Omnivium

It would be pretty hard to get accutane legally if you don't even have acne. Even if you did get it, you might have to take more than you expect for it to work, and your oil will probably return after you stop taking it. It will work while you're on it, but it isn't a permanent solution for oily skin.

I wasn't purposely avoiding the sun, I just never wanted to go outside. But now I'm making myself go outside for some vitamin d and sunlight.

Week 24:

I started going outside this week to get some vitamin D from the sun as well. So from the accutane, vitamin D3 supplements, and sunlight, my acne looks great. I'm getting like 1 tiny pimple per day. I don't even care about acne right now. The sun might just be helping by slightly burning and drying my skin though, not necessarily from the vitamin D. I don't stay outside long enough to get a sunburn, but I can feel my skin a little dehydrated after being outside. My oil might be a little better, but like I said before, it's hard to tell with this kind of thing. It's definitely not as good as when I was on 40mg of accutane. But my hair isn't very oily 24 hours after a shower, so it looks like it's helping a little.

I'm not really getting any side effects from the accutane anymore except peeling lips. I did start getting some stomachaches, so I stopped taking vitamin D3 today to see if they stop. When they do stop I will resume taking the vitamin D3, but I don't know how much I will use.

Yea all acne products are scams. They don't cure anything, they just "treat" acne or oil. Meaning they never get rid of it.

I don't know much about hormonal imbalances, but we don't necessarily have more androgens than other people. We could just have sebaceous glands that are more sensitive to androgens, which is the part genetics would play. Lately I have been thinking that we could have an imbalance in not only hormones, but anything that binds to the sebaceous glands, such as retinoic acid(accutane, vitamin a). In my mind I have separated everything that binds to the sebaceous glands into two categories: androgens, which increase oil, and everything else, which decreases oil. Both categories bind to the sebaceous glands, but if one category overpowers the other, due to a deficiency, an excess, or both, you will get either dry or oily skin.

Women can safely take birth control, spironolactone, saw palmetto, or any other antiandrogen. I never heard of black cohosh or chasteberry, but I wouldn't bother trying either of those or saw palmetto. I don't think those natural antiandrogens are strong enough to work well. You might want to look into spiro. If I was a girl I probably would have tried it already.

Sugar can cause oily skin by increasing IGF-1, which also binds to the sebaceous glands and causes them to grow and produce more oil. I personally have not had any reduction in oil since stopping sugary, high glycemic load food, but others have. Even if it doesn't decrease your oil, you should still stop drinking soda and things like that just because they are so bad for you.

I'm all for experimenting with ways to reduce oil, but as a man I don't want to reduce my androgens, so right now I'm trying to increase the "everything else" category instead. I'll be interested in seeing your results though, and anyone else trying something for oil too.

Week 23:

Acne, oil, and blackheads are all the same as last week. So are side effects. There still seems to be only a short term effect from the accutane, and no long term effect.

Still taking 20,000iu vitamin D3, but I haven't noticed any improvement yet.