunin suggests not to get your face waxed because the skin becomes more fragile during the time while you're on Accutane, and your skin could literally rip off (2). Athletes sometimes found that their skin was more prone to injuries while on this medicine. Some of the other side effects that might occur are the following: dry eyes and skin with potential eczema, increased sun sensitivity, muscle or joint pains, upset stomach, nose bleeds, migraine headaches, or jaundice. These are just some of the side effects that you might experience but aren't a major factor.

So what to expect while on Accutane? Well first of all you have to go through a blood screen to make sure you are healthy enough and to make sure you aren't pregnant. They check your liver, kidneys, and take a blood count. If you're a woman, you take a few quizzes about pregnancy and they talk to you about the risk of becoming pregnant. Your doctor will probably call you a couple months later just to make sure there is no chance of you becoming pregnant and you are being safe. There is a survey that you are encouraged to take when you are all done with the medication and they pay you $10.00 for you participation. It asks you questions about what side effects you had, if it helped or if it didn't, and just things like that. After you are all done you get your first prescription which is a 2-week dose. They come in blister packs of 7 per sheet and boxes of 8 sheets making a total of 56. Before you can get your next prescription you have to take another blood test. If it comes out okay you can get y

Some common words found in the essay are:
Audrey MD, Accutane Accutane, , taking accutane, chapped lips, didn't suffer, didn't suffer severe, audrey md, developing fetus, suffer severe, kunin 1, becoming pregnant, chap stick, sebaceous glands,
Approximate Word count = 1749
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)