Accutane and growth before age 16

[Anonymous]

Has anyone’s son had height/growth impacted by Accutane? Or did your son continue growing typically? Dosage in either case? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

I went on accutane when I was 25. I remember being so upset after it worked so well at all the previous dermatologists I went to starting at age 12. It really was awful going through high school and college with acne.

So when my son started going from a couple of pimples to acne the summer before 9th grade I was going to have him immediately start on accutane. He was around 5’3”. I waited until he turned 16 and was 5’7”. We are a short family so every inch counts.

He started on 10 mg and now is on 20mg which is a low dose and I won’t let him go up frim there even though they wanted to start him at 30 amd go up to 40.

Anecdotally a friends husband thinks accutane stunted his growth. I didn’t think much of it but he is 5’8” while his brothers are over 6 feet. and his wife is 5’5”. Both their sons are over 6 feet. My cousins boys took accurate. The one who started accurate at 14 instead of the other 2 boys who started at 16 and 17 is far shorter than his brothers.

These examples could all be a coincident but that and reading some journal articles and online discussions convinced me to delay accurate for my son.

[Anonymous]

Wouldn't use that stuff unless acne is so severe it would cause facial disfigurement.

[Anonymous]

I would wait until your son is 16 or 17 at least, and just get some acne facial extractions in the meantime to reduce congestion and avoid scarring. There is evidence it stunts growth for some at ages 12-15.

[Anonymous]

Average height is stalling and will shrink soon to probably around 5'7", so don't worry about it. Changing demographics.

Americans are unusually tall outliers in the world along with some western Europeans, but Europe's height is lowering as well.