Saturday, March 25, 2006
High dose accutane for acne causing flushing and redness?
I've been skimming through some of the messages on the acne forums.
It is scary how many folks who are taking the high dose accutane for acne, are reporting redness and flushing both during and after their regime. They are then getting diagnosed with rosacea. Is no one putting 1-and-1 together to make 2?
Are there any studies on this yet?
Not that I have seen.
The more I have read on accutane the more I am convinced that in a decade's years time we will look back on high dose accutane as a misadventure. I cannot imagine swapping acne for rosacea is a long-term win.
As we've mentioned before on this blog, low dose accutane as prescribed for rosacea is a totally different ballgame to high dose accutane given to cystic acne patients (e.g. 10mg every other day compared to 80mg every day in acne regimes).
There is however a school of thought that ultra low dose accutane is also beneficial for acne patients, without so many side effects and without the possibility of causing the redness and flushing.
In summary:
Very low dose accutane is helpful for rosaceans.
High dose accutane may *cause* rosacea.
It is scary how many folks who are taking the high dose accutane for acne, are reporting redness and flushing both during and after their regime. They are then getting diagnosed with rosacea. Is no one putting 1-and-1 together to make 2?
Are there any studies on this yet?
Not that I have seen.
The more I have read on accutane the more I am convinced that in a decade's years time we will look back on high dose accutane as a misadventure. I cannot imagine swapping acne for rosacea is a long-term win.
As we've mentioned before on this blog, low dose accutane as prescribed for rosacea is a totally different ballgame to high dose accutane given to cystic acne patients (e.g. 10mg every other day compared to 80mg every day in acne regimes).
There is however a school of thought that ultra low dose accutane is also beneficial for acne patients, without so many side effects and without the possibility of causing the redness and flushing.
In summary:
Very low dose accutane is helpful for rosaceans.
High dose accutane may *cause* rosacea.
