12 replies to this topic

[Rachelicious]

Hi guys! Well I'm so excited to say that I will finally be starting Roaccutane!!

I'm currently a 23 year old female in the UK and I've had acne since I was about 12. Tried many different things to no avail, finally got a dermatologist appointment when I was 19 but I missed one appointment and was told I'd have to go through my GP again. Anyway, went back to the derm in April this year, was told to go on the pill and (yet another) 3 month course of antibiotics. Went back to the derm in August and was seen by some incompetent doctor who even told me "the dermatologist isn't in today so we can't give you roaccutane". I cried and told them how I was told I'd be getting it, how much it affects my life etc. They upped my dose of antibiotics and I told them it wouldn't help, and I was right. They also told me I needed to go home and read the leaflets which I had already read when I was 19, and explained to them I have done plenty of my own research and nothing in the leaflets will be news to me!

Anyway, had another appointment today and I have finally been given the roaccutane (thank you God!!). I have been given a dose of 45mg/day but I can't start for another 2 weeks. My next appointment is in 6 weeks (on Dec 27th haha).

I cannot tell you how excited I am to finally have the drugs in my hands!! I have been waiting a long time for clear skin and now hopefully it'll just be a few more months

My skin is actually not as bad as a lot of peoples I have seen on here. I mostly get acne on my cheeks and chin as well as my chest, shoulders and upper back. I have a lot of scarring from over the years too. Bad skin runs in my family, my mum had it throughout her adult life and both my older sisters have it too. I'm the first to go on roaccutane though. My sisters skin got particularly severe during her pregnancy so I'm hoping if roaccutane clears up my skin then that is something I can avoid if I am ever pregnant.

So I'm super excited about starting!! Not nervous or scared, I've been waiting for this for a long time!! I'm aware of all the side effects, I don't think about them too much as I will just deal with them as they come

At the moment I use a St. Ives face scrub and Estee Lauder Daywear moisturiser so might be looking for opinions on what to change to when I start.

I start in 2 weeks and will keep my log updated on a weekly basis and will post pics!!

Look forward to chatting with you all

[chloelauraa]

Good luck! The two week wait will be over before you know it I'll follow your log!

[Rachelicious]

Wow, so those last 2 weeks flew in!!

This morning I had my first dose of Roaccutane! I'm on 45mg so have to take 2x 20mg and 1x 5mg. It feels so good to finally start!

I've had a dull headache all day - but not sure if that's the Roacc or maybe a 2 day hangover Also, had dry lips today but I ALWAYS carry vaseline and today I forgot to take it to work so maybe I just noticed it more. Also my lips do tend to get dry around this time of year so it was probably more that than anything else!

Looking forward to seeing the drug work it's magic.

Anyone see that BBC3 documentary that was on tonight called Dying for Clear Skin? The description is
"In 2011 Jesse Jones went missing. After five days his body was found. He was suffering from acute depression and believed a commonly prescribed acne drug was to blame.

So...not sure how I feel about that as I don't personally call Roaccutane a "commonly prescribed drug" and all the show probably does is point out the negatives and most extreme cases and ignore the positives. In any case, I didn't watch it so going to watch it on iPlayer now

[lionfish]

Wow, so those last 2 weeks flew in!!

This morning I had my first dose of Roaccutane! I'm on 45mg so have to take 2x 20mg and 1x 5mg. It feels so good to finally start!

I've had a dull headache all day - but not sure if that's the Roacc or maybe a 2 day hangover Also, had dry lips today but I ALWAYS carry vaseline and today I forgot to take it to work so maybe I just noticed it more. Also my lips do tend to get dry around this time of year so it was probably more that than anything else!

Looking forward to seeing the drug work it's magic.

Anyone see that BBC3 documentary that was on tonight called Dying for Clear Skin? The description is
"In 2011 Jesse Jones went missing. After five days his body was found. He was suffering from acute depression and believed a commonly prescribed acne drug was to blame.

So...not sure how I feel about that as I don't personally call Roaccutane a "commonly prescribed drug" and all the show probably does is point out the negatives and most extreme cases and ignore the positives. In any case, I didn't watch it so going to watch it on iPlayer now

Good luck with your accutane "journey". I'm on about week 15 now; they started me off on 20mg and now I have worked up to 60mg and everything is going well so far. Luckily being male makes life easier when it comes to starting accutane; no additional pills to take and all that.

I watched the documentary and to be honest I thought it was OK but not great..... mainly because nothing in it was really news to me, I spent weeks agonising over the decision to start accutane and I read a lot of the postives/negative experiences online.

The problem is ALL medications carry a small risk of severe side effects and even if that risk is a very tiny %, loads of people will be affected if the drug has been prescribed to millions of people over the years. Only the individual can decide if it is worth taking that 0.01% (or whatever it is) risk to get clear skin.

Plus my feeling is that anyone with acne bad enough to get prescribed Accutane (especially on the NHS), is quite likely to be depressed / distressed before even starting the drug.

Edited by lionfish, 28 November 2012 - 03:45 PM.

[Rachelicious]

Yeah I agree. I'm sure these people would have chosen Roaccutane again if they had the opportunity to go back. (Obviously if they didn't know how low it would make them feel.) Also shows like that focus on the 1 in however many thousand that have a negative experience. What about the many, many people who have had a positive experience?!

I personally never had a doubt about starting it - probably because I've wanted it for so long and had to fight long and hard to get it! Also funny how there's no documentaries being made about the number of babies born with defects after being conceived while their mother was on roaccutane!!


Anyway today is day 3 and I haven't really started to notice anything difference yet. Only side effect is may a slight very dull headache, but it's so dull that it hardly bothers me! But I'm sure there's plenty of time for more side effects to become apparent

[Rachelicious]

Today is day 6 and still not much to report. My skin was looking a little drier this morning but that's all! I moisturise twice a day and always have so maybe that's helping...

[BMarieWantsNoAcne]

Good luck with your treatment! Today is day 11 for me, so we're both really close together. I'm a little dry as well, but it's not too bad.

[ughhhhh]

I'm on day 12 here and it is because of my pregnancy acne! I've never had so much scarring and it just got worse after the baby was born. You'll have to come back one day when you get pregnant and let me know if it works cause I'm afraid to have another kid haha. Good luck ion your course! Not feeling much yet, breaking out and still oily ew.

[freeas4bird]

All the best with your journey.

Hope all goes well for you, no matter what happens make sure u have positive people around you.

*Moderator edit - URL removed. Repeatedly linking to your own blog/website is considered advertising/spamming*

[Rachelicious]

Thanks everyone! Today is day 8. Been picking at my spots a lot more today :/ a lot of dry skin to pick off the acne haha. I worked a 12 hour shift today so was great to come home and take off my make up and slap on the moisturiser

Lips are dry - but not more dry than they usually are at this time of year! Nivea SOS Lip Repair is amazing though

[Rachelicious]

Day 10. Wondering if my scalp has gone dry as it's been really itchy the past couple of days... :/

Any ideas?

[BMarieWantsNoAcne]

Mine was too so I tried coconut oil... let's just say it didn't agree with my scalp and I woke up with a burning/itchy scalp... it's not itchy now though, so I don't know what changed.

[Rachelicious]

Ooooh, that doesn't sound fun!! Might see if there's anything else I can try, hope it goes away soon! It's embarrassing wanting to constantly vigorously scratch my head - people will automatically assume you have head lice or something!!