If someone you know was exposed to this drug (Isotretinoin: RoAccutane/Accutane/Amnesteen/Sotril/Clarivis...) during pregnancy, please use the opportunity to connect with others!

The resulting disabilities are referred to as 'Isotretinoin Embryopathy'. Each child is affected differently depending on what time in the pregnancy they were exposed. Some anomolies are noticed at birth or early infancy; others (intellectual, emotional, sensory processing, ect) may not be identified for several years.

Isotretinoin was first marketed in the US, in Sept. 1982. This was the onset of Accutane Embryopathy in this country (other than a few pregnancies that occured during clinical trials of the drug).

Millions of people have taken Accutane and it's generic brands worldwide, and thousands of pregnancies have occured. Yet, due to legal issues, in addition to the widespread location of people, there has been extremely little communication among those affected.

Research was conducted to verify the association of Accutane and the birth anomolies and to identify the most common characteristics/types of problems the babies have.

Other than that there has been no research or organized support for these children and their families.

It is not known how many babies have been concieved, or how many lived beyond infancy, or how many are now adults. The initial research projects and the monitoring done by the FDA and drug companies do provide estimates that there are hundreds of children (in the US alone) living with disabilities caused by Isotretinoin, and that pregnancies CONTINUE to occur each year.