hey! i just started accutane almost a month ago... I really didnt/havent had any side effects. The only thing that I kno was that i get a lil sleepy after I take it and my lips are dry and my skin and hair is like not oily at all! which is a miracle in itself! but thats about all, a few muscle aches every now and then, but I start taking 2 pills a day tomorrow, so we will see what happens! Good luck!!

Hi smartpants. I have also been taking accutane for a couple of weeks or so, thus far with no real side effects which is great. Im going up to a higher dose next month. I just have dry lips and sometimes dry eyes but skin looks great. My face went a bit red for the first few days but looks normal now. I got a horrible painful flare-up when I started trimethoprim (am I still the only one on here who was given that one!?), so was worried about similar. Good luck, keep us posted :)

Just as an update, I'm now about 5 weeks into Accutane and so happy to say that I had NO initial outbreak (that was my biggest fear). I do have dry and chapped lips that drive me crazy, but nothing else major besides that. It has cleared my skin wonderfully and I'm very happy with the results so far. I just kick myself for not going on this medication ten years ago!

I'm technically off Accutane now (although I'm finishing up what I've got left from missed doses).

The worst side effect for me was an extreme increase in my cholesterol which I had to control through diet.

I had very dry lips, nose, skin (I ended up with eczema), hair (I had to buy moisturizing shampoo for the first time in my life!) and bad back pain at night. My nighttime vision was pretty much shot too. I lost a total of 8 pounds (roughly 7% of my body weight), which I think is the reason my derm wanted to wrap up my treatment.

The dryness and back pain started out pretty hardcore after a couple days, the cholesterol flared at my blood draw after the first month and the night vision was a slow deterioration.