accutane not working

hi my name is blake burman i am 18 and have been on accutane on 2 different corses the first was for 6 months (20mg) working well but coming back the second was for 4 months (40mg) working well but not lasting as long i am now on my third corse because it has come back again and dont know what to turn to my derm has put me from 40mg to 60mg because there wasnt much of a change and there still does not seem to be a change yes it has cleared up but i still get spots and when i finish this corse i know it'll get worse again. what do i do is there any other oral and outside treatments that i can use for example i have been doing some catching up and have read that there are male androgens like finasteride and flutamide, will those be ok for me too use or shouldnt i use them because they may make me become less manly example (voice, charecteristics etc) this is really bothering me and would be great if someone could give me some info on this and something for me that would help my skin

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

If Accutane fails to give a long-term remission of acne after one treatment, it usually fails to do it after 2 or three.  You and your doctor may need to consider any or all of the following:  oral antibiotics, topical antibiotics, laser or other light treatments.  I see no role for androgens in your treatment.  In the end, you may need to put up with some degree of acne until you finally grow out of it, which you surely will.

Take care.

Dr. Rockoff