Hey there, I am a 19 year old sophomore in college and started accutane 3 weeks ago. I took this drug for the forst time when i was 17 when i had mild to moderate acne (really nothing bad at all) and it cleared me up. The side effects were terrible though and my acne actaully got a lot worse for about three months before I saw improvement.

It was crystal clear for about a year, i mean not one zit and i have no scars at all bc it really wasn't bad and had no acne anywhere else on my body. Well then around three months ago I started seeing things come back a little and it made me nervous because all that i had been through to get rid of it. I kept it under control for about two months but then i decided I wanted accutane again. Well no doctor would give it to me bc they said I wasnt even a 1 on a scale of 1 to 5 of how severe acne was. But all acne sufferers know that anything on your face can have a huge impact of your life no matter the severity.

So finally I found a derm. to prescibe it and have been on this for 3 weeks. I had a bad initial breakout and now have probably 5 zits on my face but they all seem to be stubborn and not want to go away. I am on 40 mg a day to start out with and weigh 160 pounds at 6"3 so i am pretty skinny. Hopefully I can up the dosage for the second month.

Here's the rundown
Right side is broken out right now
Left side is clear right now
chin has one
forehead is clear (always clear though)
no bacne
neck has one HUGE zit

I know it sounds like I don't have it that bad but what I do have is painful and large and red. It dominates my face and I absolultely can't stand to have it. I think this recent breakout has scared me so much because when I was on accutane it brought everything to the surface and almost every place on my face had a pimple (it sucked and even my derm was suprised)

I just want this to work again and be permanent

My family doctor said this was all a result of my last wind of puberty before I get out of my teen years and that it would pass it a year or two. Same thing happened to my older brother who had acne fresh and soph year of college but now he is a senior and clear. I just can't wait around anymore and I need to do something about it.

Maybe the tane will work faster this time and I will be clear before Christmas or even Thanksgiving!!

Well I jsut looked in the mirror and it appears that I have like 5 more tiny zits to add on to the ones already there!! JUST GREAT!!! I look absolutely terrible!

I know some others of you are in the same position as me so if you could write back with encouragement or tips about anything that would really help. Thanks a lot everybody and good luck to all those out there on the tane as well!

HI...I'm on tane too week 6 nearly week 7 and i had the intail breakout as weel week 2-4..sucked..much better now but not 100%...i'll be on ittil DEC>.started with 40mgs a day now up to 80mgs..I bet you;ll kick the acnes butt with this round of tane..HOw many mos were u on it the first cousre...I have not gotten annoyingly dry on tane like i thought..i have zero oil buti thougthi'd be super dry..not the case..lips are ok too..

Well I tried to forget about those 5 months on the tane, haha, but I was on 40 mgs for a month and I remember moving up in the dosage but it was less than 80 mgs. I only weighed 145 back then so i guess it had to be lower. I would like to go on 100 mg just so I would know that it wouldn't come back!!!

Day 21
No improvements in fact I still think it is getting worse after being on anti biotics for a while b4 the tane. I hope it works faster this time, actually I need it to work faster this time

It doesnt necessarily have to go by your weight for your dosage it actually goes by how well u can tolerate the accutane and its side effects..I weigh 133 pounds and take 80mgs every day and 2 of those 7 days i now take 120mgs my skin on my face hasnt never gotten overly dry so that is why my dose been raised..My dr.wants me annoyingly dry to better ensure the acne wont return after the course..I'm on week 6 almost 7...face has cleared up nicely but not 100%..but then again i'm only on week 6..

Thanks for writing back! Yeah I remember not really getting overly dry last time until my derm increased the dosage. My face is worse right now than it was when I started the accutane (a lot worse) so I really hope that sunsides in the next few days or weeks.

Day 22
Just the same old stuff but its really red and on my new pale dry accutane face it doesn't look very good. I haven't gone out in the sun for like a month bc of this so I guess thats why.

I havent gone out and played in any of my frats intramural sports events this fall bc my derm says dont be out in the sun for any extended period of time no matter the SPF. He said he had one kid a year back that had a really bad experience so thats what he recommends now. I dont want to take any unecessary risks so I am following his advice.

Your face will clear,hang in there,I recall my 2-4 wks being the worst..my breakous were not pretty thankfully i"m female and can hideit with makeup...my face when it was broke out although it was that dry..i did moisturize once a day ..ititched thought..maybe the breakout was healing and thats why..I consider my dose fairly high now.80mgs everyday..my derm might have me add a few days of taking 120mg..but although i'm not dry..definelty not oily my skin is rather smooth...week 7 is tom.time is flying now..DO u find when u use SPF lotions u get shiny and they feel heavy?i do..dont care for them..luckily i"m not in the sun much.

Yeah the cetaphil spf 15 use feels good I guess but I just say that bc it makes it so my face doesn't split in half from dryness. It does makes it feel really shinny kind of, and heavy, its weird to explain but I bet you know what I am talking about.

The cetaphil spf 15 was to heavy for me and wasnt necessary cux my face has never then severly dry or even alot dry on tane..just no oiliness..i'm wondering if it's really working right if i'm not super dry like everyone else on tane claims to be..

Day 23
Actually I feel a lot better today about my face bc even though I still have about six marks on my face its been about two days since my last significant pimple, YES!!!!! So i got to the doc on tuseday which is like 5 days away to get my new prescription and hopefully everything goes well and i will keep on keeping on!

I'm on my second course too and saw results MUCH faster this time around. Good luck!

Kitty K, hearing that makes me feel a hundred times better bc the first time around was rough. I went in to taking accutane bc I was self conscious about it and it was killing me socially, I didn't even have cystic acne, but for three months the tane made me look TERRIBLE I mean real bad. Nobody ever said anything to me bc I got great friends but I knew when they looked at my face. But the tane brought out cyts in places like my forhead where I never break out, but whatever shit happens. My big brother described life to me as tough and hard with periods of highs that make life worth living, I like that. So almost one month down and i guess 3 to 4 to go!!!!

Does the second course usually destroy the acne for good or is there still a pretty big chance that it will come back?

Well I seem to be over the initial breakout and now just in the part where it is getting everything out that it needs to. Weird places like my neck are clear again and now I just have stuff in my problem areas. So heres the rundown

2 healing red marks on the right (small)
2 little things on the left
1 healing under lip on left

Well thats it, school is great and my current job is "professional gentleman of leisure", classes are easy and i am fratting it hard currently with a few natty lights in me and few more to come

Well I broke out big time from last night until this morning, I seriously went from having like 4-5 noticeable marks to having like 10!!! Its freaking me out and all I want to do is stay in and not leave till this freaking course is done. Accutane is such a bitch to be on but so worth it at the end that I really need to stop complaining but it just so hard to look in the mirror. Hopefully I will have clearer days in my future!!

[B]Day 27[B]
The acne is getting pretyt bad now and I am breaking out pretty significantly all over my neck and sides of my cheeks. I just dont understand why this happens while on this stuff, why does it get worse before it gets better. Oh well I guess I just have to deal with it, another thing id I scratch my fce or anything like that I wake up in the morning with what looks like a zut but in reality its just a huge red mark where I had been picking. It really sucks bc it almost looks worse than a pimple with all the redness and such. I honestly cannot leave the room today after I got done with class, I look that bad. I just want this to be over and all I can thinks about is the fact that I have till forever till it clears!!!

Hang in there..i know the beginning part of taking tane sucks..it will improve..I'm now in week 7 and week 2-4 were my worst..but it will improve..try to focus on the end result..clearer smoother skin,,good luck.

Funny thing -- I always used to break out on my forehead and nose.. NEVER my cheeks. This time around, all the pimples seem to appear on my cheeks only.. not a single one on my forehead or cheeks. I have no idea why, Accutane does weird things. But hang in there! We're all on the same boat.