Accutane® is known to cause severe mental and physical health problems, including depression, suicidality, brain complications, skeletal/muscular damage, and vision problems, amongst others. Used to treat only the most serious cases of acne, Accutane® is a powerful and effective prescription treatment. While it is only prescribed under strict medical guidance, and to those whose skin does not respond to other acne treatments, Accutane® is still considered a viable acne treatment, and most people can think of a least one friend who has taken the drug. Accutane® is an extremely dangerous drug, though, and is known to cause a wide range of side effects, ranging from relatively minor to life threatening.

Minor effects like extremely dry skin, sun sensitivity, and nausea are relatively manageable. However, a more frightening, and somewhat common, side effect of Accutane® is the development of mental problems. Depression, anxiety, irritability, apathy, sleep disorders, aggression/violent behavior, weight fluctuation, and concentration difficulties have been linked to Accutane® use. Such mental disturbances have led Accutane® patients to have suicidal thoughts, and there are numerous reports of patients taking Accutane® attempting to end their lives. In 2002, the package REPLACE for Accutane® was updated to reflect the risks of mental complications.

Other health risks associated with taking Accutane® include serious brain problems due to increased brain pressure (sometimes resulting in death), abdominal difficulties (including organ damage), bone and muscle damage, hearing loss, vision loss, and severe allergic reactions. Accutane® is also poses a danger to pregnant mothers, as it has been known to cause serious birth defects including physical deformity, mental retardation, fetal death, skull deformities, underdeveloped ears, eye socket deformities, flattened nose, cleft palate, heart abnormalities, absence of thymus gland (affects infant’s ability to fight infections), nervous system complications, and brain defects.

It is not uncommon for mothers to miscarry babies as a result of taking Accutane® while pregnant. Therefore, it is essential that you do not become pregnant during your treatment with Accutane®, nor for at least one month following use of Accutane®. Before prescribing Accutane® to patients, a pregnancy prevention plan is developed and agreed upon. The risk of pregnancy complications is so great, Accutane® users are forbidden to donate blood, as the medicine can pass through the bloodstream into the recipient mother’s fetus.

More information on the frightening nature of Accutane® can be found at http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/infopage/accutane/default.htm and http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/infopage/accutane/medicationguide.htm.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires that anyone considering Accutane® sign a consent form acknowledging awareness of the many risks of using this product. If you or a loved one was injured from using Accutane®, please contact our Philadelphia-based Accutane® lawyers today. The Accutane® attorneys at the law Firm of Eisenberg, Rothweiler,  Winkler, Eisenberg & Jeck, P.C. make it our mission to recompense you for any mental or physical suffering you or an unborn child endured as a result to exposure to Accutane®.