Abstract
Oral isotretinoin is increasingly prescribed to patients with less severe acne. Such patients usually show little or no response to more conventional therapy such as long-term oral or topical antibiotics and topical retinoids. There is, however, concern amongst some physicians that patients with less severe acne may be less tolerant of the side-effects of oral isotretinoin. The purpose of this study was to address this particular issue: is oral isotretinoin associated with an increased side-effect profile when prescribed to patients with less severe acne? We recorded the side-effect profile of 492 patients treated with oral isotretinoin. Of these patients, 295 (60.0%) had less severe acne and 197 (40.0%) had severe acne. There were no significant differences in the total side-effect profile between patients with severe and those with less severe acne. However, when analysed at 8 and 16 weeks, both patient groups had significantly fewer side effects at the 16th week compared with the 8th week of treatment (P < 0.001). The conclusion from this study is that there is no difference in the side-effect profile between patients with severe and those with less severe acne receiving oral isotretinoin for acne.
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