65 replies to this topic

[-Wonderwall-]

I have very mild but persistant acne. Recently my skin has starting getting worse, before the past few months my skin wasn't bad only a few pimples here and there, nothing that i couldnt deal with. However recently the few pimples have turned into very mild acne and unfortunately it looks as though i may have scarring which is what primarily concerns my mom because she doesnt want my face to scar. I'm on 40mg a day and i really have no idea what to expect. Not knowing what to expect scares me and the thing that i am probably most scared about is the IB...i have heard people say that they had mild acne and it turned it into cystic. I have never had cystic acne and i truly dont know if i will be able to handle that. Im just praying that my acne doesnt get any worse and that i am one of the lucky ones that doesnt experience an IB.

Day 1
No side effects.

Day 2
Skin seemed very oily.

Day 3
Skin still seemed a little bit oily.

Day 4
Skin seemed to be a combo of being dry/oily.

I have been drinking alot of water, taking vitamin E pills, and using Aquaphor on my lips. Does anyone have any other suggestions for me....Or is anyone else on 40mg a day???

[OneShinyface]

I'm on 40 mgs a day and on my 4th day as well. This is my second time on the 'tane. My eyes are a bit dry and irritated today. I remember that was something I dealt with the first time around, but it seemed to hit me later.

You might want to have artificial tears on hand, if you don't wear contacts. If you do, you might want to carry your glasses and lens case in case you need to swap them out.

[-Wonderwall-]

Yay! Thats awesome that we are on the same day! This is your second time on tane...how did it go the first time, did you ever get an IB???

One of my friends was on Accutane and told me a few things to stock up on, one of which being artifical tears so yes i do have some handy and thankfully i dont wear contacts.

[JR86]

Yay! Thats awesome that we are on the same day! This is your second time on tane...how did it go the first time, did you ever get an IB???

One of my friends was on Accutane and told me a few things to stock up on, one of which being artifical tears so yes i do have some handy and thankfully i dont wear contacts.

yes, artificial tears are good. I bought them when i started my course and today was the first day i actually needed them. my eyes were soooo dry this morning. it's weird that they would be fine for 3 months and then really dry all of the sudden, but the visine worked well.

[-Wonderwall-]

Day 5

I got a pimple overnight on left cheek about an inch away from my nose. Its pretty red and it is the biggest pimple that i have had in a long time. Besides that i dont really have any new news, I havent really experience any dryness or any other side effects yet...

[getting it done!]

hey wonderwall. Hahaha that's like my favorite song ever.

Actually my story is just the same as yours. I'm on day 28 and 40mg's a day, and unfortunately for the first few weeks I did get worse. It's expected though, my dermatologist said that accutane initially takes time for your body to adjust to, and also that the pimples will seem more full, swelled and red. They hurt! but if you dont touch them theyll go back down. I'm starting to get back to the normal pimples now, they happen to go away faster than ever though. WEAR SUNSCREEN because accuane will mark your skin after each pimple, sortof like a red mark, but they are less red if they arent exposed to sun and they do go away slowly as accutane heals your skin. it wont scar this way.

Wear tons of chap stick all the time and moisturize moisturize moisturize, you'll thank yourself later.

The most important thing is to hang in there!
good luck hun

[Eric07]

hey good luck.. there are lots of people starting accutane recently.. but yeah i'm also taking 40 mg everyday, but every other day i will take 80 mg.. so yeah good luck to you!

[-Wonderwall-]

Yeah, quite a few people have seemed to start Accutane recently!

Haha yeah, Wonderwall is probably the best song of all time!

Getting it Done,
You said you are on Day 28, how is your skin now as compared to when you started? The thing is that in 28 days im going on a trip and i really dont want me skin to be bad then, my skin isnt at all bad now so i wouldnt even mind if it didnt get better im just really scared that its going to be alot worse!!!

[droplette]

ive really been struggling with my acne recently. i only had a few teenage spots before but now my face is red and swolen and i get very sore spots and lots of them. im on anti-depressants to try and help the way i feel bout myself. i feel asif ive tried everything. what stages did you have to go through before u were put on accutane?

[-Wonderwall-]

Droplette,
I didn't have to really go through to many steps. In the past i have tried a number of topical medicines and antibiotics and they all seemed to work pretty well but they didnt help with scarring and didnt completely get rid of my pimples and my mom is worried about my face scarring. My original dermatologist would not put my on Accutane due to the fact that I have very mild acne and she didnt feel that my face was bad enough. A friend of mine was on Accutane and she referred me to her dermatologist and i got an appointment and told her that i wanted accutane and i told her what i had tried in the past and she said okay, if i wanted it then she didnt see a problem. I went through the one month waiting period and got all my blood work done and then I started on Accutane 5 days ago.

[droplette]

Droplette,
I didn't have to really go through to many steps. In the past i have tried a number of topical medicines and antibiotics and they all seemed to work pretty well but they didnt help with scarring and didnt completely get rid of my pimples and my mom is worried about my face scarring. My original dermatologist would not put my on Accutane due to the fact that I have very mild acne and she didnt feel that my face was bad enough. A friend of mine was on Accutane and she referred me to her dermatologist and i got an appointment and told her that i wanted accutane and i told her what i had tried in the past and she said okay, if i wanted it then she didnt see a problem. I went through the one month waiting period and got all my blood work done and then I started on Accutane 5 days ago.

wonderwall,
im exactly the same doctors say my acne is "mild" but most days i dont leave the house bcause of it. ive tried various different topical and oral antibiotics and they didnt work. saw a dermatologist yesturday and sh just gave me different ones to try. but i have to wait 5 months until my next appointmenst with her. i could have finished a course of acctutane by then couldnt i? i feel so horrible. just want to do something productive.

[-Wonderwall-]

Droplette,
You have to wait 5 months until you see her again??? Yes, you could certainly be done a course of accutane in that time. I believe that may be how long my course is going to be, 4 or 5 months. Maybe you could go in again before that 5 month mark and ask her specifically for Accutane like i did...

[droplette]

five months away is the soonest appointment. unless i go private. but my dad seems kind of against accutane so i dont know if he would pay for it. ive done so much reading about accutane and am at a point where i dont know what else to try, so i did mention it to her n she said she would consider when i next see her... in 5 moths though. in the meantime, she told me to saty on dianette and ive made an appointmnt for a blood test. i feel really shallow getting this down about it!

[-Wonderwall-]

Day 6

Yesterday, I started having severe back pain on the sides of my back. It hurt to do anything. I was hoping that after taking some Motrin and getting some sleep that it would go away but nope the back pain is still here. Not only do i have back pain but my upper arms are aching, has any one else experience this????

Besides the back and arm pain there arent really any changes in my skin, my skin is getting a little bit drier but its barely noticeable.

[BJ'sGuRL]

Heya! ive just started 40mg yesterday. GOOD LUCK make sure you keep us posted HeHe

[-Wonderwall-]

Thanks! Good luck to you! I will definitly keep everyone posted!

[tenyearsofacne]

hey!
i started same day as you... and have been having the same side effects as you too. today i got two new pimples..worse than before. my friend (a.k.a getting it done!) is finishing her first month now and shes looking better although she won't admit it... and her initial breakout is starting to fade so we have something to look forward to! is your skin naturally oily? and is ur face redder than usual at all? i got purpose gentle cleanser and its great...i put aloe vera on at night before i sleep and moisturize with cetaphil spf 15 in the morning. otherwise just visine eyedrops and carmex a million times per day. is ur body getting dry? mine isn't really, just my legs. what's the vitamin E for, will it help me? should i take it?
if u can, post ur response on my log cuz ill probably lose track of where u log is... hehe. thanks hun, hope our skin clears up fast!
here's to a hard five months to beautiful skin!
-Lara

[-Wonderwall-]

Day 7

There arent really any changes to report. My skin is getting a little bit dry but as soon as i put a little lotion on im fine. I still have the pimple on my check next to my nose but its not red as it was a few days ago, it really looks like i need to pick it off but amazingly enough i havent touched it! I still have a pimple on my other check thats rather small but i have had it since i started Accutane and it doesnt want to see to go away...i feel like i need to put something on it to help it go away!...

[BJ'sGuRL]

Day 7

There arent really any changes to report. My skin is getting a little bit dry but as soon as i put a little lotion on im fine. I still have the pimple on my check next to my nose but its not red as it was a few days ago, it really looks like i need to pick it off but amazingly enough i havent touched it! I still have a pimple on my other check thats rather small but i have had it since i started Accutane and it doesnt want to see to go away...i feel like i need to put something on it to help it go away!...

lol yea ive got a zit above my lip...it feels like theres no more stuff to come outta it (sounds groose i know lol) but yea i just wanna pick it off aswel but im making myself stop from doing it ...it really hard not 2! on my left cheek theres a few lil zits that dont seem to go away...sounds like urs lol. Hope your feeling okay!

[tenyearsofacne]

hellooo!
so mr huge zit on my right cheek is inflamed and unlike any pimple i've ever had...its like red and tender, with like tiny little heads on each side... WTF? anyway thats my only change today. thx for the tips abt the vit E, i'll start. i've been feeling very ...woozy i guess is the word. i dont know i feel like the world is spinning around me half the time and i have to like re-situate myself and just blink hard every once in a while. my mouth is super dry too, not my lips (They're fine), like the inside of my mouth...kind of like im really thirsty, only i'm not. i've had some minor back and muscle pains, but they go away fast. other than that i'm doing fine! ive been using carmex for my lips, same reason as you, to prevent the dryness before it happens because there's nothing i hate more in the world than dry lips (And acne). carmex is just as effective as aquaphor i think. aaaand about the dry in the morning oily at night thing, i'm the same! put up a picture of ur acne or something, if ours is that simliar i'd love to be comforted by seeing it ! hehe
hope you're doing well today sweety
-lara