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Fortunately they both cleared up beautifully. My brother (who is 23 now) still gets a pimple every now and then, but he has nice skin. My sister was honesty a miracle case, her face is beautifully clear now, aside from some light scarring that seems to fade with time. She has the occasional pimple when it's that time of the month, but her skin is really nice and she just looks beautiful. Let me just say now that after seeing how horrible her acne was and how she pushed through it, the results were so worth her bad side effects. She now looks completely gorgeous and definitely does not regret accutane at all. that's what really pushed me to do it, knowing how much it helped her. She was 16 when she did it too, but she did it december of her junior year, and she was 17 when she finished.
Even though my face acne is only moderate and nothing too severe, it's still not very good and the acne i do have is pretty deep and doesn't go away. The main reason (besides the siblings) that i'm on accutane is for my back and chest. If you're someone with the major back and chest and shoulder problems, stick around. My back acne is extremely painful, and it's a variety of small pimples and large painful ones covering my shoulderblades, upper back, neck, and chest. I haven't been able to wear half of my clothes because I can't wear anything that doesn't at least go up to my neck and cover my back. It's pretty sucky being a girl and it being the beginning of summer, because I can't wear bathing suits..let alone v-necks or tanktops. I'm extremely pale (a redhead/ginger), which the doctor says is good because apparently pale skin clears up beautifully and he said mine will do just fine. But i'm also prone to sunburn and stuff, so that won't be good considering it's summer. The only upside to starting accutane at the end of the school year is that now it'll be summer and i won't be forced to go out and see people (besides going to work). I figure if i have a bad acne day or feel low, i can stay home and relax without worrying about seeing people at school or hiding my face. It helps that my hair covers my forehead and parts of cheeks sometimes, though my acne usually isn't too bad when i cover it with makeup. I used bare minerals makeup, which is okay for covering acne but works beautifully when it's just for red and not really for raised bumps. It gets the job done though, enough where i dont feel too bad going out. My treatment is only 5 months, possibly 4, so I'll be done at the beginning of my junior year, which will be nice i guess.
SO anyway I started accutane last tuesday, so I guess today would be day #9.
Week 2 day 9:
Basically, my symptoms have been kind of strange. I mean, i've heard of people having them, but they seem out of order and just not usual..i dont know. The first thing i noticed was about 3-4 days after starting accutane, I began to breakout. I was kind of surprised because most people say they get an initial breakout at the end of month 1. My sister said month 1 was the worst and that i'll get through it, and her warnings scared me. I'm not sure if the initial breakout was from accutane or if i was just getting more acne because I stopped my old medicatiom (which didn't work by the way, like the other 1,000,000 products i've tried). So my skin hasn't really gotten too dry, I mean i don't have dry or oily skin to begin with, it's just kinda normal. My lips are what's strange. They're not particularly chapped, but they feel stretched. Like they're being pulled on, kind of rubbery, and when I touch them they're smooth. But they have that chapped feeling, like they're swollen, even though they look normal besides possibly getting a little paler. I don't know if that's because of accutane or maybe i've been using too much aquaphor. I've been using it since day1, maybe even before, just because of all the warnings and i wanted to be prepared. But my lips just feel weird and uncomfortable..i don't really know how to describe it. I can't tell if i should stop using aquaphor for a few days or keep using it, because i don't know what the problem is. Did anyone else have that problem? Anyway besides that and the breakouts, i've been a little more tired. Not sleepy, just kind of drained. I also have light headaches constantly. Sometimes they get really bad, but usually it's just dull. I've been able to wear my contacts most of the day and then i just take them out around dinner or when i get home from school.Ive anticipated not being able to wear them anymore so i've ordered my glasses and they should come in in a few days, for now i wear my old glasses. The worst side effect i've had was today for the first time i got a terrible terrible nose bleed. I've gotten nose bleeds before on occasion in my life, i mean most people do, but today was weird. It happened randomly in the hallway at school, and i had to run into a random classroom to get paper towels. I went to the bathroom and my nose was just gushing, nonstop flow of thick blood. I had never seen anything like it. Thankfully my friend held my nose while i washed off my hands and sleeves (blood got on my sleeves and inside on my arms, so i had to roll them up the rest of the day). it was also my lunch period so that was good, i went to the nurses and sat in there pinching my nose for about 25 minutes. in total i'd say my nose bleed lasted about half an hour, until finally it subsided. I had to go to the bathroom again and clean my nose and face and arms, which were all bloody. Then i reapplied some makeup because wiping the blood off also caused me to take the makeup off my chin (which had the worst acne on it). Besides that no other side effects yet...though I have noticed i'm getting acne in places i usually dont get it. Some parts of my face seem like they're getting better, but some are getting worse. I'm getting acne next to my nose and on my chin, which i didn't really used to get, but now my forehead looks better...it's very strange. Anyway, that's all that's happened to me so far. Fingers crossed that it'll get better
