A miracle worker or a killer - opinion is divided over Roacutane.
Parents are worried sick today after the tragic suicide of
sixteen-year-old Jack Bowlby, nephew of famous racehorse trainer Jenny
Pitman.
Jack confessed to "very dark thoughts," before he hanged
himself. He had stopped his drugs for bad acne, before starting again. A
talented rider, he wasn't bullied, although friends admitted he was,
'"the brunt of many jokes,"
Par for the course in most schools.
Jack will have been hyper-sensitive anyway, even without the effects of
the drug. Acne makes kids like that. My daughter took Roacutane to clear
her spots. When they finally went, back came her confidence.
Suicide
was a serious concern, even though her skin specialist had prescribed
Roaccutane for 30 years with no problems. As he said, acne makes young
people extremely depressed anyway. Being sixteen is hard enough without
spots that scar your face and bleed through the shirt on your back.
Jack's
death is a terrible loss. The pain of his family is beyond the
imagination of most of us. Yet their suffering should not blind us to
the potential of this drug, which has transformed the lives of so many
others.
PS I'm raising money for medical research through giving
50% of profits from my comic thriller Devil Deal by Liz Freeman, £1.53
on Amazon ebooks. Many thanks.
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