Dermatologists say isotretinoin has transformed the lives of countless thousands of teenagers — its success is borne out by a dramatic rise in prescriptions, with numbers for Roaccutane alone, made by Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche, rising from 6,522 a year in 2006 to 48,997 in 2016. While many have clearly benefited from the drug, it has also been increasingly associated with reports of serious psychiatric side-effects, ranging from anxiety and panic attacks to depression and suicide.
These potential risks have been well publicised, but now evidence is emerging that isotretinoin may also be responsible for a hidden epidemic of permanent sexual dysfunction, that continues long after the drug is stopped, depriving young men of the chance to have normal relationships.