Recently there has been all this hype about accutane causing depression and suicide. I think people use it as a scapegoat when their depressed kids kill themselves. I mean yes, I think there are exceptions, but overall I think accutane helps kids with acne. It helped me-isn’t that sweet. So in this article I was trying to show the other side of the story. Way too often the negative effects of Accutane are shown in the media, people want the sensational, suicide and depression, so I wrote about how good it is and that maybe all this hype is for nothing. I was really biased in this article, because I was a user-but come on, even April O’Neil was biased-it happens to the best of us.

 

Amanda Callais was taking a shower when the thought of suicide consumed her. She walked out of the bathroom and swallowed the contents of three bottles of pills. She had been on Accutane for two months.

Accutane, a chemical cousin of vitamin A, is a prescription acne drug that cures severe nodular acne, a type that causes large cysts and leaves permanent scars.

According to the Food and Drug Administration Web site, depression has been listed as a possible side effect on Accutane’s label since 1986. Two years later, the warning was strengthened to also include suicide as a possible side effect.

The suicide link gained wide attention in 1999, when U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, blamed his 17-year-old son’s suicide on Accutane and claimed that patients are not warned about the risks.

The most recent suicide link is Charles Bishop, the 15-year-old who flew a small plane into a Tampa skyscraper. Reports claim that he might have been taking Accutane, and this might have accounted for his suicide.

On the other hand, some specialists do not believe there is a direct link between Accutane and suicide.

“I believe that it will be very difficult to establish a direct causal relationship between these two suicides and Accutane,” said Anthony Mennella, board certified physician assistant at the student health care center. “Recent figures show that approximately 1 in 20,000 Accutane users committed or attempted suicide, and 1 in 10,000 teenage non-Accutane users committed or attempted suicide. Here, Accutane lessens the risk of suicide, not causes it.”

There is no scientific proof that Accutane causes depression or suicide, the FDA cautions. But the agency has received 37 reports of suicides and 110 suicide attempts among Accutane users or former users in the past 20 years.

“My opinion is that if anything, Accutane for teenagers and young adults with severe disfiguring acne is much more likely to help their mental state,” said Dr. Jamie R. Morhaim, dermatologist.

Many could have been depressed before taking Accutane or despite it, nor does Accutane seem to cause the brain chemical changes necessary to spark depression, Harvard University suicide expert Dr. Douglas Jacobs, a Roche consultant, told the FDA.

“I personally have not seen any students, here at the University of Florida, who are on Accutane and are having signs or symptoms of depression,” Mennella said.

There are hundreds of U.F. students who believe Accutane is a miracle drug, Mennella said.

“I have been on Accutane on two separate occasions and I never felt depressed or suicidal,” said Jeff Smith, U.F. sophomore. “I am incredibly grateful for this drug and I hope it is available for my children, if they have to suffer from acne like I did.”

“All drugs have side effects, with some more serious than others,” Mennella said. “The challenge is to minimize side effects by appropriate monitoring, appropriate education and the detection of early warning signs and or symptoms of adverse events.”

In early 2001, the FDA announced that new warning labels and consent forms would be required for Accutane. The new consent forms will urge patients to watch for signs of depression, such as feeling of sadness, irritability, unusual tiredness or appetite loss.

“In order to be prescribed Accutane, I underwent multiple consent forms that had to be filled out with a parent and my dermatologist,” Smith said. “It was a long process and I was made fully aware of all of the side effects. I am an advocate for this drug.”

The drug’s maker, Roche Pharmaceuticals, says there is no scientific evidence linking Accutane with depression or suicide.

“Overall, it appears that the benefits of this drug properly used have outweighed the detrimental events,” Mennella said.