Females' Knowledge and Use of Isotretinoin (Roaccutane) in the Western Region of Saudi Arabia

Background Acne vulgaris is one of the most common diseases worldwide. It is a chronic, relapsing inflammatory skin disease. Nearly anyone can be affected at any age. Adolescents and young adults are more susceptible, with a prevalence as high as 35% to 90% and reaching up to 100% in both sexes. Isotretinoin is the most effective medication to be used. It has been reported in the literature that many populations are non-adherents to or aware of safety recommendations. This study aims to assess females’ awareness and safety of isotretinoin use in the western region of Saudi Arabia. Methods This is a cross-sectional, descriptive study. A semi-structured questionnaire was used, data was collected from an electronic validated survey and published on a social platform. Statistical analysis was conducted with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). Results The total number of included responses was 1066. Most of the participants were 12-22 years old (45.2%), single (72.2%) and had a bachelor’s degree (69.6%). Among the total number of participants there were 285 participants who used isotretinoin. Ninety-three percent of them had a prescription of isotretinoin from a physician. The common dose given was approximately 20 mg and the common duration was more than six months. Conclusion There is a good amount of knowledge in our population regarding isotretinoin side effects, although only half of them were informed about them by their treating physicians. We noticed an obvious lack of awareness about safe practice during childbearing age and marriage. This highlights the need for optimal education by health care providers and the role of media is obvious to improve their practices and hopefully decrease the risks as it was the second most common source of information after dermatologists in our population. Also we recommend paying more attention to the psychological side effect which was reported by 9% of our participants.