A study published in the British Journal of Dermatology showed that the use of isotretinoin was not associated with adverse neuropsychiatric outcomes in comparison to the administration of oral antibiotics. Seena Fazel, MBC trhB, MD, of the department of psychiatry, Oxford University stated that even though neurotic events with isotretinoin in patients with acne treatment have been reported, the evidence is mixed and inconclusive.

The study proposed that isotretinoin protects against neuropsychiatric outcomes in comparison to oral antibiotic therapy. In the study, electronic health records from a US-based dataset were collected for patients with acne in the age group of 12-27 years. The study was divided into four arms i.e., prescribed isotretinoin (30,866), oral antibiotics (44,748), topical anti-acne treatments (108,367), and no treatment regimen (78,666) with the primary outcome as a neuropsychiatric disorder like mood swing, self-harm, sleep disorders, etc. 

Based on the results the researchers found that an odds ratio of the neuropsychiatric event was 0.80 in patients treated with isotretinoin. In other groups, the odds ratio was reported as 0.94,1.06 for treatment with oral antibiotic and topical anti-acne medications respectively. The side effects of isotretinoin such as headache, dry mouth, fatigue, etc were higher than in the other groups. As a note, the author added that isotretinoin seemed to treat and mitigate the risks of neuropsychiatric events related to moderate-to-severe acne.

(Source: https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/973304?src= )