Roaccutane: 'I went psychotic and nobody could get in'

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Patient sues over acne drug linked to suicides

Luke Hassett is slowly dragging himself towards the light, but he will never forget the darkness of a psychosis that he believes was triggered by taking the controversial acne drug Roaccutane.

"My mind felt like it was going," recalls the twenty-two year-old. "I had mental blocks and found it difficult to understand people. My thought processes were over the wall, then I went psychotic.

"I went into my own little world and nobody and nothing could get in. I completely blame that drug, I don't believe it should be allowed on the market," he said.

"I have lost two years of my university life, I have been treated for two lengthy periods in hospital, my physical health has been affected and I've been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic, all because I took Roaccutane for what I considered to be mild acne.

"I believed it was a wonder drug from America. Whatever the benefits of this drug, the potential side-effects mean it is simply not worth taking. I wish I'd never heard of it. I want to fight until it is banned."

Mr Hassett, who was a 19-year-old student at Leeds University, wanted to clear up his acne. He was referred to the Leeds dermatological unit from the university hospital in October 1999.

"I felt the side-effects straight away," he said. "I had to keep putting on lip balm to stop my lips from cracking, then the membrane on the inside of my nose began to come away and my eyes became dry, tender and sore.

"I decided to stop taking the drug in February 2000, but I did not think I needed to consult my doctor. I began to get excruciating stomach cramps and I was screaming in pain. Shortly afterwards my mind started to go."

Mr Hassett's mother, Muriel, said his condition terrified the family. "Until then he was a sociable boy with no mental illness but after taking Roaccutane he began to have terrible depression," she said. By November 2000 Mr Hassett's psychosis and paranoia led him to be sectioned under the Mental Health Act and to him being taken to hospital for treatment. A year-and-a-half later, he is still there.

"I feel I'm getting better now now and they are reducing the anti-psychotic drugs, so I can have a lucid conversation like this," he said.

"But I've lost so much time and my health has suffered so badly. I have no doubt, in my own mind what is to blame for this, Roaccutane."