100 replies to this topic

[kaelynGrace]

Too good to update now that you have clear skin?

[ciaobella]

hellllo

just dropping by to wish you the best and clear skin! was reading your log and saw you wear bare minerals. sooooo do i, i freakin love that stuff not sure what i'd do without it. my bare minerals container is like my little buddy now lol i sound like such a lame asss haha anywhooo, i hope you keep seeing improvements with your skin!

thank you!!!
oooohh man i love it too! you do nooot sound lame at all, haha i carry mine with me EVERYWHERE
there's a boutique like 10 min from my house....love it!

Yay for month one being done! Glad to hear your IB is over with and your face is looking better. Cant wait to see your progress.
lol next time someone asks that you should make up a story to mess with them
Fish oils are awesomee

hahaha i did, and this one girl is totally convinced that i'm a slutbagg now haha!
she didn't really believe the just kidding part of it...heehee whaaatever!
yeahh they are! the best part (i'm gonna sound sooo weird) is swallowing them i mean come on! they're huge! and it's sooo nice when they go down

Too good to update now that you have clear skin?

i wish!
sorry i've been like dead for sooo long haha.
i'm hooorrible at updating!
next update coming sooooonnn!

[ciaobella]

DAY 37!

well, that took a while
sorry again for not updating!
i've been lazy
and there haven't been any real improvements since day 30...its actually gotten worse!

my face is reallllly bumpy right now and there's a CYST about to pop up on my forehead! eeeeeekkkk! i thought those days were over!!
i had a really weird bloody (?) pimple above my eyebrow that popped on sunday and left yet *another* scar....yayyy...

my old scars are still there but NOT LUMPY!! just brown, and i can't really decide which is better...lumpy is so uneven! and brown can't be covered and lumpy can be covered but lumpy makes my face look explosive and brown makes me look freckly in all the wrong places!

so basically i'm back to square one
well sorta. my makeup took like 2 seconds this morning! (no eye makeup until this course is over, painful but it's something to look forward to! just bareminerals<3 foundation and concealer, and nars orgasm blush because I'M NOT RED ANYMORE! and it gives me an awesome peachy glow, yay!)
there's a strain of pinkeye going around school, gross
my friend got asked to PROM this morning!! i was so happy for her, but then i got sad because i'm never gonna get asked with a face like this
our prom is so weird, it's the friday right before graduation (sunday) so the seniors on sports can get craaazy and not have to get pulled outta state competitions because they'll be over by then! apparently we had these kids get drunk and missed out on state waterpolo so they pushed prom back another month lol

and then in ap psychology class we took some inventories and apparently i'm severely depressed (???) and OCD heehee not too sure about the depressed one but i'm definitely OCD!
well maybe a little depressed i mean come on, i kinda want to punch myself in the face sometimes you know?

so because of all the little weird bumps everywhere i am EXFOLIATING (philosophy microdelivery peel) tonight and using my proactiv sulfur mask for 10 minutes afterwards to try and banish those little nuances/nuisances (i never learned the difference between these two words idk are they even words? i'm an iiiidiot!)

and the weather here is pretty sucky now, hahaha.
it was sooo nice on sunday! and now it's rainy and cold! but people at school are sooo tan because this new tanning place opened up where you get unlimited tanning for a month for 9.99 which is creepy and skin cancer-encouraging....although i woooould like to be tan but NO TANNING ALLOWED!

and i have a question that i'm gonna post in the accutane boards right after this so pleeease check it out i think you will be able to find a link on my profile?
THANK YOU BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE!

[ciaobella]

DAY 38!

so in english class today we were reading this book and the main character goes "EGAD!" a lot and i thought that was pretty cool
therefore,

EGAD! what has happened to my faaaaceeee????
there are not one but THREE cysts sprouting on my forehead!
they're so painful i can't even scrunch up my face to make a sad face because they're pulsing and tingling and ewwwww
and even better, there's this super weird huge thing growing out of my CHEEK! it's about half an inch in diameter and it's coming out from so deep that it's bruising the skin around it
it's already purple now....
progress minus one

and i have a rash on my right palm and all the way down my right forearm and i'm itching like crazy!

it's suuuper hard to stay positive because damnnn i feel like a freak!
so yeah.
hope all your courses are running smoothly!

[CoreyDB]

Uh-oh! The IB has arrived! Don't worry, it will be over soon enough. Anywho just keep moisturizing like crazy and those rashes *should* go away. If they don't, make a point of it at your next Derm. appointment.

[Polska Laska]

Egad!? That reminds me or Archie Comics! OOOO man, can't wait till your IB is over!!! Just think, you're a month in, and that's one month OVER and DONE with! The more time goes by, the less time it'll take for CLEAR SKIN. I'm rooting for youuuuu!! Ice Ice baby those cysts, and I have a lil sumthin sumthin for those forehead bad boys.......

















*ZAPZAPZAPZAP ZAPPPZZZZAP ZAPPPERZ* ANTI CYST VIBES WHhhhAT!


Take that bitches!

9.99 TANNING MONTH UNLIM.. That's CRAZY! They're pumping out skin cancer like a mofo! I just bought a self tanner by L'Oreal that looks really natural! I'm going to TRY and take the self tanning road this summer, but the maintinance sucks! We'll see. You should try a good self tanner, the one I got dries in about 10 mins, and you can shower an hour after and the next day it develops SO nicely. You can build it too every week to make it darker and darker and it's a very nice BROWN, not orange. It also has a bronzer so you see where the tan is going. I dunno, sorry to sound like a fake tan salesman!

Well, have a great weekeng Bella! Yay for Spring, and then BIGGER yay for summer!!!

Bye girlie!

[MissAngie]

Wow, you're already a month in! It's been a while since I've checked in. Sorry things are going downhill once more, but the time is flying and soon you'll have great skin! And then instead of being just gorgeous you can be TAN and gorgeous. And have better skin than everyone else.

Is there anyone you'd like to ask to prom? Trust me, guys like being asked too, just like they like being asked out on dates. You can do it!

[lets_dance]

how goes the tane???

[ciaobella]

DAY 70!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh wow, its been over a month!
sorry guys
i would say some kind of excuse here but i really don't have any...i'm soooo lazyyyy ughhhh!

so here's what happened....
i continued to have an explosive face until the END of the 2nd month!
they were all huge and cystic and made me ashamed to go to school
and i was very red and got really bad headaches!
and yadda yadda that continued, skipped out on a date cause they were so 3D it looked like a second nose...on my forehead!!!
so that was sad. and then i started drinking lots and lots of soymilk each day because whenever i drank cow milk i got a tummy ache. maybe i should try goat milk? heehee! i have goat milk soap but it smells funny and i think it has hairs in it ewwwwww.
and then i missed another period...hmmm strange...but i liked it

around day 61 i started noticing...hey, my face looks gooooooodd!
so i kept moisturizing but i didn't sleep well (AP TESTING WEEK GROSS GROSS GROSS) and got a few spots but they were small and died really quickly!! hooray!

and now today...damn, ZERO ACTIVES, and MY SCARS ARE GOING AWAYYYYY!!!!!
plus i have that whole pregnancy-glow to my face (umm i am not pregnant lol lol lol) which makes me really happy =)

and everything WOULD be perfect except:
1. i am still red. people come up to me and tell me my foundation's the wrong shade and i tell them wtf, i'm not wearing makeup!!!! (that feels soooo good to say, especially at my school where ALLL the girls do heehee)
2. i started getting nosebleeds...each day. and really chunky bloody boogers that cut up the insides of my nose and cause it to bleed even more!!!
3. my lips are sooo cracked and i have a sore in the corner of my mouth that cracks everytime i laugh!
4. my hair is soooooooooooooooooooooooooo dry! i didn't shampoo/just conditioned for a whole week and it was like...crackling dry!
5. i keep getting these stupid LUMPS IN MY EYES! i forgot what they were called, something chala-la-la-la i think...? and they make my eyes puff up something awful and i've gotten 3 already and now i'm growing 1 more in each eye man, it sucks! i can barely see sometimes! i make up funny stories about getting into gang fights and having swollen eyes though heehee

but i counteract those negatives with these:
1. I GOT A 35 ON MY ACT!!!!!!!!!! yayyyyyy! and it was my first time taking it everrrr!!!!!
2. AP tests are overrrr!!
3. school is out in 3 weeks!!
4. i got my paycheck today!
5. my birthday is coming up!
wooooohooooo!

hopefully i'll continue to update heehee

[ciaobella]

DAY 70!

well, the chalazions in my eyes are still growing
and my lips are still awful looking!

BUT
i am rejoicing because my morning makeup routine takes at most 10 minutes...including moisturizing!! yayyy!

i use mineral makeup from Everyday Minerals now and i spray my brush with some Evian mist before swirling it in the powder so it's more of a paste. that way it looks toootally awesome and has great staying power!
i'm starting to wear just a liiiiiiiiiiiiittle bit of eyeliner again! (remember, when i started tane i quit eyeliner?? now it's back!!)
i use clinique moisture surge gel, then philosophy primer, then sometimes a little bit of BE mineral veil mixed with Everyday Minerals green color corrector so i don't look quite as red.

so now i just neeed these scars to go away!
still zero actives! woohooooo!

[Shadow Yoshi]

Good to hear you're having a lot of success.

[duchamp]

.

[ciaobella]

Hey, just curious - how bad was your acne before you went on Accutane? And how many mg are/were you on? I'm getting my prescription filled in early June and am kind of freaked out about the IB and the side effects, but it sounds like you're doing great. Shed some light?

hey there!

YAYYY! i'm excited for you!!!

i'm currently on 60 mg/day (20 at breakfast, 40 at dinner!)
when i started, oh dear, it was embarrassing! a little while back it was still "normal acne" which was moderate but then this school year it got super bad...i'd get tons of cysts on my face at a time and they'd stay for at least a week then turn weird colors! and on my forehead they'd always grow on top of each other (eww) and it's gross but if i sneezed really hard they'd like...pop
my brother told me it was...something like dermatitis? but idk. and there'd be these huge ones that would grow from the inside of my nose out and take forrrever to come to a tip and would stay red and huge and nassstyy!
i didn't have any body acne (thank goodness!) and i'm pretty athletic so the whole joint pain limping-like-an-old-person thing didn't reaaally happen
i took fish oil pills the first month and like...a half? and then i stopped and things didn't seem to get any worse so now i'm not on them anymore and doing fine!

and i guess i had pretty oily hair? oily like, i'd wash it each day to prevent it from looking limp (my hair's straight and now i skip shampooing for a few days in a row just to keep it soft!)

hmm i don't really remember my IB but i think i had like...2? or one and then a reaaaally bad breakout (i saw my photos tagged of me on Facebook and i could totally tell what day i was on just from looking at my face! there are some things even makeup cannot cover! lol) but then nothing really after that!

i talked about bloody boogers and nosebleeds yesterday but strangely, today my nose is clear and i haven't bled yet! yay!

if you have anymore questions, i'm here!

[ciaobella]

DAY 92!!!

well...school is OVER!!!
hello, SENIOR YEAR!! wooooo!!!
well, summer school starts wednesday but that'll be okay, a bunch of my friends are in my class! and it's only 3 weeks! heeheeeee
plus, no dress code

and then college applications blehhhhh
the schools i was planning on applying for (columbia, uchicago, washu) are all out of reach because this semester i kinda slacked and got a bunch of Bs and my school is freaking crazy competitive, because of those few Bs my rank went down sooooo much! goodbye, #1 position

welll......maybe i still have a chance at uchicago?
i got a rockin SAT score and almost perfect ACT so maybe they'll overlook my grades hahahahahaha

ANYWAYS. enough about school, that depresses me heeheee

i had my derma appointment last tuesday...oh.my.goodness i have never been so overjoyed to grow zits on my face! let me explain...usually, i get these weird bruised bumps that turn into yuckies and whenever i go see my derma they disappear! like...i'll have it for a few days and then i'll wake up for my appointment and they'll be gone! and she never believes me when i say i get them lol
so i had 2 of them on my forehead, ghastly little (not very little actually) things that were BRIGHT red and they didn't disappear when i went to see her! (i was having clear skin for a while and they kinda just sprouted out of nowhere)
so she finally saw them, i pushed my side bangs up and she totally flinched! and then gave me a little plastic tube of 10% sulfur solution to put on it
so now all that's left of them are small/smooth a-little-darker-than-skin-color scars! yayyy!

but i'm feeling one coming in the middle of my cheek so that's not good....it's bruising already which means redness soon! agh! must prepare baking soda/honey mask stat!

also, recently i've been getting a really dry NOSE!
the skin around my nose holes is peeling a little and this is very gross so skip over this next line if you are queasy
every morning when i get up i have these super hard boogers in my nose that are soooo painful i have to soak my face under water to soften them and get them out! ouch! and that usually involves a little bit of blood, and bleeding every morning is not very good i think hahahaha

but the rest of my face is clear CLEAR clear!!!!!
i am wearing NO makeup right now and i feel pretty too
i'm also not very red anymore...yesssssssssssss
and my scars are fading! like....really quickly! which is strange, but i like it!
and my lips have not been bothering me at all lately, they are smoooth and wonderful and perfectly kissable

so my updated skin care / makeup items
i don't use all of these each day! that would be freakishly extravagant and like...drag queen-esque lol
these cause no adverse reactions with my skin!

-face wash: Philosophy Purity made Simple
-AM moisturizer: BLISS Best of Skintentions spf 15
-Primer: Make Up For Ever HD Microperfecting (diluted with some Evian)
-Powder: Everyday Minerals Semi-Matte formula (but just a little!) NO MORE BARE ESCENTUALS SCREW THEM AND THEIR BISMUTH OXYCHLORIDE!!! ahem.
-Blush: NARS Orgasm
-Eyeliner: Urban Decay in Zero
-PM moisturizer: Philosophy Hope in a Jar

so on a daily basis it's like: AM moisturizer, primer, maaaaybe some powder (but i don't need it anymore yay yay yay yay yay) and that's it! unless i'm going out with my friends, then i'd probably add blush and eyeliner
i have an entiiiiire full and stuffed traincase of old makeup left though...what am i gonna do about it? sell it? LOL

2 months of treatment left!
i have a modeling thing in NY mid july, hopefully everything will be clear by then!

[LobsterCasino]

I'm pretty new here but I wanted to comment and say this log is awesome. I just spent over an hour reading it from page one and I am thoroughly impressed. Keep on fighting the good fight and I'm sure you'll come out on top at the end of your accutane course. Just don't get discouraged in the coming weeks and months if you flare back up, mental toughness is key.

P.S. I'm from the chicago area too! I saw somewhere you mentioned GBN? Do you know someone from there?

[ciaobella]

I'm pretty new here but I wanted to comment and say this log is awesome. I just spent over an hour reading it from page one and I am thoroughly impressed. Keep on fighting the good fight and I'm sure you'll come out on top at the end of your accutane course. Just don't get discouraged in the coming weeks and months if you flare back up, mental toughness is key.

P.S. I'm from the chicago area too! I saw somewhere you mentioned GBN? Do you know someone from there?

hey there! awww, you are sweet
hooray chicago kids! no, my school and gbn are basically RIVALS! because of a certain incident involving piss filled balloons and the such...heehee i was gonna see if anyone went there so i could be like "HEY i've heard only bad stuff about your school but since you're on here you must be pretty cool!" but i do know a lizz e and a karen v

DAY 108!!!!!
one word: SHAZAM!!!!!!!!!!
after a whole week of gross rainy ickyness, it is finally summer weather!
meaning it's been 90s and up this whole week, esp yesterday it stayed over 100 until 8pm!

some MAJOR updates:

1. first official large pool party of the year was yesterday and everyone was there!
damn, i was proud ZERO ACTIVES! about a week ago i had massive blackheads in my nose that started bleeding and left scabs, so that was sad but then this week they all healed! and my nose is siiiilkey smooth (anyone seen don't mess with the zohan?? LOL)
now, there's just a couple scars to clear up, just some fading brown spots mostly and an elevated bump on my left cheek. but that's it! and i'm thinking they'll be gone soon because......

2. i have found my HG scar remover!
Philosophy's Booster Caps! basically a capsule with retinol and stuff in it that i put on with my moisturizer (Hope in a Jar, also Philosophy) at night. it is so moisturizing and skin-softening!
basically, i ordered this: http://www.philosophy.com/web/store/prod_m...___23503__25650 and they had this promotion for free shipping and a free box of Booster Caps (worth 60 dollars, oh my oh my) with any 65+ purchase!
also, the Microdelivery Peel in this kit is absolutely divine! i gave the eye and lip firming cream to my mom because it was kind of useless for me haha

3. i, um...went uhh...tanning
sort of! just by the pool, on a towel, with some uhhh...tanning cream
but i covered my face the whole time! and when i was in the water i had on spf 90 bajillion on my face so it wouldn't burn! not that i burn anyways, i was just paranoid hahaha.
but i was outside twice and dang, i am dark! with a reddish glow that i love, thanks accutane
now my body matches my reddish face! (yes, the redness did come back but that's okay, people just think i'm either sweating or like...really happy heeeheee)
and somehow all my skin is smoother and the scars aren't even that obvious!
and again, no makeup HAHAHAHA PUNCH YOU IN THE FACE FRIKIN FOUNDATION!

4. Cute Boy happened to be at the pool party AND hanging out when me and my friends went to the pool to tan i mean swim! and...we were together so much and aww he is so sweet and we're going to the pool again on friday (YESS, dude i have perfected my bikini body. no 6 pack abs, but they're pretty toned! and woopee, Victoria's Secret Miracle Bra bikini set yayyy boobies! )

5. i grew a zit on my butt. okay that is embarassing.

6. i don't know if i've said this already but instead of taking 20mg with breakfast and 40 mg with dinner i've been doing 60mg at dinner because i don't each much fatty foods for breakfast! and i want the most to be able to get absorbed so i switched it!

well, that is basically it! i see another generation of accutane loggers on here
BEST OF LUCK TO YOU!
i'll be on here from time to time with major updates!

[randomrob]

Sound's like you're pretty much at the same stage as me, just removing red marks.

And I too slacked this quarter and got B grades, and my rank dropped >.>
I still should be able to get into BC and Nova, so I'm happy.

[wiredshut]

Hey there, I'm also from Chicago (North Side)
Started my accutane course couple days ago and hope it goes just as well as yours did.
I wish you all the best.
Adam

[Brooke Reilly]

I'm glad to hear everything's going so well! Your log has been one of the one's I lurked in since the beginning (everybody kindof does this...right?) that made me want to take accutane. So thanks for continuing to update. And you're right! There IS a new crowd of taner's coming in it's so weird! I've been lurking for so long it's weird to watch things transition.
adlkfpok
enough babble though.
ALSO, what do you recommend the most for redmarks/scars?

[ciaobella]

HELLO EVERYONE!!!
and hello to the 3 new people, nice to meet you!

well, i would post what day it was in bold at the beginning but honestly, i have no idea!
here's the story:
i went to see my derma for my last checkup for accutane (woop woop) and she goes,
"honey, i think it's time to bump up your dosage."
and i was like WTF? i am clear!
for my 5th month i got put on 80mg/day even though i wasn't getting any more acne!
i went with it because i just thought hey, she knows better than i do lol

so a few days after i started my 80mg/day i suddenly got SUPER dry. as in, if i laughed, my lip crack would split open and something in my nose would crack and start bleeding! my fingertips started peeling like mad and i got all these dry patches everywhere!
and that was not good...and plus my parents were kind of freaking out too!

so i decided that instead of taking 80mg/day for 1 more month that i would take 40mg/day for 2 more months and then i called my derma and told her and she was like..."okay, if that's what you want. but i would recommend staying on 80!" and i was like heeeeelll no! i'd rather have a longer course than suffer through this madness!

now i'm on 40 and i'm still clear and my overall skintone is improving too! i don't have to use green concealer anymore because the only time my face is overly red is after i run! my lips are moisturized on their own! i feeel pretttyyy oh so pretttyyyy

random stuff:
-i got an email saying i was now a Very Important Beauty Insider at Sephora! at first, i was like aww how cute, but then it said it was only available to people who spend more than $350 a year at that store and i was like OH SHIT SON i spent a lot! so i logged into my account to check my total spendings ever and guess what it said.... $667!!!!! HOLY aodhfkadjsfhl i definitely do not remember spending soooo much! i'm hoping most of it was my mom or sister or something because i do not want to be one of those girls who spends all her money on useless stufff!
even though i haaave been called "one of those sweet sixteen princesses" (don't deny it...you know who you are! the boards are a very public place! )
-i ended up not going to new york bummer dudes
-i started writing my college essays! for uChicago and WashU fingers crossed!

and that is my update!
it's almost midnight here and i have a dentists appointment tomorrow so i'm going to go exfoliate and apply my cute little retinol capsule and maybe fix my eyebrows if they're looking a little rough and then sleeeeep!

randomrob: wooohoo we both survived accutane!!!

adam: YES chicago! hopefully we get the olympics, that would be sweeet good luck on your course, if you have any questions feel free to pm me!

brooke: heehee oh yes i was a lurker too! for the scars i would recommend some form of retinol cream to put on at night i use capsules from Philosophy! if you live near a Sephora, you can walk back to the bright fluorescent skincare section and take a few capsules out of the "try me" jar to test them because just 1 of them makes a huge difference!

GOODNIGHT GOODNIGHT!