hello, i've been battling acne for 2 and half years. my derm has put me on doxycycline, minocycline, benzoyl peroxide, differin, azelex, tazorac, etc, etc. at one point the acne was gone (i have mild acne), so we quit the antibiotics and ever since then nothing has contained it. he keeps suggesting accutane, but im worried about the terrible side effects. when im 40, my mild acne will be gone, and i'll be glad i have hair. i don't want hairloss and all these other side effects. what has been your longterm experience after being on accutane??

also, has anyone tried the antibiotic cephalexin (i think its basically penicillin) and its a member of the cephalosporins. since the other antibiotics stopped working (i was probably taking 75mg twice a day), i told my derm i want to do everything possible without going to accutane so he gave me cephalexin, 500mg, twice a day. has anyone had any experience with this antibiotic and did it work? the dose seems to be much higher than the other ones i've tried so i'm hopeful it will work. but i have noticed i have some stomach upset with it (been on it 3 or 4 days only)... of course the sheet says one of the side effects is mild diarrhea, something about killing the good e.coli bacteria in your intestine or something. any stores on cephalexin??

Have you tried diet changes?

ar

<someone@somedomain.com.invalid> wrote in message
news:9cnGc.125293$tH1.4664251@twister.southeast.rr .com...
etc, etc. at one point the acne was gone (i have mild acne), so we quit the
antibiotics and ever since then nothing has contained it. he keeps
suggesting accutane, but im worried about the terrible side effects. when im
40, my mild acne will be gone, and i'll be glad i have hair. i don't want
hairloss and all these other side effects. what has been your longterm
experience after being on accutane??
antibiotics stopped working (i was probably taking 75mg twice a day), i told
my derm i want to do everything possible without going to accutane so he
gave me cephalexin, 500mg, twice a day. has anyone had any experience with
this antibiotic and did it work? the dose seems to be much higher than the
other ones i've tried so i'm hopeful it will work. but i have noticed i have
some stomach upset with it (been on it 3 or 4 days only)... of course the
sheet says one of the side effects is mild diarrhea, something about killing
the good e.coli bacteria in your intestine or something. any stores on
cephalexin??

I took Cephalexin and it wasn't enough. I'd tried several antibiotics
and it seemed to kinda work but only after having been on it a
considerable period of time, and after awhile I would start having a
reaction to it anyway, 'Tane was the only way to go.
And while we're at it, once and for all, has ANYBODY out there had any
of these gnarly reactions to 'tane we keep hearing about: hair loss,
et.al.?

jamiegoforth@webtv.net (James Goforth) wrote in message news:<3508-40EAACC3-37@storefull-3273.bay.webtv.net>...
I'm so glad you asked this, because I'm wondering the same thing.
Being male, with already slightly thinning hair at the age of 35, I'm
hesitant to add more fuel to the hairloss fire!!!!! In fact it's the
biggest deterent for me in regards to accutane.

Yeah Id like to hear back as well. Im on week 14 of accutane now. My derm
said some hairloss was possible but that it 'should' grow back after
treatment. Anyway, Ive definately noticed that my hair has thinned out
some and that my hairline seems to be receding. However, cant say if this
is due to aging (Im 28) and that Im paying more attention in the mirror (ie
paranoid) or a side effect of accutane.

Still, at the end of the day, if it comes down to a chance at getting rid
of my acne for good vs possible hair loss, Im taking the acne cure.

I'm only on week 2 of accutane, but I don't see any side effects other
than dry lips. Hair seems intact at the moment. Honestly, even though
my hair has thinned a bit over time... I am willing to loose a little
to kill off my acne for good!

Look out.....it took quite awhile before I had hairloss on accutane. And after
I stopped it the hairloss continued for about a month. My derm wants me to go
on a lower dose now......I don't think so.

dm12420@aol.com (DM12420) wrote in message news:<20040708174334.04299.00001259@mb-m15.aol.com>...
During a high-dose course, I experienced some hair loss. Immediately
after the course was over, I started on a low-dose course. My hair
thickened back up during the first few months of the low-dose course.
I was on the low dose course for several years with no hair loss.

Can you tell me what a low dose course is? Actually....I threw the pamphlet out
but the derm wanted me to go on a new drug....similar to accutane. I remember
the dosages were 10, 20, and 40 mg. I read about all the side effects and
didn't want to take a chance....especially with the hair loss thing. Now you
have me rethinking this!

For most of my low dose course, I was on 10mg/day (My high dose course
segued into the low dose course: After completing the 5th month on a
very high dose course, my derm progressively lowered the dosage from
120mg/day to 10mg/day over a 3 month period).

I stayed on 10mg/day for several years. For the first 6 months on the
low dose course, my hair loss mostly reversed itself.

I still needed blood tests, except once every few months rather than
once a month.

I probably should have gone to 10mg every other day, as my derm
suggested, but the course was working so well at 10mg/day I was afraid
to try.

I've been off the drug for several years now. When I moved from the
east coast to the west coast, my new derm convinced me to get off it
and see what happens. My skin stayed clear for some time, but I've
been having problems recently and realize I probably should not have
stopped (or, at the very least, I should have tried an even lower
dosage).

My hair is thinner now than it was before I started on the high-dose
course. But then again, I was 34 then and I am 41 now. However, my
hair is still thicker now than it was at the end of the high-dosage
treatment.

Please note that the thinning on the high-dosage treatment was
detectable by me only. I also sometimes wonder if the strands of hair
were thinner because of lack of oil, not because of actual hairloss.

For me, it was 10mg/day. But that's probably higher than it needed to
be.

Maybe that's the generic version of Accutane?


dm12420@aol.com (DM12420) wrote in message news:<20040713075129.06753.00001426@mb-m13.aol.com>...