Well I was about to make a log when I started my course on the first of June 2008, but I never did. However I'll make a small recap of whats happened and how things have gone and are still going.

So I'm a 16 year old guy from Finland (177 cm, 63kg), I play football (soccer to the yanks ) and go to the gym every other day. I've been dealing with acne since I was 12 I think. It was bearable until the past year when my acne got moderately severe, I never had cysts but lots and lots of very inflamed big pimples that mainly covered both my cheeks. I took a total of 9 months (3x 3 months) of tetracyclines, that worked for a while but my acne always got bad again a few months after the course. I pretty much tried every product out there, they just dried my skin and didn't do anything to solve the problem.
The few months before I took accutane must have been the worst months of my life, I was getting depressed and I felt that I really couldn't deal with it anymore so I finally went to my derm and asked for isotretinoin.

I took my first pill on the first day of my summer holiday (my holiday lasts 10 weeks), and my goal was to be clear by the time school starts again. I'll give you a very brief idea of whats happened during the last 10 weeks.

Week 1:
Nothing really, at the end of the week acne starts getting a bit worse. Doseage of 20mg per day.

Week 2-3:
Acne gets a bit worse but it's been worse, I don't really feel like seeing anyone at the moment and I feel pretty down. Dry eyes. Doseage 40mg per day.

Week 4:
The initial breakout starts to end, skin condition is bearable. Lips and skin are getting a bit dry. Blackheads fall off my nose and forehead. Some lower back pain. Doseage 40mg per day. Blood tests come back good.

Week 5-7:
Nothing big happens here, at around week 7 my skin seems to clear up a bit however. Lips are getting dryer, skin isn't dry but my eyes are dry even if I use eyedrops. My lower back is kinda hurting but it isn't that bad. Doseage 50mg per day, wont get any higher than this.

Week 8:
Everythings drying up more, my skin is getting fragile. Acne is getting better however.

Week 9:
My skin hasn't looked this good for ages, lips are very dry if I dont moisturize for a moment, eyes are dry if I dont use eydrops for a while, getting big rashes on my arms but they fade once I moisturize well. Lower back still kinda hurts.

Week 10: (NOW)
Got a few pimples and I was stupid and irritated them, theyre very obvious now and I feel so stupid for touching them... Big party tomorrow and my skin isn't exactly looking good in my opinion. The overall texture is very good but the two big marks are very obvious. School starts in 2 days so I hope that they'll fade away by then (very unlikely).

Overall I'm very happy that I took the accutane course, I don't think that I could've dealt with acne for one more month, I really regret for not taking it earlier... I don't think that my skin will be too good once school starts but it surely will be after a few weeks.

I'll list all my side effects too, from worse to mildest:

DRY EYES
DRY LIPS
DRY SKIN/RASHES
LOWER BACK PAIN

I've had no signs of depression or other severe side effects so I'm pretty happy about that.
Even if I feel that acne has taken a lot of my life away from me (there were times when I didn't feel like going out and all, my friends never probably even understood my problem as I never talked about it) I believe that it has made me a better person overall. It has made me a lot more humble actually.

I'll update in a few days!

Right, just wanted to update that I don't have a single active pimple on my whole body now, just red marks and some stubborn blackheads left.

Congratulations!

Well, now the blackheads are coming to the surface. Should be a good thing, but for some reason they're making huge red cirles around them as they do it, a few of them got clogged or something and formed a few whiteheads... Getting really annoying, just as it was looking better it gets worse again. I only have 4-5 weeks of my course left so I really hope that I don't need to worry about my skin in a few weeks.

Week 11/12 or something:

No active whiteheads now, looking better again... Hopefully will keep on getting better now. My nose is getting clear of blackheads and I have only a few larger blackheads left. I have lots of red marks though, hope that they'll fade away soon... I have about one month left of my course now, I think I've consumed 4500mg now.

Congratulations for doing fine! Hope it will never come back again.

How hard was it to get prescribed Accutane in this Ice country?

Heh well, I got it after 3 courses of tetracycline... I guess I would've got it earlier if I had really insisted. Depends on the dermatologist I guess.

Have you been on 20mg the entire time or was your dosage bumped up at any point? Can't seem to find that info in your log.

No I had 20mg for the first 10 days only, then 40 mg for a month or so and 50mg since that. I'ts written in the log, but I'll highlight them or something to make them more noticeable

Well I had this pimple under my skin on my cheeck, I tried to pop it but it didn't come out. Some people never learn... It got bigger and red as a result ofcourse.
Well it didn't get infected and came out today, so everythings fine again.
Other than that, everythings fine, my right cheeck looks better than ever (well better than for the last 3-4 years atleast), left cheek still has some blackheads with red circles around them (which never seem to come out? They've been there for weeks!) and a pretty big red mark of the pimple I told about before.

So true. I'm a former pick-a-holic and today I woke up with a pimple on my right cheek (I had of course other pimples too, but I hate especially much the ones on the cheeks and nose) and... I popped it. Result: A big red mark on my cheek. What's more, today was my first day in Uni, so it was really not the right moment to try popping. Well, it didn't look so bad with some makeup powder on...

Another random question: Do the side effects of Accutane get progressively worse and when do they start to subside?

Uhh well for me they got worse and worse until around month 2, haven't got worse or better since that. The side effects have been totally berable though, just got to moisturize your lips/skin several times per day and drink a LOT (like you were in the Sahara desert!) of water.

Week... 15? Almost 4 months now.

So, whats new:

Joints hurt a lot after I play football, I've skipped the last few trainings and matches because of this. I hope it'll go away after the course...

I have about a month left of my course probably, at the moment my skin is looking extremely compared to what it was. Still some larger blackheads but the overall texture is smooooth. Redmarks are fading too at a steady rate.

Glad things are goind well for ya!

Hurting joints doesn't sound like fun. I also hope they will get better, so that you will be able to enjoy playing football again.

The weirdest thing happened yesterday,

about 4 years ago I got kicked in the face in a football match, causing my tooth to go through the corner of my lip. I went to the hospital and the doctor sowed it with about 5 stitches I think. Since then I've always felt a lump in the scar (the scar is very small though, unnoticeable if you don't pay a lot of attention) but I thought that it was some scar tissue.
So yesterday I look at the scar, and I see a small whitehead on it, I pick it a little to see what it is and some pus comes out. I put a little more pressure on it and this pretty large blackhead type lump comes out.
Apparently the scar had trapped some pus inside or something, and now that accutane seems to bring everything unwanted out of my body even stuff like this happens, very weird.

My skin is getting better day by day, it's getting very smooth now and the redmarks are fading pretty fast. My muscles and joints are still quite sore, especially after excercise. I'll see my dermatologist in a week and I'm pretty sure that my course will end in less than a month.

I stopped taking accutane 2 weeks ago, took a total amount of 7.6 grams (I weigh 63 kg so I guess thats a pretty good amount). I would have had accutane prescribed until 8.5 grams, but my derm said that I don't have to take all of them. The main reason I ended my course was that my joint/lower back hurt a lot and I got loads of nosebleeds, even at school!
Well I'm clear now, still loads of red marks and sometimesI get these lumps with nothing inside. (what are they? they itch a lot, I think the dryness causes them)
Overall I'm happy I took accutane, feels nice to be able to talk to people and walk on the streets without worrying that people will stare at your pimples and all

When did your dryness end after you had finished your course, and did your skin still keep getting better after it?

Hei Roope.

Nice to hear your skin is ok. Mine is still getting better although I ended my course about 6 weeks ago. It's still a bit dry after shower but not otherwise. My porse are still getting smaller (thank god!) and that's why it will look better week by week

The redness on my face is also subsiding, slowly but surely. Ouuu my face feels just soooo smooth and great!

Cheers!
Zech <3