34 replies to this topic

[Bellaaa]

Hey I started my journey with Roaccutane on the 18th January 2011 - I'm on the 6 month course, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will go with just the one round of treatment.

After being constantly tormented and badgered about my skin, from peers and family members - I decided to go down this road. This first post is going to contain the first months worth of logs, seeing as I only just located this website.

My personal goals:

1. To be able to look in the mirror and smile at the way I look.
2. That this will kick-start a healthy lifestyle for the rest of my life.
3. Walk into a room and feel as if people are not staring at me just because of my acne.
4. Show people that I am good enough.
5. Not to feel embarrassed in pictures.
6. And finally, just to feel confident in myself again.

These pictures were taken on my web cam on the 16th February 2011 - as soon as I get my normal camera back, I will replace these with better quality pictures. This was my skin on an amazingly good day, a couple of weeks after the initial Roaccutance induced break-out.


I usually suffer from the white-heads, blackhead city, and the occasional cluster of cysts. Flakiness of the skin, uneven skin tone, and pigmentation discolouration.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

18th - 25th January 2011
Mood: Excitement

Well, I took my first set of tablets this week, one every night - my dermatologist said he was going to ease me in gently, as I have extremely sensitive skin and suffer from dryness of skin anyway - as usual he gave me a list of side-effects that I may get, and I was ready to accept them.

No noticeable changes occurred in the first week of taking Roaccutane; but once again my derm said it would most likely flare in the next 7-10 days.


25th - 1st January/February 2011
Mood: Content

Woo! Into my second week, my skin has started to be a little itchy, around my nose and on my cheeks - and it is a bit flakier than normal, I've been trying to avoid it getting too flaky by using that new Daily Defence Moisturiser. I also went out and bought 3 tubs of vasaline, and two vasaline sticks that I can carry around with me. I am pretty sure I am going to get the horrendously dry lips that will crack, and bleed a little seeing as I had dry lips even before I started the treatment.

Nothing more to report for this week!

1st - 8th February 2011
Mood: Excited and upset

Well, the excited part is because I am going to Disneyland for 5 days of this week, yay! Bad news is, my skin decided to flare up for the duration of this school trip, so I felt really reluctant to be in any of the photos that my friends were taking, which made me feel a bit down tbh. ^^ I flared up all over my face, in large clusters of big spots - on both of my cheeks, my chest, my forehead, my temples and a few scattered around my mouth.

I've got the dry lips. Already been through one of my tubs of vasaline - they just seem to absorb anything I put onto them then continue to split, definitely the worst thing about this treatment so far - oh, and the nosebleeds. I've been getting quite a few of them, and they last a while - reminds me of the good old days when I was in year 3-5 when I suffered horribly from them at school. They usually got so bad and lasted for up to 4 hours I had to go home. Anyway, I've had dry arms too, so had to start moisturising them - which is a new thing for me

8th - 15th February 2011
Mood: Mixed

Well, I've hit the one month mark today on the 15th February, wooooo! I've had a pretty rough week, been hit with some major mood-swings which sucks. Been snapping at the parents, and a few people at school - but I warned them I might be a bit of a biatch in advance. The only thing that made me laugh this week was how shocked people were that I was going to stick to the 'NO DRINKING' while on Roaccutane. It is a bit annoying, seeing as my friends are all having their 18th birthday parties; but to be honest, I care more about my own health and not ruining my liver. I can handle not drinking for 6 months, it will be worth it.

My skin has not really changed much apart from the flare up about 3 weeks in, that is settling down now and it is returning to normal - I'm hoping that now I've been moved up to the '3 tablets a night' dose, I will start to see an improvement. Speaking of which, I went to the hospital today to get the bigger doses - had to have the routine preggers test, you know, just in case someone knocked me up casually.. ahhaa. Had my bloods done too, which I hate; but my day was made slightly brighter thanks to one amazing old man who sat next to me. He sat down, had his bloods, turned to me and whispered 'I'm amazed, they managed to find blood in my alcohol.' I don't know why it made me chuckle so much,but it distracted me from the needle going in so it was all good



Anyway, I will probably update weekly from now on, and I'll eventually post pictures of the progress
How's everyone else's journeys going? xxx

Edited by Bellaaa, 16 February 2011 - 10:24 AM.

[mitch19]

From your writing, very vocal btw, I can tell that you have a strong character and areboth insightful and intellectual. I'm about 3 1/4 months into accutane and I didn't see the outstanding changes it can do until about the middle of month 2; and it still isn't done workin' its magic. You've 1 month down, and I assure you, the road ahead is paved with gold.

I'll be following you log.

Good luck.

P.S. Your skin is probably going to get extremely dry, if you don't properly moisturize, as the months go on.

Edited by mitch19, 15 February 2011 - 04:17 PM.

[matt f]

Good luck! I'll try to check this log every so often....I'll most likely forget though.

[amyrose]

I get nosebleeds too! I've had my 2nd nose bleed ever since I started on it and today's my 19th day on it. It's brutal, isn't it? Think about a sudden nose bleed in public where it's hard to get out and would attract attention. Good thing that kinda embarrassing situation didn't happen to me yet but I'm starting to worry.

I'm just wondering how many nosebleeds have you had since you've started on it? And did you get nose bleed occasionally before starting on it?

Hope Accutane is gonna cure us!

[Bellaaa]

mitch19 - Hahaha! Yeah, I am rather vocal when it comes to this kind of thing, I can't seem to help myself I am so glad to hear that yours improved so quickly on it, just makes me all the more excited to get cracking and get these next few months out of the way! Thanks for the advice, I've just bought some new night moisturiser too, so hopefully it won't get terribly dry.

matt f - Hahahaa, no worries - I can see myself even forgetting.. awkward

Amyrose - Hey there Haha, I've had the sudden nosebleeds, shopping and casually at school - they're not so bad if you always have tissues on hand. Well, I've had about 15 nosebleeds in all in my first month - that's both short and longer nosebleeds; but I used to suffer with them when I was younger too, so I am not sure if this makes me more susceptible to them now. I hope you don't get as many as me, but I find i usually get the longer ones later at night, when I feel a bit run down. Yeah, let's hope it all goes smoothly x


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

16th February
Mood: OK

A day over a month in on Roaccutane, and I've seen little improvement this month - a few of the spots on my temples have decreased in size thankfully. Most painful buggers there My lips are becoming increasingly dry too, I'm smearing my Vaseline Lip Therapy, aloe vera rich stick all over my lips throughout the day to try give them some relief. It's working quite well so far, butI underestimated how much vaseline i'd actually need. A lot more it seems

Edited by Bellaaa, 16 February 2011 - 09:47 AM.

[mitch19]

mitch19 - Hahaha! Yeah, I am rather vocal when it comes to this kind of thing, I can't seem to help myself I am so glad to hear that yours improved so quickly on it, just makes me all the more excited to get cracking and get these next few months out of the way! Thanks for the advice, I've just bought some new night moisturiser too, so hopefully it won't get terribly dry.

matt f - Hahahaa, no worries - I can see myself even forgetting.. awkward

Amyrose - Hey there Haha, I've had the sudden nosebleeds, shopping and casually at school - they're not so bad if you always have tissues on hand. Well, I've had about 15 nosebleeds in all in my first month - that's both short and longer nosebleeds; but I used to suffer with them when I was younger too, so I am not sure if this makes me more susceptible to them now. I hope you don't get as many as me, but I find i usually get the longer ones later at night, when I feel a bit run down. Yeah, let's hope it all goes smoothly x


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

16th February
Mood: OK

A day over a month in on Roaccutane, and I've seen little improvement this month - a few of the spots on my temples have decreased in size thankfully. Most painful buggers there My lips are becoming increasingly dry too, I'm smearing my Vaseline Lip Therapy, aloe vera rich stick all over my lips throughout the day to try give them some relief. It's working quite well so far, butI underestimated how much vaseline i'd actually need. A lot more it seems

You're going to major in Writing/English aren't you? What dosage are you taking daily, I'm curious. I'm on 80mg (2 x 40mg) daily.

Also, if you're skin was oily before, like mine, it is going to be parched by the end of month 2. Afterall accutane works by dramatically reducing the sebum that your skin produces.

[irving91605]

Your going to have that beautiful face that you want I just know it

I just started Accutane yesterday and I know how you feel

[amyrose]

Holy crap 15 nosebleeds in a month! Luckily some of them are short ones!
Sadly, the kind of nosebleeds that I get are the longlasting ones. I get nosebleeds ocassionally even before Accutane, but that's only like a few times per year thing.

When you get them, do you just wipe it and it goes away or do you have to hold tissue on your nose for a while before it stops?

Have you tried using the nasal saline spray that says it's supposed to moisturize your nose and prevents nosebleed? I've been using it, I'll let you know if I get any more nosebleeds even with the continued use of the spray and see if it's working or not!

[molizzie]

Hey Girl,

I am following your blog...I start my treatment in 26 days and I could not be more excited! Have you tried sleeping with a humidifier in your room at all? I have heard that helps.

Hang in there!

MoLizzie

[megan2010]

Dang 15 nosebleeds is a lot for one month!!!! I'm in month four and still haven't gotten one!Putting aquaphor on a cotton swab and then rubbing it around in your nose helps. I had to do it in my first month too to prevent nosebleeds, I think it helped because I never got one. good luck on your course!!!

[Bellaaa]

mitch19 - For my first month I was on 20mg, now gone up to 60mg - I was wondering myself actually is it safe to take all 3 tablets at night or should I have one in the morning then two when I go to sleep ? I'm actually not, but it was a close call between English Literature or Forensic Science and Criminology at University for me. If I fail at the science, I'll go to the English x

irving91605 - Aww, what a lovely thing to say! Thank you! I hope I will get the results I'm after, I have a feeling I'm going to be left with the pigmentation thing for a while after; but I can deal with that I hope you get the results that you want too! x

amyrose - Tell me about it! It is a bit annoying, especially if I'm at work - seeing as I work in a clothes shop I panic a little haha. But yeah, I kind of knew if I was going to get them, I'd get a lot of them because I suffered so much as a child with them too. Well, for most including the shorter ones I have to hold the tissue there for a little while just to make sure it has stopped fully - but for longer ones I can go through so many sheets of kitchen roll And yeah, I really should try the nasal spray, but I'm a bit reluctant, only because I used to have a nasal spray when I was younger that was meant to help me stop having nosebleeds - but every time I used it... it gave me an instant nosebleed hahaha. Fail Let me know if yours works for you! xx

molizzie - Thanks for following my blog! Ahh! So close, will you start up a blog on here? If you do, let me know and I'll follow yours too! Oh, I've never heard of that before, I'll give it a try definitely ! Thanks for the advice xx

megan2010 - I know D: Lucky! I'll have to try all these anti-nosebleed things, and hope that one of them will help me out! Thanks so much for the advice. Good lucky with yours too! xx

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
17th February 2011
Mood: Fine

Well, I woke up last night so thirsty - sat up, went to put my glass up to my lips, opened my mouth a little and BAM. Lips split, and I had the most intense pain radiating from them I think I've ever felt come from a split lip. It felt like someone had sliced them with paper about 50 times in a row - it even stung to put the Vaseline on them. I woke up this morning and checked the mirror to see what damage I had done to them and they just looked horrific, even with vaseline on - it just brought all the splits out and it hurt to eat anything today. So not too good.

On the plus side, my skin today seems to be smoothing down on my cheeks a little - so I am now left with less spots; but in their place I had the pigmentation discolouration so it kinda still looks like I have something there, which is frustrating, but at least some of them are going down. The only thing I'm not looking forward to this month is the second flare up stage. Hopefully it won't last too long, and I can just get on with the rest of the course. Also, I found that my scalp has also been very dry since I've started Roaccutane, it's flaking off now, so I guess that means I have a slight case of dandruff. Yay. I guess this means that I won't be able to touch up my roots for a while hahaha.

Edited by Bellaaa, 17 February 2011 - 07:19 AM.

[OperationSmoothSkin]

Just dropping by to give a fellow acne fighter some encouragement. Your experiencing alot of side effects. Look at it this way atleast you know the meds are doing their job and working on your skin. Hopefully you will start to see more positive improvement soon.

I'm still playing the waiting game as far as side effects. I'm experiencing nothing, its almost as if I'm not taking anything at all.

Good luck on your journey, I'll keep following your log

[Bellaaa]

OperationSmoothSkin - Thanks for dropping in! Yeah quite a lot of side effects for me - I guess some people are just like that, get more than others. Like you said, at least I know they're in my system! Thanks for the support, and I'll be checking your log too! xx


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

February 18th 2011
Mood: So happy

For once, my skin actually looked OK ! With make-up on of course, but still! I looked in the mirror and I was actually quite pleased with the way I looked. The bumps on my skin have gone down quite a lot, mainly on my cheeks and forehead, where they were more noticeable. I've just got the ones of around my mouth and a few on my temples that are still raised, and of course the pigmentation but I could cover that up mostly with make-up.

I woke up this morning though with itchy arms, like the top of them - which I slapped some moisturiser on and it felt a bit stingy, which was strange - but it went away after a couple of hours. I'm hoping this won't be a regular side-effect, or even if it had anything to do with the Roaccutane at all. Also, of course the dry lips are still with me - but I've got them under control now, with my constant vaseline-ing of them throughout the day.

I just need to ask, do you guys take your tablets with a meal, or with a glass of milk ? I always forget to have them with my dinner, or if I'm out I can't - so I usually take it with my pill with a glass of milk.

ALSO, tonight I went to see that new Disney film Tangled - it was actually so amazing, a lot better than the trailer makes it out to be, I'd highly recommend to go see it !

Edited by Bellaaa, 18 February 2011 - 03:20 PM.

[amyrose]

I always take it after I eat my breakfast in the morning. People often forget to take it at night. I've never tried it with milk..but I don't think it matters much since I heard that you only need to take in some fat along with the pill so it doesn't do as much damage to your body.

I'm close to my one month mark too, but I seriously think I'm having the initial breakout with a few big pimples spread out on my face. I hope my face will start clearing up soon like yours!

[blondyy]

heyy! I read through your blog, ahhh thats so exciting that you're starting to see progress it gives me hope haha although I'm only on day 6. I just want these months to fly by and be free of acne!

I take mine with dinner time, with a class of milk! I'm just extra cautious because I've had pills upset my stomach before. If I know I wont be able to take it at dinner, like if I'm out or have to work or what not, I take it at lunch with a meal.

Well I'll be checking in on your progress, so hopefully everything continues to go well for you! good luck

[Pocket]

Hi! I'm going to my Derm to talk about going on Accutane this Wednesday. Your log is very encouraging and puts some fear out of my mind. I will be following Good luck. Your skin is going to be beautiful n__n <3 - Courtney

[Niladmirari]

Hey I started my journey with Roaccutane on the 18th January 2011 - I'm on the 6 month course, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will go with just the one round of treatment.

After being constantly tormented and badgered about my skin, from peers and family members - I decided to go down this road. This first post is going to contain the first months worth of logs, seeing as I only just located this website.

My personal goals:

1. To be able to look in the mirror and smile at the way I look.
2. That this will kick-start a healthy lifestyle for the rest of my life.
3. Walk into a room and feel as if people are not staring at me just because of my acne.
4. Show people that I am good enough.
5. Not to feel embarrassed in pictures.
6. And finally, just to feel confident in myself again.

These pictures were taken on my web cam on the 16th February 2011 - as soon as I get my normal camera back, I will replace these with better quality pictures. This was my skin on an amazingly good day, a couple of weeks after the initial Roaccutance induced break-out.


I usually suffer from the white-heads, blackhead city, and the occasional cluster of cysts. Flakiness of the skin, uneven skin tone, and pigmentation discolouration.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

18th - 25th January 2011
Mood: Excitement

Well, I took my first set of tablets this week, one every night - my dermatologist said he was going to ease me in gently, as I have extremely sensitive skin and suffer from dryness of skin anyway - as usual he gave me a list of side-effects that I may get, and I was ready to accept them.

No noticeable changes occurred in the first week of taking Roaccutane; but once again my derm said it would most likely flare in the next 7-10 days.


25th - 1st January/February 2011
Mood: Content

Woo! Into my second week, my skin has started to be a little itchy, around my nose and on my cheeks - and it is a bit flakier than normal, I've been trying to avoid it getting too flaky by using that new Daily Defence Moisturiser. I also went out and bought 3 tubs of vasaline, and two vasaline sticks that I can carry around with me. I am pretty sure I am going to get the horrendously dry lips that will crack, and bleed a little seeing as I had dry lips even before I started the treatment.

Nothing more to report for this week!

1st - 8th February 2011
Mood: Excited and upset

Well, the excited part is because I am going to Disneyland for 5 days of this week, yay! Bad news is, my skin decided to flare up for the duration of this school trip, so I felt really reluctant to be in any of the photos that my friends were taking, which made me feel a bit down tbh. ^^ I flared up all over my face, in large clusters of big spots - on both of my cheeks, my chest, my forehead, my temples and a few scattered around my mouth.

I've got the dry lips. Already been through one of my tubs of vasaline - they just seem to absorb anything I put onto them then continue to split, definitely the worst thing about this treatment so far - oh, and the nosebleeds. I've been getting quite a few of them, and they last a while - reminds me of the good old days when I was in year 3-5 when I suffered horribly from them at school. They usually got so bad and lasted for up to 4 hours I had to go home. Anyway, I've had dry arms too, so had to start moisturising them - which is a new thing for me

8th - 15th February 2011
Mood: Mixed

Well, I've hit the one month mark today on the 15th February, wooooo! I've had a pretty rough week, been hit with some major mood-swings which sucks. Been snapping at the parents, and a few people at school - but I warned them I might be a bit of a biatch in advance. The only thing that made me laugh this week was how shocked people were that I was going to stick to the 'NO DRINKING' while on Roaccutane. It is a bit annoying, seeing as my friends are all having their 18th birthday parties; but to be honest, I care more about my own health and not ruining my liver. I can handle not drinking for 6 months, it will be worth it.

My skin has not really changed much apart from the flare up about 3 weeks in, that is settling down now and it is returning to normal - I'm hoping that now I've been moved up to the '3 tablets a night' dose, I will start to see an improvement. Speaking of which, I went to the hospital today to get the bigger doses - had to have the routine preggers test, you know, just in case someone knocked me up casually.. ahhaa. Had my bloods done too, which I hate; but my day was made slightly brighter thanks to one amazing old man who sat next to me. He sat down, had his bloods, turned to me and whispered 'I'm amazed, they managed to find blood in my alcohol.' I don't know why it made me chuckle so much,but it distracted me from the needle going in so it was all good



Anyway, I will probably update weekly from now on, and I'll eventually post pictures of the progress
How's everyone else's journeys going? xxx

Thankyou Bella for posting this. I'm about to start Roaccutane and I am concerned about the dreaded 'IB' that most experience during the first few days/months of taking this drug. I too, will be posting about my journey, and it really makes me happy to know there are people like you who are going through the same thing, and are able to share their experiences with everybody else, wehther it be bad or good experiences. I don't feel so alone I hope it all goes well for you during your tane journey, can't wait to read what more you have to say about it all. Good luck!

[Bellaaa]

Thanks for reading!

I am so busy at the moment, but I am going to reply to everyone personally and update the past few days on Thursday !

Wooo!

Keep strong x

[Bellaaa]

Hey there everyone! Sorry for not checking back in ages - but I had half term, and was so busy - and then I came down with the flu, bad times. Recovering now though How is everyone?

Niladmirari - I'll definitely be checking your log! Also - don't worry about the IB, it's really not that bad, and goes away quite quickly I found You'll be absolutely fine! xx

Pocket - Aww, thank you very much! I hope so! Your skin will also be perfect after you finish your treatment, you gotta let me know how your treatment goes! xxx

blondyy - Ohh, interesting to see how other people take theirs! I'm on 3 tablets a day at the moment, and I find it easier to just take mine at night before I go to bed, with a glass of milk. I only do it like this because I knew if I did it any other way I would forget - I need to actually make sure this is alright to do with so many tablets at the same time I too, will be checking on your progress! xx

amyrose - Yeah, that's what someone said to me, ahhh. I can't wait for my next derm appointment, I just have so many questions to ask.

Alsoooo, I need to ask, has anyone else found that they've lost a bit of weight while being on these ? I only really enquired because I usually stay at a healthy, steady weight; but it's dropped a few pounds since I've been on the tablets, would be interesting to see if anyone has had this side-effect?


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

16 - 23rd February
Mood: Wheyyyyy

I know I have not posted in a few weeks, but like I said I've been extremely busy lately. I think I've had my second breakout since being on the tablets, I was expecting it; but it came a bit more aggressive than I originally expected. I don't know if it's because I was switched from 1 tablet to 3 instead of 2 - or if I just have more sensitive skin. Although, I guess this shows that they're getting into my system, so that's a bonus!

23rd - Now
Mood: Ehhh

Well, this week has been amazingly good and then amazingly bad for me - the good news was I got to watch the TV programme 'League Of Their Own' being filmed at Elstree Studios on the 26th Feb! If you don't live in the UK, or have just never watched it - go watch it online, hosted by the amazing James Corden, and has the amazingly hot Freddie Flintoff, John Bishop and Jamie Redknapp. Phewwww. Hahaa, that was the highlight of this week.

The down side is that I got the flu, which is annoying. Have the nastiest cough ever, which in turn is giving me a sore throat, really bad stomach muscle aches and has just made all of my ribs hurt. Plus my skin has been acting up a lot, it's so sore at the moment and this morning I woke up - splashed my face with some cold water, dabbed it dry and on my cheek, a strip of skin just came off, which obviously shocked me a little. So, at the moment it looks like someone has put something very hot to my cheek and burnt a little patch of skin. I took some more pictures on my webcam, so I'll show you what I mean after this. I have also found it on my chin and a little on my forehead.

I was wondering if anyone has had this, as I moisturise before I go to bed, and it got me a little upset because the patch just looks like it's oozing a little bit, so I'm a bit reluctant to put anything on it. D: xx


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Updates on skin:








As you can see, especially in the last photo, the sore bit on my cheek, the skin literally just peeled off - I didn't peel it off, it came off when I was dabbing my face dry, and I'm guessing the other few patches came off on my pillow or something. Has be a bit worried. D:

Can't wait to look like this again :

Edited by Bellaaa, 01 March 2011 - 01:55 PM.

[Bellaaa]

I just realised, the webcam really does not show the extent of the acne on my face - I have a lot more red, raised lumps than this shows. I really need to pull my finger out, and charge my actual camera.