Low dose accutane

Just started taking 30 mg per day accutane for mild/moderate persistent acne. On this for first month and may bump it up to 40 mg a day after that. I'll do this for at least 4 months and a maximum of 6 months.

Will keep this updated as I go along.

20 mg for as long as it takes!

Hey everyone. So I'm 25 years old and in graduate school, and for many years I kept my acne somewhat under control with retin-a and had some success with vitamin b5. I've still had breakouts the whole time though, on my body and face. Some weeks I'll be almost completely clear, but little blackheads and whiteheads (closed comedones to be more exact!) would always seem to emerge, and I would frequently have to perform a squeezing routine of these to 'clear' my skin. Sometimes I would make it worse by doing this though, and would have to wait a week or two for the blemish to disappear though This meant that I would usually have a bad breakout about every two months, with little ones in between (if at all).

I recently had a pretty ugly breakout on my left cheek while still on 10 grams vitamin b5 a day (I had been off the retin-a for a few months, with the odd little breakout, so I thought I was done with that stuff and the vitamin b5 was working). I could see a bunch of little blackheads/whiteheads emerging on my face (body has been pretty clear for a month - knock on wood!) and started using the retin-a again, but this has made my face acne soooo much worse - I guess because of the initial breakout. Now I have been trying to squeeze these little bumps and 'clear' my skin once again, but they seem deeper and now I have some very ugly blemishes across both sides of my face and have been trying to use concealer to cover them up (still looks ugly though!).

I can't go on like this! I've had acne for the last 10 years (especially from 18+) and I've just been too scared to go on accutane - until now! I've decided that I'm going to demand that the dermatologist puts me on 20 mg over a longer period, since I really don't want the side effects associated with the higher doses. Do you think this will work?? I am getting married next summer and I really want my skin to be clear by then (and sooner than that!). Will I be able to drink alcohol on this dosage? I really don't care if I can't at this point - anything to get clear!!

Really appreciate the comments so far, and more would be welcome!

Let me know more details...