Accutane is a medication that is prescribed by a physician for serious types of acne. Accutane is extremely effective at fighting serious forms of acne, because it targets the main causes of acne; that being sebum production pores becoming clogged with sebum and killing the P. acnes bacteria that infects the skin causing pimples.



Accutane is the trade name for the drug name Isotretinoin. There are many different names used for this medicine, however Accutane is most popular name used in the USA for this medication. Since Accutane is a commercial product, you can also use the generic form of Isotretinoin called Claravis.

Accutane treatment usually lasts from two to six months and usually includes a treatment of .50 to 200 mg per day. Usually an Accutane treatment can cost $150 to over $200 per month. The more mg. per day of Accutane usually the higher the cost. It should be noted that most health insurance companies do not reimburse or pay for Accutane. It most cases health insurance companies consider Accutane a cosmetic medication, however if you require Accutane to fight cysts or nodules, many health insurance companies will cover you due to the fact they don't consider this use to be cosmetic in practice.

Because there are many side effects associated with Accutane, in order to receive a prescription, you will need to sign up with the FDA program called iPledge. iPledge was mainly started to prevent pregnant women on Accutane from having children with birth defects. Besides signing up for iPledge, females that would like to receive an Accutane prescription must take two pregnancy exams, both showing negative and continue to take a pregnancy exam each month while taking the medication. In addition, women who are sexually active must either abstain from sex or use two forms of birth control.

While there are serious side effects, for those that suffer from serious forms of acne, Accutane (Isotretinoin) is one of the only practical ways to rid the face of acne breakouts.