Late 20s and Afraid of Acne Medication?
Late 20s and Afraid of Acne Medication?
Late 20s and Afraid of Acne Medication?
Practical guide to isotretinoin for acne: dosage tuning, lip/eye dryness, and liver enzyme care.
To those in their late 20s who are afraid to take acne medication
To customers in their late 20s
Last Thursday, in the consultation room,
a 29-year-old office worker came in.
They said they had spent hours reading blog reviews.
"My lips are all cracked, my eyes feel like they’re going to pop out,
and I heard my liver enzymes can go up,
is this really a medicine I can take?"
They had nodular acne along the jawline
that had kept recurring for three years.
Honestly, this question,
I hear three or four times a week.
So what exactly is different?
What dermatologists call 'acne medication'
falls broadly into two types.
One is antibiotics (doxycycline, minocycline class),
and the other is what we’ll talk about today:
isotretinoin (Roaccutane, Isotinan, etc.).
Unlike antibiotics, isotretinoin
is a medicine that reduces the size of the sebaceous glands themselves.
So it’s much stronger in effect,
but the side-effect profile is more complex.
This is something many people misunderstand,
but "strong medicine = bad medicine" is not always true.
Depending on how the dosage is designed,
the same medicine can work in completely different ways.
Why do some people struggle
while others get through it easily?
"Isotretinoin (Roaccutane) side effects,
this is how dermatologists manage them."
— Director Woo Young-jin (Hongdae Beautystone Clinic)
Side effects are not a 'problem with the medicine itself'
but a matter of 'initial dose setting and moisturizing setup.'
Usually, overseas guidelines recommend
0.5 to 1.0 mg per kg of body weight
as the daily dose.
If you weigh 60 kg, that comes to 30 to 60 mg per day.
But here’s the tricky part:
if you apply that dose to Korean skin as is,
in seven out of ten cases, the lips, eyes, and nasal mucosa
fall apart within two weeks.
That’s why, for almost all of my patients,
I start with 10 mg or 20 mg a day.
Of the isotretinoin patients I saw last month,
there were about 47 people,
and only two actually had elevated liver enzymes
and needed a dose reduction.
On the other hand, some people start at 40 mg right away
and then stop on their own because of side effects.
The reason experiences differ so much with the same medicine
ultimately comes down to the initial setup.
Director Woo Young-jin’s key takeaway
Most side effects happen not because the medicine is harsh,
but because the starting dose is too high.
If you increase slowly from a low dose,
most people can complete treatment while continuing daily life.
This is how I usually divide it up in the clinic
Type | Starting dose | Points of caution |
First-time use, dryness sensitive | 10 mg every other day or daily | Moisturizer and artificial tears essential |
Moderate nodular acne | 20 mg daily | Check liver enzymes after 1 month |
Recurrent, severe | 20 mg → increase to 30 mg | Proceed while calculating cumulative dose |
Women of childbearing age | 10–20 mg + contraception counseling | Contraception during use and for 1 month after stopping |
But this isn’t always good, either.
With a low-dose approach, treatment can take
as long as 6 to 9 months.
That said, for people who want to maintain their quality of daily life
and have a much higher chance of finishing treatment,
it is still a good option.
The three questions I get most often in the clinic
Q1. While taking it, is even a single drop of alcohol really not allowed?
Honestly, having one or two drinks at a company dinner once in a while
often doesn’t have a major effect on liver enzymes.
However, drinking two or more times a week
or binge drinking is best avoided.
If your blood test is normal after one month, we can be a bit more flexible.
Q2. How long do you need to take it so it won’t come back?
Based on cumulative dose,
we aim for about 120 to 150 mg per kg of body weight.
For 60 kg, that’s about 7,200 to 9,000 mg.
At 20 mg daily, that usually takes about 6 to 8 months.
Q3. Besides the lips and eyes, what are the really serious side effects?
Elevated liver enzymes, elevated cholesterol,
rarely decreased night vision,
and very rarely mood changes have been reported.
That’s why I always do baseline blood tests before starting,
and repeat blood tests after one month.
And women of childbearing age must use contraception
because of the risk of birth defects.
There is no compromise on this part.
If anything is confusing,
I’ll look at it directly in the clinic and explain it to you.
This has been Woo Young-jin.
Read more
▶Forehead and eye area: Coretox, jawline: regular Botox? The best combination by area
▶Forehead filler in Hongdae — where is the best place?
▶Fat-dissolving injections: don’t trust it unless it’s DCA base (bile acid),
▶Hongdae lip filler: cost and duration, summarized by a Seoul National University specialist.
To those in their late 20s who are afraid to take acne medication
To customers in their late 20s
Last Thursday, in the consultation room,
a 29-year-old office worker came in.
They said they had spent hours reading blog reviews.
"My lips are all cracked, my eyes feel like they’re going to pop out,
and I heard my liver enzymes can go up,
is this really a medicine I can take?"
They had nodular acne along the jawline
that had kept recurring for three years.
Honestly, this question,
I hear three or four times a week.
So what exactly is different?
What dermatologists call 'acne medication'
falls broadly into two types.
One is antibiotics (doxycycline, minocycline class),
and the other is what we’ll talk about today:
isotretinoin (Roaccutane, Isotinan, etc.).
Unlike antibiotics, isotretinoin
is a medicine that reduces the size of the sebaceous glands themselves.
So it’s much stronger in effect,
but the side-effect profile is more complex.
This is something many people misunderstand,
but "strong medicine = bad medicine" is not always true.
Depending on how the dosage is designed,
the same medicine can work in completely different ways.
Why do some people struggle
while others get through it easily?
"Isotretinoin (Roaccutane) side effects,
this is how dermatologists manage them."
— Director Woo Young-jin (Hongdae Beautystone Clinic)
Side effects are not a 'problem with the medicine itself'
but a matter of 'initial dose setting and moisturizing setup.'
Usually, overseas guidelines recommend
0.5 to 1.0 mg per kg of body weight
as the daily dose.
If you weigh 60 kg, that comes to 30 to 60 mg per day.
But here’s the tricky part:
if you apply that dose to Korean skin as is,
in seven out of ten cases, the lips, eyes, and nasal mucosa
fall apart within two weeks.
That’s why, for almost all of my patients,
I start with 10 mg or 20 mg a day.
Of the isotretinoin patients I saw last month,
there were about 47 people,
and only two actually had elevated liver enzymes
and needed a dose reduction.
On the other hand, some people start at 40 mg right away
and then stop on their own because of side effects.
The reason experiences differ so much with the same medicine
ultimately comes down to the initial setup.
Director Woo Young-jin’s key takeaway
Most side effects happen not because the medicine is harsh,
but because the starting dose is too high.
If you increase slowly from a low dose,
most people can complete treatment while continuing daily life.
This is how I usually divide it up in the clinic
Type | Starting dose | Points of caution |
First-time use, dryness sensitive | 10 mg every other day or daily | Moisturizer and artificial tears essential |
Moderate nodular acne | 20 mg daily | Check liver enzymes after 1 month |
Recurrent, severe | 20 mg → increase to 30 mg | Proceed while calculating cumulative dose |
Women of childbearing age | 10–20 mg + contraception counseling | Contraception during use and for 1 month after stopping |
But this isn’t always good, either.
With a low-dose approach, treatment can take
as long as 6 to 9 months.
That said, for people who want to maintain their quality of daily life
and have a much higher chance of finishing treatment,
it is still a good option.
The three questions I get most often in the clinic
Q1. While taking it, is even a single drop of alcohol really not allowed?
Honestly, having one or two drinks at a company dinner once in a while
often doesn’t have a major effect on liver enzymes.
However, drinking two or more times a week
or binge drinking is best avoided.
If your blood test is normal after one month, we can be a bit more flexible.
Q2. How long do you need to take it so it won’t come back?
Based on cumulative dose,
we aim for about 120 to 150 mg per kg of body weight.
For 60 kg, that’s about 7,200 to 9,000 mg.
At 20 mg daily, that usually takes about 6 to 8 months.
Q3. Besides the lips and eyes, what are the really serious side effects?
Elevated liver enzymes, elevated cholesterol,
rarely decreased night vision,
and very rarely mood changes have been reported.
That’s why I always do baseline blood tests before starting,
and repeat blood tests after one month.
And women of childbearing age must use contraception
because of the risk of birth defects.
There is no compromise on this part.
If anything is confusing,
I’ll look at it directly in the clinic and explain it to you.
This has been Woo Young-jin.
Read more
▶Forehead and eye area: Coretox, jawline: regular Botox? The best combination by area
▶Forehead filler in Hongdae — where is the best place?
▶Fat-dissolving injections: don’t trust it unless it’s DCA base (bile acid),
▶Hongdae lip filler: cost and duration, summarized by a Seoul National University specialist.
Latest post
Latest post
Lifting
Ultherapy After Pregnancy: When to Start
Can you get Ultherapy while breastfeeding? How to think about timing and safety postpartum.
skin
Gaunt Face After Weight Loss? Juvelook Volume
Lost weight but your face looks hollow? How Juvelook Volume helps, and how long it lasts.
skin
Do Skin Boosters Work If You Smoke?
Smoking can slow collagen repair. Here's what that means for your skin booster results.
Lifting
Can RF Lifting Fix Stress-Related Sagging?
Stress can quietly loosen skin. Here's what RF lifting can and can't do about it.
skin
Cosmetic Procedures on Blood Thinners: Safe?
Cosmetic procedures with diabetes or blood thinners? Here's what to tell your clinic.
Lifting
시크릿RF 미세바늘 리프팅, 흉터와 넓은 모공까지 한 번에 잡을 수 있는 걸까요?
시크릿RF 가 미세바늘과 고주파를 함께 쓰는 방식과, 흉터·모공·탄력을 같은 원리로 보는 이유를 짚어봐요.
1:1 Custom Approach
1:1 Consultation Whatsapp
🌸 Beautystone Clinic attends the Meditox Bangkok Cadaver Workshop 🌸
1:1 Custom Approach