17 replies to this topic

[Beaksauce]

Hey guys. i just started Clavaris today.

Im 20 years old ( 21 in 10 days)
72 kg.
6 foot 1 inch tall

I think I'm going to blog about my whole 6 month experience.

I have had acne since age 17, but was able to control it 95% around age 18 with the Regimen. After stopping the Regimen for just a few weeks this summer ( when I was 20), the acne came back and has yet to be put under control. At first it wasn't bad, but right now it is the worst it has ever been. I have tried all the holistic/healthy methods of acne destruction, but my body has not responded how I thought it would.

I have tried diet, exercise, acupuncture ( definitely helps, but it is so slow... i wish i had done this while on the Regimen because I know it would have finally succeeded after about 20 sessions ( you feel less oily every treatment)), benzoyl peroxide, and a little bit of antibiotics.

Anyway, I have finally decided this is the right choice for me. And I have to say, I can't wait for it to start working. I was hesitant because of the side effects, but i have made up my mind that it is time. I am tough, I can deal with whatever it gives me.

So there it is. This is day one, Christmas Eve. Wish me luck and I will catch up with you guys soon. ( I will add pictures as soon as i am back at school with my camera). I have a ways to go, but my body is ready and so I am.

[SkyLynn]

Good luck!!!

[Beaksauce]

Day 3 is today. I have already been clearing, which I think is half due to the Clavaris, and half due that I don't have to use any harsh products topically anymore. My face feels nice and dry. My lips need a little chapstick and the inside of my nose did too, but I couldn't be happier so far.

This is the right choice for me. I think my acne has been aggravated by worrying about acne. So now I don't worry at all, I eat tons of food, drink tons of water and green tea, and take 40mg of clavaris once a day. Its so easy and it seems to work amazingly so far.

[Beaksauce]

Day 7 - Its only getting better everyday. My skin is dry but I use lots of moisturizer twice a day. i still have acne bumps, but they reduce in size and number everyday. I feel free again to eat lots of foods that I was avoiding before.

Note: Going skiing on accutane was a little bit rough on my skin, but extra moisturizer made it ok. I will be posting pics soon. The difference already is amazing. I can't wait to be clear again.

PS: The acne goes away and leaves red marks.... but the accutane has been reducing the red marks too. I look at my face happily every morning. The progress is so amazing .

[Beaksauce]

Day 10 - My face is red, but the acne is still subsiding. I want to be all the way clear again so badly. Everyday is one day closer.

[SkyLynn]

Dang it started working right away. That's great!

Keep it up!

[rii]

I haven't been on this site in quite a while, but I just wanted to drop by and wish some of the people starting accutane the best of luck.


So good luck!!!! Hang in there!! I stopped accutane about 6 months ago and it was an absolute miracle worker for me. I get the occasional pimple but nothing serious.

It sounds like it is already starting to work for you if you are on day 10 and your acne is already subsiding. It took about 4-4.5 months for mine to finally go away. If you do get the IB though, my biggest advice is to just stick with it. I was seriously breaking out for the first 4 months so I thought it wasn't working, but after that it worked really well. So anyways, hopefully it will all just keep getting better for you from here, but if you do get an IB just know that it is more than likely to work so keep your spirits up the best you can!

Good luck!!!

[darling_]

wow you cleared up fast! didn't have even an IB? do you have any side effects? hope you get to skip the dreaded IB and just have clear super nice skin ASAP!

[Beaksauce]

Hey guys. Day 18. My acne is so much better. But darn.... the redness is not going away like the acne did. Some days the redness looks better, and some days it looks worse, but its definitely worse than my acne now.

I have started taking MSM because i heard it helps red marks fade. Also, does anyone know anything about emu oil?

Oh, and just dry lips and dry eyes so far. Only the lips really bother me, but as long as I have a chapstick around its fine.

[lnymphl]

Beaksauce, on 11 January 2012 - 03:48 AM, said:

Hey guys. Day 18. My acne is so much better. But darn.... the redness is not going away like the acne did. Some days the redness looks better, and some days it looks worse, but its definitely worse than my acne now.

I have started taking MSM because i heard it helps red marks fade. Also, does anyone know anything about emu oil?

Oh, and just dry lips and dry eyes so far. Only the lips really bother me, but as long as I have a chapstick around its fine.

I totally know what you mean about the redness thing! Sometimes it looks so red and then it looks like it has calm down, but it comes back!

Wow I cant believe your acne is diminishing so fast! That's very good to hear! I hope it keeps up for you.
Good luck!!

[Beaksauce]

Day 38.

i decided to continue with 40 mg because my hands and arms were breaking out in large red dry patches. I also had a little bit of emotional instability, which I've never had before. Its not a good feeling to be unable to control your emotions.

And unfortunately my Initial Breakout came. Its been healing up, but i got quite a few cysts and some papules to go along with them.

My current program includes

Accutane 40 mg once a day
MSM
vitamin C
1 multivitamin
vitamin E
Dermacleanse ( 3 weeks on, two weeks off)
saw palmetto 3 times a day

I'm worried about my acne and the redness, but i am most worried about the texture of my skin. i know redness will fade, but indents seem to last forever.

Topical Regimen

Gentle face wash
Emu oil ( Pure emu oil - used as a mosturizer)

I try to never touch my face ever and i change my pillowcase everyday ( i turn it over for 2 uses per pillowcase)

Face update

My face still has active acne. 3-4 cysts on my cheek. 10 small pimples on forehead. Redness is terrible ( but not as bad as it was - mild red almost everywhere). indents on temple area on both sides - deeper on right side.

[Beaksauce]

Day 52.

The active acne on my face is very very minimal. Just a few red bumps that are slowly flattening out.

I wish I had gone on accutane sooner though. My skin has a lot more texture than i would like it too. i keep gently washing, eating the right diet, consuming all my vitamins and minerals, exercising 3-4 times a week. but my skin has some serious post inflammatory hyperpigmentation as well as some texture.

But my acne has decreased to the point where i am not worried about the acne but about the scarring it has produced. Which i guess is a change from my focus before. I hear that scarring is the hardest to deal with though. Because its more semi permanent. But hey, ill take what i can get.

But listen up. If you are going to take accutane.

1) Get going. Now is the time if your skin is bad. make the appointment today. You"ll thank yourself.

2) Request an antibiotic ( other than a cycline) for the IB. This will help avoid the IB.

3) Read Antony's personal regimen on this website. He is the most acne educated person i have ever heard of or read of ( ive read for hundreds of hours). His post is long, but worth it. Search on google "antony acne". That's it. his personal regimen is amazing. just take whatever you want from it. everything will help. Its up to you how much you want to invest in time and money.

[Beaksauce]

Day 85? 86? Lol I've been on 60mg/day - not too bad, though a tiny bit more dry arm skin ( sort of like induced eczema)

One whitehead. ZERO cysts.

The redness in my face has been subsiding ever so slowly. But as the redness subsides, I am able to see that I do have some forehead waviness. I'm ever so happy to be clear, but I feel like I am starting Battle #2 - The Battle against redness and rolling scarring. I don't have any icepick scars, just small roundish indentations by my temples, and some general waviness on my forehead, and some flat red spots on my cheeks.

To fight off scars I have started using copper peptides, which I believe have helped already. I will update acne.org when I know if these products work - Because who couldn't use scarless beautiful skin? I know I would pay thousands. Anyways

Only 3 more months....

I have also begun to wonder whether I can used dermaneedling while on accutane - Just the .5mm needles - to help the uptake of the copper peptide serum into the problem areas. The copper peptides are suppossed to induce collagen production and since my scars are slightly indented, they could use some extra growth. Plus i know that needling definitely promotes collagen too. Double the collagen sounds like a good deal to me.

But I have to ask my dermatologist tons of questions before I will know whether my choice of copper peptides is ok, whether the tiny needles are ok, yada yada yada.
So much to learn, and so little time to waste. Clear beautiful skin is on the horizon - in fact, as the redness fades and the scars plump up it is ever so close, but yet as i get closer it seems longer and longer to wait. Hopefully I'll look back and just nod to myself ( yep, it all went as planned).

Ill update you guys on what dermatologists think of copper peptides and microneedling. My dermatologist had no idea what emu oil was.....

[Beaksauce]

Day 97ish.

Hey guys. I have backed down on the copper peptide use to about once every two or three days - it seemed to make my face redder, which is something I do not need right now. My face looks so different depending upon what light I look at it in. The worst is overcast days - they make my skin seem transparent, and I can see all the red marks that can't be seen in normal light, but seem to show the damage done beneath my fragile skin.

In good lighting ( not harsh) my face is appearing more and more normal. One cyst on my neck, some pitted scarring on my forehead, and red marks on my forehead and cheeks. I have noticed that my face flushes pretty easily, a side effect which i hope goes away once I stop the claravis.

The funny thing is that my face looks the best after it hasn't been washed in a long period, like right when I wake up, or before I wash it at night. My small amount of natural oil seems like a good thing, and I have recently thought that maybe washing twice a day is not doing me any favors.

Anyways, i find myself wishing I had gone on accutane sooner. Its hard to look at your face and see scars and redmarks and damage that wasn't there before. I want to be free of all this. I want to look in the mirror and go DAMN, thats attractive.

On a side note, I got all of my amalgam fillings out yesterday - 6 in total. I'm hoping it"ll help my immune system to heal my face. Who knows.

Wishing you guys all the best - may we all be beauitful again.

[Beaksauce]

Day 105 of 180. Still 60mg/day.

There is progress everyday, but less and less as my face gets better. I'm still taking all my vitamins.... listed somewhere above. i have pretty severe flushing from accutane, so my face is super red all the time, but I know that will go away after the accutane exits my system. I no longer have acne, but I do have scarring, which is kind of depressing. I have pit scarring on both of my temples, as well as a generally bumpy forehead. I'm currently using very gentle copper peptides in an effort to increase collagen growth and hopefully fill in my scars a little bit at a time. Its a little sad to think I can't get laser ( like Fraxel Repair or Deep FX ) till June 24th of next year, but I guess a lot can happen in a year. Maybe my scars will be much less noticeable by then, who knows.

Anyway. Just checking in. Vitamins, healthy diet, exercise ( been swimming 3x per week working up to a mile without stopping), copper peptides, and time heal all? lol

Beaksauce

[Beaksauce]

2 Months left... so day 120? 60mg/day

No acne. Red marks are fading slowly. But my skin is definitely scarred. I have moderately sever pitted scars on my forehead and temple areas. My cheeks look fine, but my forehead looks.... weathered.

I'm already looking into scar revision though I know I won't be able to do the procedures for 6-12 months.

My plans so far are copper peptides and mild peels ( 3 months) then maybe start dermastamp ( 3 months) then I think I can do subcision with suction at home ( 2-3 times) before I do subcision and Deep FX or Fraxel Repair ( 1 or 2 times)

I'm serious about reclaiming my once beautiful face. I hate my scars so much. I have been living life though more than usual. Going out and having fun, but I want to be me again.

Beaksauce

Btw. On the amalgam fillings. That was a great idea. I feel way better.

[Beaksauce]

Still going. 1.5 months left.

My face must look much better since there are now many more women interested...

[Beaksauce]

Still going well. Taking all my vitamins. Using mild copper peptides.

I definitely have scarring, but it isn't as terrible as I thought it was going to be. It is only getting better everyday.

I definitely have a super detailed post accutane scarring plan to get my skin back to beautiful, but I don't stress out about it everyday now. It helps that my friends have always been supportive.

But I will continue vitamins/copper peptides until accutane is done. Then I will be put on Retin-A which I plan to mix with stronger copper peptides. They really do seem to help. My skin feels soft.

I'm ready to be done and move on. Though I am scared about getting even one pimple now. I haven't had a pimple in at least a month.