“I’ve noticed my moods really change and I’ve had a lot of thoughts [of serious self harm],” one isotretinoin user wrote four months into treatment.
The drug was combating stubborn acne as it was supposed to: their skin had healed “a lot” and left them “so happy.” But that joy was offset by a surge of extremely dark ideas that left them hoping “to just hold on” and see out the treatment.
“I’m scared of my own thoughts and can’t help but think it’s related,” the user wrote in the r/Accutane subreddit – named after the discontinued brand that isotretinoin is most associated with.
