4 replies to this topic

[madhenkz]

Hi,

I've been on accutane for almost 3 months now. Last 40 days 120mg/day. Cumulative dose about 6,500/10,000 totally needed for 120mg/kg. I'm experiencing the side-effects of dry lips, dry skin+rashes, back pain, dry eyes, bad night vision.
Results so far are not quite what I expected. My acne always came and left in waves, I've got the impression that the current healing goes much slower than normally, but then again, my acne became worse than normal in the last (pre-accutane) 'wave'.

Anyway. Results so far are extremely slow progression. But since about 10 days now I've got a pimple under my hairline. I got many of these while on accutane, but this one is 1cm by 1cm and it's fairly high (3 - 4 mm). It's not extremely visible and I can hide it fairly well. I don't want a scar though and I don't want this bump to be here for ages again.
So... Is it possible to get a cortisol injection for this? I'm in South-Korea so medical communication is hard, therefore I'd first like to hear some experiences and opinions.

Edited by madhenkz, 28 April 2012 - 09:28 PM.

[captainmuffin]

It should be possible to receive cortisone injections, which I believe serve the same purpose/are the same thing. At my first accutane check-up my derm offered me cortisone injections for some of my bigger cysts on my face and back. It should be OK since it doesn't have to go through your liver. I turned them down though because I've done them in the past and I didn't see too much improvement. I'm pretty critical when it comes to my skin, though, so maybe they did do something. There was also the fact that they came up on my bill as surgery and weren't covered by the insurance, so no more cortisone for me. Good luck!

[I hate acne too]

120mg/day?!

[madhenkz]

Went to the derm yesterday and he advised incision+drainage rather than cortisol injection since it was too big.
I took his advice and some other bloke made some cuts and pushed around a little. Unfortunately it's still as big as before and it doesn't look to be changing. My follow-up appointment is two weeks from now. But if I don't see improvement in 2-3 days I'll go there early and ask for something else.

And yes I'm on 120mg/day (I weighed 83kg at the start, now 86kg). Side-effects are bearable. Lips too as long as you always use aquaphor. Especially after eating it's annoying, you need to find a toilet, wash your lips, and apply some stuff. Talking generates some sort of slimy white layer on your lips, not really tasty..
I'm getting so sick of all this that I decided to up this stuff to 160mg/day for the last few weeks. Got 2000mg left so it should take a little less than 2 weeks. Blood tests are okay so far. I am sweating like crazy though, don't know if it's the climate or accutane, but it's insane.

Edited by madhenkz, 09 May 2012 - 09:25 PM.

[darling_]

I highly recommend corisol injections while on 'Tane!

I'm actually at start of month 4 now, but I've been getting cortisol shots every two weeks (I visit my derm very 2 weeks)... at first I didn't see much of a difference, but the last time I went I had someone else do my shots and she did them til they "blanched" (skin around it turned white) - what a difference!! My entire skin surface smoothed out (and I have the most comogenic bumpy skin ever).

The point of the shots is to prevent future scarring, which you definitely want while on Accutane since you're going to go thru a pretty bad IB, might as well minimize what you can And as the shot is going directly underneath the skin surface to the root of the cause, it won't cause any tramua to the top layers of the skin (which are delicate, thin, shedding, etc).