24 replies to this topic

[carmela584]

I've been a follower of these boards for several months now and know many of your stories ... stalker much, right? L0L So tomorrow morning I will go and pick up my first round of accutane; really excited and nervous also!! I've tried it all and this is the last option to get rid of my acne. Hmm ...I hate that word-acne; along with bumps, pimples, cysts, whiteheads, blackheads, knots!! I just really dont want to have to use any of them again!! I know, impossible dream!! Anyways, back to my acne, I have severe cystic acne and pustules that runs along my entire jawline (both sides) it goes from my ear to my chin, it also runs up from my ears to my temples along with being on my lower cheeks. I will also have 1-2 on my forehead at any given time. Yeah, I could have said my WHOLE FACE and you'd have gotten the idea!! My acne reached it's worse when I got pregnant, most of mine is hormonal, but even after giving birth (to a handsome 8lb boy) it didn't get better and it has only gotten worse. Now 15 months later after trying numerous washes, scrubs, creams, gels, antibiotics and more I'm beginning what seems to be the only thing left. I realized I had run out of choices and couldn't live like this any longer. For fear of sounding vain ... yes, my skin has took an emotional strain on me, I cry a couple times a week because of how bad it is, I shudder when my son touches my face, I look at the ground when out in public hoping people wont notice ... but the 2 main reasons I'm beginning accutane with all its (possible) bad side effects are 1) I'm in so few of my sons pictures, he has over 1700 and I'm in less than 15 because I'm so ashamed of how I look and 2) I ran into a person I went to high school with, they then looked me up on Facebook that night and sent me a message that said "it's called proactiv,UGLY" Yeah, talk about a hard blow!! ANYWAYS!! Any tips,advice,support would all be greatly appreciated!! I have already began to take fish oil to hopefully bypass any joint pain and I've stocked up on 7 kinds of lip moisturizers to figure out what works best!! I plan on updating everyone at least once a week if not more and will TRY to post monthly pictures (scary bc I havent taken a picture w/o make-up in years!!) I hope everyone has success with their journey, Good Luck!!

[spriorda]

Hey Carmela,

Just wanted to say I know exactly how you feel. Acne is seriously the worst disease ever. I think accutane will do wonders for your skin. I see that your going to start taking fish oil? I would recommend not doing this. Fish oil caused my skin to become extremely oily and I broke out with small zits then big cysts just a few days after using it.

Instead I would recommend that you check out my regimen that has kept me clear for the past 6 months. Obviously you can't use a multivitamin since your taking accutane but you can surely take the other 2 supplements. It has worked wonders for my skin and i actually have confidence. http://www.acne.org/...__fromsearch__1

All the best!

Patrick

Edited by spriorda, 03 January 2012 - 11:52 PM.

[Quiescence]

Hello lovely, I'm so sorry you have had such a tough time, I can't believe someone actively sought you out on facebook to hurl abuse like that...makes me sick.

Anyways just wanted to wiish you luck, I'm on day 51 its gone ridiculously quickly... coming on here has really helped keep track of things, I reccomend you post pics now as a ''before'' so you can see your progress month by month

Best of luck! x x

PS - Where are you from by the way? Oh and what dosage are you going to be on?

Edited by Quiescence, 04 January 2012 - 12:54 PM.

[Cherryx]

Wow that is so incredibly rude what that woman wrote to you on Facebook. You should write her back a message explaining how acne is a real skin disease and that Proactive is shit and that she is an ignorant arrogant stupid bitch that someday will get cancer or some disease herself. And ask her how would she feel if you made fun of her then?
But anyway....hope you will find your cure soon. Best of luck!

[SkyLynn]

Whaaatt?! Oh wow..... I would have told that witch, my acne is temporary n I am taking medication and asked her what she is doing for hrr perimenopause and gave her the address to the local mental health dept. hahaha..... your so humble! ......gimme the name and I will handle it lol jk....

Anyways, best of luck to you! The accutane really works. You will be clear by the time your sons 2nd bday comes!

[carmela584]

Hello Everyone!! Thank You for all our kind words and support ... you cant possibly know how much they mean to me!! I have a feeling these message boards will become a safe heaven!!

@ Quiescence I live in outside of Memphis, Tn and am taking 40mg 2x a day!!

DAY 4 - it doesnt seem like it should be almost a week yet but it is!! No headaches, dry skin or lips, backaches, crankyness ... nothing of a side effect (yet)!! I do however have 3 new bumps, the under the skin kind that hurt, on my forehead ... I RARELY get more than 1 or 2 at a time on my forehead so I'm trying to tell myself this is my IB and my skn is purging itself "/ FUN!! I will post pictures tonight AHHHHHH!! Hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend

P.S. I am a chronic picker and popper (its AWFUL I know) but will picking/popping really scar me 167952803X worse with being on Accutane?? Any advice,facts,tips are welcome!!

[Quiescence]

I'm afraid i'ma picker/popper too... Its annoying on accutane cos a) my spots seem to heal quicker now, hence i wanna pop them to make them go away even faster b) my skin is drier so those little skin crust flakey bits that cover healing actives are even more noticeable and flakey...hence more tempting to pick.... BUT i do think my hyperpigmentation is redder on accutane so post-pick im left with sooo many red marks ...my skin looks awful right now even though i have lots less actives than when i started. That probably hasnt helped at all has it? x x

[carmela584]

Im afaid thats my logic also, thats if i get the stuff (EWWW) out that it will heal/go away quicker!! The hyperpigmentation is my concern "/ I have A LOT of it going on right now!! I have about 7-9 actives on my left side but its looks like 20 because of all the red marks

DAY 5 --- Well today begins the dry spell I guess ... I have some dry patches randomly throughout my face!! Im scared silly to go over board on lotion (Cetaphil which is also my wash) bc I dont want to break out worse!! Other than that I'm good No dry lips,headaches, sad feelings, backaches, gotta keep reminding myself of the positives!!

[Quiescence]

ps - i think i forot to say... good luck!

Pps - You shoud defo post some pics as a before before you start to get clearer haha

x x

[jhonyguy04]

i cant believe what that woman said. that is fucked up!!!

[carmela584]

DAY 9 - YaY so I have completed my 1st week I'm sure for all of you who have completed months this is no big deal but this is so a BIG deal to me L0L ...lets see still no bad side effects, which is good BUT I'm not getting any dryness really, I excpected to be severly dry by now and I have only a few tiny flakes on top of 3 new cysts and 2 other bumps "/ Im not unrealistic to think its working yet but it just seemed a lot of people had mentioned dryness by now!! I feel like my face is even still oily, no I know it is bc when I take my phone away from my face I have to wipe the screen ... EWWWW GROSS!! I also started back school today ...Fun Times ... this is my last semester before I start my nursing classes and clincicals ... I hope accutane works bc I dont want to be going into harsh hospital lighting and helping people with a disgusting cystic and pus filled face

[jhonyguy04]

ugh tell me about it. i want that dryness too to know iam in the road to clear skin. my skin seems to be slightly less oily today, and my lips are drying more. iam also in a very low dose 20 mg. i guess to mitigate the side effects. but damn, its not like my acne was mild. kinda wish i would have started at 40mg.

[carmela584]

Jhonguy -I know what you mean, I hate my face being oily "/ it feels so gross!!

DAY 11 --- UGH lesson learned!! Be careful what you wish for ... I woke up today and my lips are PEELING they are so dry the weather here has gotten in colder and windy so I think that could have aided in it but AHH they hurt!! If they are like this the whole 6 months my lips will peel off my face!! Other than that nothing new to report ... face is still oily and breaking out, no headaches, my intestines are still working, and I don't has to desire to cause any homicide scenes!!

[PaulH85]

Well, as long as you're not homicidal - I guess it's pretty important to avoid that!

Fingers crossed everything goes your way and that you get the skin you'd like by the end of the course.

Regarding what that poor excuse for a human being said on Facebook, there's none of that here and you can rest assured that this is a safe place for you to post pictures if you wish to do so. The general consensus around the logs is that it's a great way to track progress every couple of weeks or so. Plus, I'd imagine it's nice to look back and compare the pictures at the start to the impressive results a lot of people posting here get at the end.

Good luck!

[carmela584]

Day 16 --- So a lot has changed in the 5 days since I was on here!! The dry spell has begun !! My lips are still dry and peeling, my eyes are pretty dry too and my face is flaking… I felt like when I wore make up before it sometimes made my bumps more obvious now with the make-up flake with the bumps I feel hideous; like I’m going to make children cry when the look at me and well let’s just add to that the fact I’ve noticed I’m eating 2x as much as I did before I began Accutane, which is upsetting me because I still have 45lbs of baby weight to lose (I was/am to self-conscious to go to the gym after baby bc I would sweat my make up off) Soo now I’m stressing how much weight I could possibly gain during these 6 months, and the stressing is causing more breakouts it seems and then I’m already swamped with schoolwork I’m just a little blue between my face and weight … 2 years ago I would have never dreamed I would ever be this big or my face would look like it does, I was in shape with clear skin … I feel like I’m trapped in someone’s else’s body!! Sorry for the depressing read y’all

Well I guess I can find some good, right?! I still have had no headaches, intestinal issues, body aches, or mood swings other than ^ post but my face and body have been bothering me for over a year now so nothing new there.

Thanks Paul, I hope to have a “new” face also and it’s refreshing to not feel judged by how my face looks!! Is there a way to post pictures that are on your iphone? When I log on from my phone I cant seem to find a way to do it!

[PaulH85]

I don't think you can post pictures via your iphone. Well, I'm using my iphone to write this and it doesn't show the icons under 'more reply options' which allow you to add an image or a link to an image. The uploader just below the reply box doesn't work either as it's greyed out when I view it on my phone - pretty sure that normally shows up when I use my laptop.

[carmela584]

Thanks!! That's what it was doing on my phone as well!! I am now logged on my laptop and when I click on the add image icon my sceen goes this translucent blue and I can scroll but not add a picture or do anything unless I refresh the page ... ? IDK maybe this is Acne.Orgs way of saying they do not want my face on here L0L

[PaulH85]

Not at all, I'm quite sure your face would be welcome!

If you're on your laptop, you should be able to attach pictures using the 'Attach Files' section just below the reply box when you click 'More reply options'. I'm on my laptop now and that's working fine for me so. Give it a go and see what happens.

The other way of doing it is the 'Image' button. That comes up with all the other icons at the top of the reply box when you click, 'More reply options'. I'm assuming that's the one you tried? Can't see why that wouldn't display, it should bring up a pop-up box where you can enter a link to your image if you've got it stored online somewhere. I often do it that way and upload my pictures to a site like tinypic.com and then paste the link into the pop-up box.

[carmela584]

Day 17 --- Everything still seems to be about the same other than my face doesn't seem as flakey, not sure if that is good or not as far as accutane working "/ It's kinda crazy I'm over halfway though my 1st month!! Well I decided to suck it up and post 2 pictures ... EEEEKKKKK ... this is the very first time I will be showing pictures of my face without make-up (yes in my profile picture I have make-up) Sorry if I scare anyone!!

Thanks Paul for all your help, or I don't think I ever would have figured it out

Here goes nothing ...

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[carmela584]

UGH ... decided to spill my shame and guilt so maybe I won't do it tomorrow!! After seeing these pictures I went to the minor and detroyed my face with picking/popping I hate that I do it, and while I'm doining it I'm telling myself I should stop but I just can't seem to!! Anyone elses compulsive about it, or am I alone?! Logically I know it only makes every bump 100x worse and then leaves an ugly red mark and scar which takes even longer to go away but the not so smart part of me is thinking that I just need to make it go away now {sigh} maybe I need hypnosis to make me stop...