A warning note slipped into the acne treatment and anti-acne battle field this week when reports revealed that elevated cholesterol levels, and raised levels of blood fats called triglycerides, are what new researches into the side effects of anti-acne drug- Accutane (generic name isotretinoin) found out.
This is widely reported by Amanda Gardner, published on CBC News, as the outcome of a lab test of some 14,000 patients, aged 13 to 50, who took Accutane for acne between 1995 and 2002.
I have always felt akward whenever it comes to intake of any drug. I am a 'naturalist', I love nature and natural cure. Thank God for drugs, and what it has done in reducing human ailments. It is a great pain when press reports of outbreaks of hitherto unknown levels of negative side-effects of popular drugs of popular ailments.
Gardner reported that "these side effects were known to doctors, but prior reports had suggested a much smaller number of users might be affected". Dr. Stephen Stone, president of the American Academy of Dermatology and professor of clinical medicine at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield. was quoted as saying that: "...this is a side effect that we have known about all along. We've been monitoring patients since the day the drug came on the market,"
However, as it always is with scientific controversies, another specialist, Dr. Lee T. Zane, assistant professor of clinical dermatology at the University of California, San Francisco, claimed that "...the risks should not be overstated, ...having abnormal tests results does not necessarily signal a bad medical outcome. It's just lab tests, not heart attacks,"
Justifying his viewpoint further, Dr. Zane said that "...Isotretinoin is undeniably the most effective medication we have for treating severe acne. It can truly be life-changing. We can't lose sight of the fact that isotretinoin is the most important revolution in medical dermatology in the last 30 years."
The CBC news however repoted that, "Accutane...is the most effective acne medication on the market, resolving some 89 percent of cases. But the drug has potential side effects, the most severe of which is birth defects in the babies of moms who are take the medication while they are pregnant. This risk prompted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to launch a mandatory registry to track all isotretinoin prescriptions".
Visit the CBC News for more of these reorts.
