the accutane smell

[GeauxNursing]

Does everyone remember the Accutane odor that followed it's users? I remember how my sister smelled when I was a kid and she was on it. ANyways, my boyfriend came home from work last night, smelling of the "Accutane odor". He can't explain it, just another day at work. And now the odor seems to be stuck in my nose. What's going on? (He is not on Accutane, he is too young to even know what it was really.)

[nursekristy]

Um...smell? I have never heard of this. I have been on accutane 2 times myself and have never had anyone tell me I had a smell.

Now I'm wondering, did I smell? It's an embarrassing thought, maybe I did smell and no one told me, ugh.

[Reeney78]

nursekristy, I'm thinking the same thing... I've been on accutane and I hope I didn't smell either!!! Both my sisters have been on it as well, but I don't remember any odor...

[nursekristy]

I'm sure you don't smell.

I know if I would have smelled my mom or husband wouldn't have hesitated to tell me!!

Are you in Indiana?....I could come over and give you a sniff test, ha ha!!!

[TiffyRN, BSN, PhD]

I don't remember there being a smell for the 4 months I was on it but sometimes we can't smell ourselves right? But I sure wasn't warned about anything. I know some people's noses pick up things others can't. For example my husband had a particular smell to his skin (not really bad, but not pleasant) when he was on a low carb diet. I know low carb diets can induce a ketotic state which in diabetics can make them smell "sweet" but I would not describe his smell as sweet. And it went away slowly over about 2 weeks after he went off of it.

So, I bet to you there is an "Accutane" smell that maybe the rest of us can't smell. I bet it's a metabolic by-product of what Accutane does in the body and though your boyfriend wasn't on Accutane, he ate something or took some other med that produced the same metabolic by-product.

[sister--*]

My son was on accutane yrs. ago and I do not recall an odor. What I do recall is that while on the drug my son required frequent liver panel draws since this drug was reportedly very hard on that organ.

I've taken care of people with liver diseases and several of them had a sickly sweet fetid odor. I was told that this odor stemmed from severe liver dysfunctions/disease/involvement.