Switching generics?

I'm switching next month from amnesteem to clarivis just for money reasons... does this make a difference in terms of my body adjusting to the meds? I don't want to have to "start all over again" in a sense esp with the initial breakout...

Bleaching with Accutane

Does using a cream bleach (eg Jolen) irritate your skin on accutane? anyone tried it?

The specific mechanism behind initial breakout?

Is it true that accutane "pushes everything to the surface?" I've heard from some people that might even be a myth and that our skin just gets irritated due to drying out.

Or... could it just be cause our skin was (relatively) under control from using various products before the tane, and since the meds haven't fully kicked our skin freaks out like it would without any products?

Maybe it's just the same as always but people are just expecting fast results and it disappoints?

Just curious....what have your dermatologists said about the specific reason for the IB?

Please offer words of wisdom or something

A part of me still feels stupid and guilty for posting this, and I don't know why. I just have to pour my heart out to random strangers cause I can't talk to people in real life about it...

I'm sick of crying every day over this. I'm on accutane but I know all its going to make my acne worse and scar me for life even more. And even if it does eventually work, im going to have to deal with all the awful scarring which looks just as bad and I know will never go away. I'm sick of wasting my young life being so insecure. I'm never going to be able to live, and by the time I am ridded of my skin problems I'll be old and unattractive anyway.

I can't confide in anyone cause I don't want my friends to notice even more than they already do…the only person I can talk to about it is my mom, and she makes me feel horrible and offers me no consolation. She thinks I'm being vain and that I'm an idiot for letting it take over my life. I'm not being vain….I just want to look normal again. That's all I want. I avoid looking in the mirror but it's hard to even forget how bad I look when my face is constantly in pain. She said to me just now "if it's not your acne that’s a problem, it would just be something else." The way she brushes this aside just makes me feel 100 times worse. It would never be "something else." Everyone has insecurities, and I have other flaws of course, but nothing makes me feel like a monster and takes over my life like this does.

I'm so sad my Halloween weekend is ruined because my face is so inflamed and there is no way I can go anywhere like this. I am afraid to even look for jobs now because I know nobody will want to hire me when I look so offensive.

The worst part is knowing that I used to be considered the 'hot chick' and now I don't think I could possibly look any worse. I've gone from a 9 to a total 0. I don't want to see anyone from my past because I know they'll be thinking "God what happened to her." It's killing me because I want so badly to be social but I just can't. I know that looks aren’t everything but it is so hard to get past the thought of what I used to look like. A guy that used to like me keeps asking me out and I'm so sick of having excuses, because I want to see him so badly but have to put everything on hold until my face gets better. He's only ever liked completely gorgeous girls and I know he's still imagining I look the same as I did a couple years ago. Boy is he in for a surprise

Some parts of the day are better than others, but lately I've had at least one awful meltdown every few days. I can't even seem to bring myself to do everything things anymore. I'm stuck at home doing nothing and seeing nobody and it's driving me crazy.

I am afraid (and know in the back of my mind) that this will never go away and I'm tired of the false hope that it will. If the accutane doesn't work and I really have tried everything, I don't know how I'm going to cope. Please someone offer me suggestions on keeping happy despite my acne, because I'm so tired of this conditional “once it gets better I'll feel better" mentality.

Starting accutane...lots of questions!!

Hi everyone....I'm a newbie to this forum as of today! I'm 22 and have suffered with acne since I was 15, but it only recently started getting terrible. I started on accutane (amnesteem) 8 days ago. I'm alternating between 40 mg one day, 80 mg the next (60 mg avg). At first my derm wanted me on 80 mg/day but I'm only 112 pounds and was a little scared! I would classify my acne as moderate persistent, but with my scars it looks pretty severe.

Anyway my skin pretty much exploded over the past few days. Is this any indicator of if I'm going to suffer through my treatment? I'm SO afraid of the IB I hear so much about, because my skin is beyond sensitive and even the littlest zits leave horrible scars.
I also had an AWFUL time with Retin-a..it pretty much ruined my skin. Since the same type of mechanism is used for accutane (vitamin a), does this mean my skin is going to react in the same way?? AHH...

Also--I started getting super red yesterday. Just my face. It feels like a sunburn and gets worse esp when I apply lotion. PLEASE tell me this goes away and I'm not going to be a tomato forever! My skin is weirdly still greasy looking but when I try putting makeup on I flake really badly. I use bare minerals...any suggestions for stuff that won't peel off and look terrible? There is nooo way I'm going anywhere without makeup on. hah.

last but not least...does anyone know if pitted scars (boxcar-type) fade over time? I'm hoping by the end of the course of accutane my scars won't be as prominent...ahh sorry I have so many questions on one post!