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Anyway, here is my history. I've had acne since I was a teenager on my face and back. I am 29 now. It was pretty bad in high school and gradually got better the older I got but it never went away completely. I would consider it mild prior to my accutane adventure. I have been using topical medications ever since I could remember and took antibiotics when I was in highschool for a few years. Over the last year I started getting some frequent cystic acne and it was very embarrasing. I have a professional sales job and I wanted to get rid of my acne once and for all. My derm told me to give accutane a try and there my story begins. He actually prescribed it like it was Candy. He was one of the dermatologists that helped bring accutane to the market 20+ years ago so he is very comfortable with the drug if taken properly. He was a good derm to have.
From the very beginning I noticed the drying effects. I had an initial outbreak in the first month but after that it was all good. My initial outbreak was not terrible either, no worse than a breakout prior to TANE. The first month I took 40mg and then 80mg the rest of the way for the remaining 5 months. I noticed a much better result on the 80mg. My skin got clearer and clearer every month on my face and back. After about a month I started to use Neutrogena Face Scrub to unplug all those pores on my face and especially my nose along with Cetaphil soap. The reason I did that was because my face was dry but I had all these clogged pores. The Neutragena did the trick, I'm sure any face scrub would of done the trick but I prefer Neutragena since I use Neutragena for shaving cream, post shave lotion, chapstick and everything else so I was partial to that. One thing I didn't do was put lotion on my face. I didn't ever need it. The tane cleared me up and made me dry but never to the point where my skin was flakey or anything. The main side effects I had was severe dry eyes, chapped lips, dry all over, in places you wouldn't imagine..... I also had the backaches, stiffness, weird aches and pains, and just plain old muscle fatigue all the time. I worked out a lot prior to my course of my treatment but once I was midway into my tane adventure I had to pretty much limit my working out. I became much weaker. I think it was important to keep working out though, keep the body healthy, work the toxins out, etc. What helped me through this course was a couple different things. I drank a lot of water, vitamin E, vitamin C, and took fish oil to keep the intestinal stuff nice and lubed as well as for my joints and eyes. The only main issue I really had was that I have high cholesteral and my physician did not want me taking any cholesteral lowering drugs while I was on the accutane because he thought it was too much for my liver to take so I stopped taking them. My triglyceride levels increased every month while I was on tane and finally the last month my derm gave me some meds to lower them because the levels were dangerously high. Now I'm going to go back and get my cholesteral levels checked and see if I should get back on my cholesterol lowering drugs.
Long story short, I'm on day #2 POST TANE. My last day of Tane was Sunday, November 26th. I have no acne at all on my face or back and have not had a pimple for many months. The acne on my back wasn't bad at all, it was my face that I was concerned with. I'm still a little dry but I can tell already my lips are not as dry. Hopefully my lips and eyes will get back to normal this week.
I have to say that I'm glad I took this drug, I wish I would of taken it years ago. It would of prevented many small little scars that I notice now.
If I get any readers or responses I will keep up the log. No use in writing to myself!
Goodluck to everyone on the TANE!
Greg
