95 replies to this topic

[loveacnesufferers]

Since i was 12. i remembered having acne. half the time it is cystic acne. mostly affects the front of my face. dont have acne on the sides on my face. my greatest fear is mirrors. my second greatest fear is heights. my third greatest fear is talking to people when i have a breakout, and fearing to go to school(DAMN I REALLY HATE IT cause i know if my acne wasnt there, id be so much more confident around people). now im 17. in between , off and on life has been good and bad with regard to my skin. but 80% of the time, im afflicted with acne. Tried doxycycline for 5 months in 2009 from Jan- May it cleared me for 3 months and i started breaking out like mad, that was when i decided to give accutane a try.

Stuff:

-some stuff for my lips that the derm gave
- moisturizer that i will use like 5-6 times a day
-cetaphil
-antibacterial face wash
(any recommendations on anything that will enhance accutane effects or reduce side effects or increase healing or anything at all that will help please let me know!! thanks!!)

month 1 : 20 mg


June 9- Started(Day 1) 8PM. 20 mg a day.

June 10- 6 acne on right side of face(not my cheeks) my moustache area above my mouth, 3 red acne on chin, few acne on left side. clear forehead. i seriously look real bad. its freaking me out.

June 21-25 went to sabah for a holiday trip, had a super break out on my moustache area on the first day. in the middle of it,even my forehead which has been clear previously is breaking out around my eyebrow area. i know i should have avoided the sun. a big cyst on my right cheek in the middle of the trip(i seldom get outbreaks on my cheek so im really terrified)

June 26. the breakouts i had on my right moustache area and my chin has vanished. leaving red marks that are healing. the cyst on my right cheek is also decreasing in size, like its dying out, and its only been 2 days?? usually my cysts last like 3 weeks.

Bad news: break out on my left moustache area. 2 cysts. damn. my auntie flew over today from hongkong and i totally avoided her, pretending to sleep in my room.

O yeah, school is starting on 29th and my one month break is over. I guess i will go back toavoiding people in school again. My lips are dry and its hard to smile. i hate my life now.

Just went for a blood check today. avoiding the gaze of people around me, just keeping my eyes down. Having an appointment with the derm in 10 days. should i up my dose?? or continue at 20 mg? anyone can give me some advice on this?

[Destroy_Acne]

Accutane is a very powerful pills to stop ur facial oil and acne, i taken it before and every 6 months the dematologist need to take my blood test. I am sure it will help to clear ur face in very short time but side effect is my lips will be very dry and it cracks, i always need to apply lip balm at school around 2 hrs once and always running to toilet to do it. And it is an expensive pill.

I found tat when after u stopped taking accutane, my acne problems came back but my face not as oily as before. Ask ur dematologist when u can stop eating tat accutane pills, ur pocket will burn a hole.

[loveacnesufferers]

thanks so much for posting in my thread. makes me feel better that people are reading my log.

i hope my acne will completely clear. or at least have less frequent outbreaks after the course. may i ask.what mg dose did u go for previously? how is ur skin doing now?

i really hate the initial breakout from accutane. and im only on 20 mg, should i up my dose next week?

Oh and do u happen to come from singapore?

[ACNEVAL]

Me frm Sg hehe I'm still on Accutane for 5 months liao skin frm NSC , skin dry, pimple marks remains hope it clears well

[loveacnesufferers]

wow acneval. haha i just visited nsc today for blood test. so cool to meet u!!

they start me with 20 mg. just to ease me into it. was wondering if they did the same for u as well? o yeah, ur red marks will definitely heal with time. has your pimples all vanish already?

doont know when this initial breakout will end. hope we both get clear skin!

[loveacnesufferers]

27 June -acne seems to be worsening. its hard to look in the mirror now. im more afraid of what i see. and the fact that exams are on monday isnt helping either. making me more stressed going back to school.

[yoyobarn]

hi, hello i am from singapore as well!

our singapore weather is so hot and humid, makes the acne worse..

i took accutane 10mg for 3 months, 20mg for 1 month plus.. after the 4th month finally i stopped getting any major breakouts.. (thank God)

now the problem is my skin is so dry it is itchy, and it worsens my eczema problem.. i hope this side effect will disappear after i finish Accutane (in august)

[loveacnesufferers]

I have a bit of psiarosis too. as in my skin gets scaly from time to time. but thank goodness its only a small patch behind my ear as well as some parts of my arms. ever since i took accutane it has recurred, but with my cream dermasone i think, it has vanished so far.


WOW GUYS, 5 new acne since 2pm. its now 9:30pm and i just returned home from japanese buffet. im so full! i just looked in the mirror under bright light and lets just say what i saw freaked the hell out of me, acne everywhere. b

But from now on , im going to stay positive and believe that a few months from now, i will have clear skin. who cares what other people think. haha im gonna adopt that attitude when i return to school on monday. What doesnt kill you makes you stronger, i think its the lyrics of some song i just heard on the radio.

alright shall go to sleep in a couple of hours after studying.

[loveacnesufferers]

o yea forgot mention that my healing red marks has flared up again. scaring the hell outta me.

[Destroy_Acne]

Hi, i'm from Spore too , i went to NSC before too. if i can still remember my previous dose is more than 20mg, ard 40mg in a pill. Took blood test every 3 months in NSC, sad as i hate needles, haha.

Don worry, after u took accutane pills, do u got lips crack now or ard 2 weeks ? if yes, i tink the 20mg is working. if not, i tink u need higher dose but ask ur doctor before u pop extra dose urself, haha.

The accutane pill i can say is a wonder to destroy acne and oily face but it comes not cheap. After i read ur above posts, i tink u need some more days to see results and be patient. Gd luck, keep us update abt the results, i knw tat the pill will work super fine.

[loveacnesufferers]

It is 12am now. so sleepy. spent some time checking up on accutane dosages on google.

some believe that a cumulative dose of 120 mg/kg is required. since im 60kg. it will be 60X120=7200 mg at 6 months, working out to be 40mg a day.

some believe in low dosages like 20 mg a day that may be more effective than high dosages.

anyone has ever cleared up with 20 mg with significant results? or anyone got bumped up to 40 mg after a 20 mg 1 month initial course. im so in a dillema.

initial breakout is bad enough for me with 20 mg, i wonder if my IB will increase when bumped up to 40 mg. Lips are chapped but not too bad.

[loveacnesufferers]

Day 19



did some studying today, and i can say im about 90% prepared for tomorrow's exam. no new acne since yesterday's breakout.

Skin condition

forehead- one big acne on my right eyebrow
nose- one big whitehead which i squeezed( havent had acne on my nose for a while so its definitely the accutane doing it)
right side- 2 acne
left side- 1 acne
chin-5 whiteheads
and of course various red marks from previous acne that is healing.

just wondering if anyone developed ulcers while on accutane. got like 5 right now.

[loveacnesufferers]

Day 20

Skin's improving. dont really know how to describe. but when i look for certain acne in the mirror, its like gone and vanished overnight. hopefully progress will continue.

hopefully the horrible IB is gone for good. But its too early to say that.

got exams for the whole week so i will post less. cya guys

[jediv]

hey wish you good luck..i just isotretinoin from june 17th as of now terrible breakouts:(...wish all goes well soon....GOd bles

[loveacnesufferers]

hey wish you good luck..i just isotretinoin from june 17th as of now terrible breakouts:(...wish all goes well soon....GOd bles

i started breaking out on around day 10. i broke out even in places i never had acne before! around the same time as u i think. haha lets hope everything gets better soon. keep me updated!

are u on 20 mg?

[jediv]

yup im on 20mg..two pills a day...guess wat i have college from july 1st wonder how am i gonna face it....my doctor put me on ISOACE which contains isotretinoin 20mg..heard of it??..anyways hope you find good changes soon:)

[loveacnesufferers]

yup im on 20mg..two pills a day...guess wat i have college from july 1st wonder how am i gonna face it....my doctor put me on ISOACE which contains isotretinoin 20mg..heard of it??..anyways hope you find good changes soon:)

haha our story sounds quite alike so far man. early initial breakout, starting college at the same time with a breakout. 20X2 means ur on 40 mg a day haha. slight difference in dosage, but i may up mine soon.

right now,my skin is forming scabs like crazy, to heal the acne. i have to keep reminding myself not to pick at them, and failing horribly.

[gLx]

I feel the exact same way you do. School blows when you have a breakout and your always trying to avoid people and shit, it blows. My IB sounds like yours and I got acne in places I usually don't, and now that it's over I have slowly started getting it worse in my problem areas and none in the areas I had my IB in....

I am on month 4 now and I just got my dose increased from 40mg a day to 80mg and I got another bad breakout atm, so I guess it just takes time. I hope I will be on it the full 6 months, but I am very frustrated atm. Most logs I read I hear people saying "around month 4 and I started seeing improvement", but in others it's not until the last month or even after they are off of it soooo just be patient if things are not going well.

Best of luck!

P.S. Try taking a public speaking class during your initial breakout, that's a fucking blast! I broke out superbad around the mouth area then the nose area + other spots below and beside my eye/eyebrow area, and a big one on my forehead.

[loveacnesufferers]

I feel the exact same way you do. School blows when you have a breakout and your always trying to avoid people and shit, it blows. My IB sounds like yours and I got acne in places I usually don't, and now that it's over I have slowly started getting it worse in my problem areas and none in the areas I had my IB in....

I am on month 4 now and I just got my dose increased from 40mg a day to 80mg and I got another bad breakout atm, so I guess it just takes time. I hope I will be on it the full 6 months, but I am very frustrated atm. Most logs I read I hear people saying "around month 4 and I started seeing improvement", but in others it's not until the last month or even after they are off of it soooo just be patient if things are not going well.

Best of luck!

P.S. Try taking a public speaking class during your initial breakout, that's a fucking blast! I broke out superbad around the mouth area then the nose area + other spots below and beside my eye/eyebrow area, and a big one on my forehead.

Yup, ive decided to adopt a positive attitude from now on. and just totally forget about my skin when around my friends. i guess patience will eventually pay off, and i will just look towards the future, couple of months from now when my skin will be clear!

jus curious but how long did ur initial breakout in uncommon areas last?(ive been thru 10 days of hell of it and ruining my entire holidays). now im back to school and sitting for exams (in fact i got a paper in 1 hour that i think i should be able to pass) how i freaking wish everthing will heal soon.

o yeah, saw ur log as well a few days back and its good that u dont have to go school now cause of the summer holidays. hope u get clear before sch starts. o yea. does the accutane heal your red marks for initial breakouts quickly??(does accutane even heal red marks?? or is it just our own body doing it)

[gLx]

My IB in uncommon areas lasted around 2-3 weeks, maybe even a month. It was weird because it broke out in "zones". First I broke out around the edges of my lips BAD. Then it was around the corners of my nose BAD. Then it started breaking out on the edges of my eyes about an inch to the right of the corner of my eye. Now I am on month 4 and it just breaks out in my problem areas. My initial breakouts where mostly large to medium sized whiteheads(90%) and each new one healed within about 3-4 days. Once they popped themselves(or me) I would put peroxide over them, they would get dry, and I would moisturize them, then the scabs would eventually go away with hardly ANY redmarks after a week or so for new spots.

The cysts/hardspots that I got around the corner of my eyes and my forehead, well, those fuckers would last a couple of weeks, and once they were gone they were GONE. No redmarks at all left over.

I am not completely sure if it heals redmarks or if it is your body. I believe it does help and makes them fade faster, but it depends on what type of breakout you have. If it's a cyst or closed comedone, it takes so much longer than a normal whitehead mark to go away. My experience has been around 2-4 weeks for a closed comedone or cyst to go away COMPLETELY. Everyones skin is different though.

I also have a dark skin tone, so they are hidden with the right amount of sun. As of now I am getting WAYYY too much sun and they are showing up more. If I was just getting a little I would be getting a nice tan and they wouldn't show up much.

Fuck the Sun.


Edit: My forehead almost never breaks out, and I got ONE bad spot so far, and it was all the way back in month 1. I still have a little hard spot that is visible.. It still has not gone away, and I don't know why. I am going to see what the doctor thinks next time I see her.