Evaluation of the effects of oral isotretinoin on nasal function, taste, and smell

Objectives: Oral isotretinoin is commonly used to treat recalcitrant nodular acne. This study's purpose is to explore the effects of oral isotretinoin on nasal patency, taste, and smell. Methodology: This study enrolled 39 patients who had acne vulgaris. Patients were treated with isotretinoinat a daily dose of 0.5-0.8 mg/kg body weight per day in divided doses over a 3-month period. All patients underwent both objective and subjective testing of nasal obstruction, olfaction, taste, and mucociliary clearance before treatment and at week 1 and month 3 of treatment. Results: We found that the nasal obstruction, taste and olfactory visual analog scores began to decrease even in the first week of drug treatment, and was even lower by month 3 (p<0.01). In the first week, the mucociliary clearance time also decreased and continued to fall at month 3 (p<0.01). It was revealed by the peak nasal inspiratory flow measurements that obstruction developed even during week 1 (p<0.01). Sinonasal outcome test scores significantly increased at the third-month results (p<0.01). Significant taste loss was evident by month 3 (p<0.05). However, although olfaction decreased somewhat by month 3, the fall was not significant. Conclusion: Isotretinoin triggers loss of nasal function, reducing the mucociliary clearance and taste sensations. Subjective deteriorations occurred earlier than the objective deteriorations.