Teen tells of acne drug ordeal

A teenager whose family feared for her life when she was hospitalised after taking an acne drug has fought back to health.

Emma Fox, 18, of Dry Doddington, became seriously ill after taking Roaccutane and is calling for the controversial drug to be banned.

She spent two years in hospital and her mother, Mrs Carolyn Fox, said she did not know if her daughter would survive.

Despite her ordeal, Emma has turned her life around and has been named Student of the Year at Lincoln College.

She now helps other acne sufferers and, with the support of doctors, is writing a book about her experience.

Emma and her mother said they wanted to warn others of the dangers of taking Roaccutane.

They have been to Westminster with their MP, Mr Stephen Phillips, to discuss their concerns with Lord Howe, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department of Health.

Emma said the drug should not be prescribed.

“I want to do everything I can to stop this happening to others,” she said.

“I wouldn’t want anyone going through what I went through.”

Emma, a former pupil at the Sir William Robertson High School, Welbourn, collapsed in September 2009. She had been taking Roaccutane for nine months.

She was bed-ridden in hospital and was fed through a tube.

“It was like she was in a coma or had suffered a massive head trauma,” Mrs Fox said.

“We were told that not many people recover when they reach that stage.”

When she started taking the drug, prescribed by dermatologists at Newark Hospital, Emma said she began to feel tearful and suffered occasional joint pain.

Mrs Fox thought the changes were caused by normal teenage hormones.

Emma said: “I started feeling so different and I didn’t understand because there was no reason for me to feel like that.”

Emma was seen at three hospitals before going to Huntercombe Hospital, Stafford, where she was treated by a specialist working with youngsters suffering from severe depression taking Roaccutane.

Mrs Fox said specialists told them that serotonin in Emma’s brain, the hormone that helps to regulate moods, had been destroyed so conventional anti-depressants were making her more depressed and suicidal.

As part of her recovery, friends and family had to respond negatively to Emma. They could not pay her compliments.

“You couldn’t say she was looking well because her brain would then want to do something to make her look worse. The technique was about reprogramming her brain,” Mrs Fox said.

She said doctors told her that if Emma had not been as strong as she was, it was likely she would have committed suicide.

Emma has since returned to her studies and enrolled at Lincoln College. She achieved four A*s and an A at GCSE and built up her confidence and strength. She is now studying A-levels and hopes to become a doctor.

A spokesman for Roche, the company that makes Roaccutane, said it was committed to making sure its drugs were as safe as possible.

They said: “Roaccutane (isotretinoin) has transformed the lives of many acne sufferers, but like most medications it can have side effects.

“While no definitive cause and effect relationship has been established to directly link mood swings and depression with the drug, there have been rare reports, among both those taking Roaccutane and acne sufferers in general.

“As a caution we recommend anybody experiencing these, or other possible side effects with the treatment, to tell their doctor immediately.

“As no definitive cause and effect relationship has been established between Roaccutane and depression or suicidal thoughts, discontinuation of therapy will not necessarily alleviate the symptoms.”