Retrospective survey of serum lipids in patients receiving more than three courses of isotretinoin

Abstract

Isotretinoin is well recognised to cause hyperlipidaemia. This is most obvious during the second month of a 4‐month course. Since there are no long‐term data on lipid profiles, we have identified 30 subjects who have received 3 or more courses of isotretinoin. They had been exposed to a median of 24.5 months (range 12–103) isotretinoin therapy with a median total cumulative dose of 350 mg/kg (range 152–1221). The median serum cholesterol pre‐treatment was 4.6 mmol/L (range 3–6.4). This compared to a median of 4.5 mmol/L (range 3–6.4) just prior to starting the final course. The median triglyceride levels before treatment and pre‐final course were 0.8 mmol/L (range 0.3–1.7) and 0.92 mmol/L (range 0.4–2.6) respectively, indicating no significant change in cholesterol or triglyceride concentrations when measured prior to the first and last courses. In addition there was no correlation between cholesterol or triglyceride concentration before the final course of isotretinoin and the total cumulative dose of isotretinoin. We conclude that there appears to be little risk of causing hyperlipidaemia by prolonged therapy with isotretinoin in patients with acne.

• acne
• cholesterol
• isotretinoin
• multiple courses
• triglyceride