Cancer of the lips

After taken accutane for 5 months and have been off it now for one year, I have white skin patches developing on my lips and they are so dry and wrinkly, the skin around my mouth is also dry and wrinkly. I am having a bi ops on my lips next week to see if its cancer, has anybody else had problems like this with taken this drug.

[S. Kaul, MD]

Hi there!

Vitiligo is a known side effect of accutane and could present similarly. High dose accutane therapy has also been associated with some amount of malignant potential and it is prudent to have a biopsy done to rule out the same. However there are also other less serious likely possibilities not related to accutane such as infection, inflammation, micronutrient deficiency etc, that could present similarly. At this time the best course would be to wait for the biopsy results before considering other options. You may like to discuss the situation in detail with your dermatologist.
Hope this helps.

Take care!

[Sammy7055]

Thank you for your answer, I have spoken to my dermatologist and he just says to wait and see what the results are, I am having the biopsy done on Friday. In the mean time my lips are getting worst and are so dry, I now think this is farmers lip, it has all the symptoms and I cannot believe my doctor will not give me any cream. What ever the results are I do hope there is a cure and my lips will get back to normal. I will keep you updated.

[Sammy7055]

My results came back and it is not cancer but Actinic Cheititis and I am treating it with Solaraze Gel for the next 3 months, lets hope it works but thank you for your reply.