After suffering from acne for the last 15 years, on and off, thanks to Roaccutane, I went to see a dermatologist last night and he has suggested that I have another course.This will be my third course in the last 9 years. For the previous two courses, they cleared my skin up beautifully and kept it clear for a couple of years. However the acne did come back, which has been quite distressing for me, especially after seeing how beautifully clear my skin had been after the treatment.
After discussing this all with the dermatologist last night, it has all become very clear as to why my acne came back both times. I had been on Dianette while taking the roaccutane, and then after about two years after stopping Roaccutane, on advice from my GP, I came off of Dianette for a break, as you are not supposed to be on it for long periods of time. As I was not in a relationship, my GP said there was no need for me to go onto another pill. Within a month or two of coming off of Dianette, the acne was back. I did not make the link either time, however what the dermatologist said last night made a lot of sense. Dianette helps to control your hormones and as my acne is very hormonal, by coming off of Dianette, my hormones could not cope and the acne came back.
The dermatologist has said that I should have been weaned off it gradually by going onto other pills that are not as strong; he suspects the acne would not have come back if this had happened. It is amazing to think that although I never thought Dianette was doing anything for my skin, it was controlling my hormones and therefore preventing the acne from coming back.
This time around though my situation has slightly changed, due to migraines that I get, I was taken off of Dianette four months ago, due to the risk of stroke, and put on Cerazette, another pill. I was told that they did not know how it would affect my skin, it could make it worse, and in which case I was to stop taking it. However it has made no difference to my skin thankfully.
I am not sure how being on cerazette will affect my hormones in relation to my skin after I have been on this next course of roaccutane, I guess time will tell.
I hope the above may help others out that are on Dianette. I would really recommend talking to your dermatologist about what to do with Dianette in the future. I stopped taking Dianette both times about 2 years after being on roaccutane and the results were terrible. I am also not a dermatologist, so would not want anyone to think that they may get the same results as me, hope my experience of what has happened does help in some way though.
