December 5, 2002
Research: Causes and Prevention
Question from Greensboro, North Carolina, USA:
During the three months before I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, my vision was extremely blurred, I was always thirsty and I urinated often. I also was taking Accutane, and I read in a Drug and Fact book that there have been cases in which patients taking Accutane have been diagnosed with diabetes. Since I was on Accutane, I had lab work done each month for a lipid panel, liver panel and pregnancy test, and I recently saw the results of the lab work for the month prior to and the month of my diagnosis which showed that the lipid and liver panel almost doubled within a month.
I’ve asked my doctor as well as the diabetes educator if they know of or had heard about any patients taking Accutane developing diabetes, and of course they said no, but I was wondering if you have heard or know of any persons developing diabetes during Accutane treatment. Where can I find additional information/findings on this problem?
Answer:
My response would be no. I have not heard that Acutane therapy is associated with an increased frequency of diabetes. However, lipids do get worse and may be associated with insulin resistance. I would suggest you talk with your diabetes care team and talk about lifestyle changes before doing anything else.
JTL
[Editor’s comment: I searched PubMed and could find no evidence of this.
SS]
