Cystic Fibrosis?
Monday, August 2nd, 2010 at
9:57 pm
nalla asked:
has anyone with cystic fibrosis ever been on Acutane, (an acne med). If so, could you tell me of any problems you experienced while on Acutane?
Tagged with: Acne • Cystic Fibrosis
Filed under: Cystic Fibrosis
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Accutane is a med that dries up acne. Believe it or not, this medication could actually help your CF as well. There are no big studies out there to prove this, but the dehydrating action of the medication could shrivel up some of the secretions you retain as part of your CF. Definitely speak to your doc and see if this med doesn’t mix with the other medication you are taking.
CF is tough, I’ll say a prayer for you tonight.
Hi,
It depends are you taking it orally or putting it directly on your skin. Although I haven’t got CF, I’ve used high dose retinol topically with skin reddening and no other difficulty. So that might be an alternative for you, but if you need to take it orally side effects may include: “dry skin and mucous membranes, hearing problems, … pinkeye, rash, sensitivity to sunlight, vision problems”
Given the above, I would suggest increasing your fluid intake and using artificial tears if you take it as some folks with CF have lower levels of tears in their eyes than normal anyway.(3)
I agree there hasn’t been enough studies of VitA (retinol) in CF but what few there are show that Vit A levels tend to be low in persons with CF. These low levels can correlate with decreases in lung function. Which of course is a chicken and the egg problem.(2)
Much of the lung damage done in CF is as a result of a heightened immune response (high levels of inflammation). So lowering the immune response should be helpful and there are some suggestions that normal Vit A levels may serve an anti-inflammatory function in CF. A report, followed the case of one guy with CF who was taking isotretinoin. This individual reported improved lung functions, decrease mucus production and decreased respiratory illness while taking the drug. (1) (see below for more detail)
If acne meds dry up your mucus, and that’s all they do, I would strongly suggest you not take them. This is because CF mucus tends to be thicker than normal anyway. While you would never completely dry up your mucus, even drying it up a little bit more might make it harder to cough up and give the bacteria and fungus a much better place to ‘hang out’ Thats why even over the counter decongestants are discouraged in CF. However, I suspect higher levels of Vit A may also act as an anti-inflammatory agent as well.
Here’s some parts of the case study abstract from NIH if you would like to read it.
“A 15-year-old boy (with CF) with a history significant for multiple respiratory infections since birth presented for evaluation of acne vulgaris….The 84-kg patient was started on 80 mg (0.95 mg/kg/d) of isotretinoin (13-cis-retinoic acid) daily. The patient’s dose was decreased to 40 mg/d 2 weeks later following an episode of blood in his stool and epistaxis. At the 1- and 2-month follow-up visits, the patient reported improvement in his acne and mentioned that his lung secretions seemed reduced. … 2 years later, so isotretinoin was restarted at 60 mg/d. During the next 7 months while on the drug, he experienced no further episodes of epistaxis or bloody stools and his acne had resolved by the end of therapy. The patient and his mother again reported fewer bronchopulmonary secretions and no infections requiring antibiotics during treatment with isotretinoin. This was unusual because he had experienced numerous respiratory infections requiring antibiotics during the prior 2 years. Since discontinuing the drug, the patient has had intermittent pulmonary infections and exacerbations in the symptomatology of his CF.