This year, I decided it was best for me to start taking Accutane again. I’ve had an acne problem since I was a young teen and it has adversely affected me physically, mentally, and emotionally. I feel self-conscious when I have even minor zits and acne, and the scars from the years of fighting this problem makes me unhappy about my appearance and confidence. I’m not easy to admit this but I’ve always been told the truth shall set you free.

Let me begin by describing Accutane. It is a popular brand of the generic drug Isotretinoin which contains a significant amount of Vitamin A. This helps to dry out your skin, which helps prohibit the development of oils that usually promote acne to develop. The medication can be so severe that it dries out the skin causing symptoms such as peeling, cracking on your lips, drying your eyes out, nosebleeds, and worse effects such as headaches and depression from the chemical imbalance and emotional challenge of this fight.

Last year, the FDA approved a program called ipledge aimed at targeting women to not use this drug while pregnant. Accutane can cause birth defects and thus is harmful for women who are pregnant.

That’s fine and dandy. Except men are required to enter this program.

That’s right. I’m required to register each month with ipledge, even though my chances of getting pregnant are ZERO. It’s physically impossible (even though a customer rep from ipledge claimed my chances of getting pregnant are really low! WHAT??) for me to become pregnant.

One of the very strict rules that the FDA has made with this stupid program is that if I don’t fill my prescription within 7 days of my doctor visit, I must wait 30 days to get back into the program, which is also the amount of time for the initial waiting period before you can get prescribed medicine. There’s no other reason than that.

The pharmacy at which I was getting my drugs first told me they couldn’t get into the system because of some password. They told me to wait a day. Fine. The next day I went in to get everything and they said they were still having trouble and that they should have it by Friday. I told them to give me a call when they have it. No phone call. I then called them back and asked them why they never called me. The lady who took my prescription was on vacation and never did anything about it. Then they claimed to have lost my prescription before calling me back saying they found it. By that time, it was too late anyway and they had to call to find that I didn’t qualify because of this 7 day waiting period. I’m never going back there again.

Needless to say, none of what happened was in my control and I am now, AGAIN for the 3rd time THIS year, taking ANOTHER 30 day break to restart the prescription. I called ipledge this morning and was very stern and aggravated but the guy (who had no idea what he was saying) assured me it was beyond his or anyone else’s control.

I hate the ipledge program. I don’t belong there, I don’t need to be enrolled, but in order for me to even begin to fight this mess I must abide by its rules. I should make a life’s not fair category and stick this under it. The worst part about this is that I’ve done everything I can up until now and have nothing to do but wait until my next appointment with the doctor. Not only is this affecting the treatment, but I now have to waste more money to see the doctor, more money on more prescriptions, and more time worrying about everything. I hate to worry, I hate being angry, I hate acne, and I hate ipledge.