Roaccutane appointment schedule

The average treatment length is 6 months. 

First appointment: Please book a 30 minute ‘Skin diagnosis and treatment’ consultation (£195). During this appointment the doctor will check your general health; provide you with written literature about the treatment and issue a consent form to read and sign.  We will take your blood (£142) and for females may do a pregnancy test. We can usually give you your first prescription for Roaccutane at that appointment, to be started once your blood test results have come back (3-5 days). However, females can only start taking the drug on days 1-3 of a period unless you using adequate contraception. 

Second appointment: Please book a 15 minute ‘follow-up appointment’ (£125). We will check how things are going and take some blood (£142). These blood results are checked against your baseline test taken at your first appointment. This is to ensure that the drugs are not having a significant negative impact on your health.  You can continue to take Roaccutane whilst you are waiting for your blood tests to come back (3-5 days). 

Third and subsequent appointments: Monthly intervals, please book a ‘follow-up appointment’ (£125). Blood tests are only repeated if deemed necessary, for example, with a significant dose increase or negative side effects. 

Things to consider:

• Roaccutane blood tests include Full blood count, Liver Function Test and Lipids at a cost of £142
• By law, we can only prescribe one month of Roaccutane at a time, and the prescription must be taken to the pharmacy within 7 days of it being issued. 
• The General Medical Council (GMC) recommends face to face appointments.  We will occasionally be able to accommodate a remote consultation in certain circumstances but please do not expect this as a regular occurrence.
• For females contraception is mandatory, prescriptions must be endorsed with ‘ppp’ meaning pregnancy prevention programme. 

Good to know:

You will be issued with a private prescription for Roaccutane or more likely Isotretinoin which is the generic drug name.  Generic drugs tend to be cheaper than the branded drugs but contain exactly the same active ingredients.  The pharmacies are free to set their own prices on drugs for private prescriptions, and we have found prices for Roaccutane can vary hugely between different pharmacies.  A fair price for Roaccutane or Isotretinoin should be around £15-20 per 20mg for a 30 day supply.