2ndchancesNK
Member
You’re actually not off here at all. Million ways to approach using this drug it seems.Personally, I don’t believe high doses of Accutane are necessary. It takes time for Accutane to clear acne and the difference between 40 and 80mg shouldn’t matter aside from potential side effects.
I’d recommend starting with 40mg to address the acute phase of the acne. Once a slight improvement is noticed, reduce to 20mg which are quite tolerable. After some time, you could even switch to every other day dosing.
I read a study awhile back with 4 groups that I think went something like this — 1mg/kg ED, 1mg/kg EOD (or 1st ten days of the month, can’t remember), 20mg ED, 20mg EOD were the groups. The study found that 1mg/kg was the most effective until week 8 of the study, but it found that the 1mg/kg group and 20mg ED group had practically similar results at week 16. I will have to dig deep for this one. This study was looking at initial clearance, as opposed to relapse rates though.
However, if we are discussing minimizing rate of relapse, it’s apparent that the higher the daily dose, in combination with higher cumulative dose, and even time spent on the drug after initial clearance are all factors in minimizing relapse rates. Now, obviously, some get lucky and don’t even touch the 120-150mg/kg cumulative dose and never get acne again. Some need to go far beyond that cumulative dose for initial clearance in some cases. Location of the acne, severity, and individual dose response clearly play a role clearance and prevention of subsequent relapse.
