YAY!
I'm happy for you bro!!!!!
Thanks mate.
Good luck! I'm glad you're not experiencing a horrible IB! I'm on day 61, I have a log but I post on Kaydon's and BeautifulDisasters all the time for my progress, in case you would like to look into other peoples. This course will have its ups and downs, but just remember that clear skin is ahead! We're all here for you if you need to talk or have any questions!
Thanks. Yeah I had read your blog before I started, plus both Kaydon's and BeautifulDisasters. All I can say is youse have some random converstions lol. I also like reading other peoples logs. It's so good seeing every bodies improvements, and if someone's having trouble it's good just to show them some support. I'll have to look at your log, haven't check in a while.
Day Twenty-four
My chest and right shoulder have flared up heaps in the past couple of days. Thankfully late in this arfternoon my shoulder has calmed down and gone more flakey than inflamed. Face has flared up in just a few spots, compared to the impoved I had about a week ago. Light is a bit bright in the pictures, but it's a sunny day and all the rooms in my house are full of sunshine or shades. Included a picture of my right shoulder, haven't got the nerve to show my chest.
Day 36
So the last twenty-four fours have been a rollercoaster. It Started off with my derm telling me that I have to do another two months at twenty mgs/day, before I can go up to 40 mgs/day. This is due to the fact he thinks I will breakout horribly and that my scarring would get worse. I am choosing to look at this as at least my derm cares enough to change his original plan, rather than the depressing option of my course is now looking like lasting nine to ten months. Effectively that will be a year without really drinking, martial arts, and no paintball for any of my mates birthdays, but the potential positives outweigh those negatives. Also he told me I now have eczema, damn my genes for making me genetically inclined to get eczema (due to me having hayfever).
So now to the good news. I have just seen the results for my last session of uni, and my premonitions of failings were well off. I got a distinction (75%), for a 200 level English subject, and a credit (67%), for my 300 level English subject (one of the three I have to pass to eligible to complete my degree). The other bit of good news is that I went to Carrie Underwood's concert last night. She is one of the best live acts that I have ever seen, but probably won't mean anything to anyone who doesn't listen to country music or live in the US.
Day 47
I haven't updated this for a little bit, due to just being busy and I had a holiday in the mix. Well my face broke out, during the holiday, with heaps of cystic acne, three of them covered about a square inch on my face. Thankfully they only lasted for about a week. So now I have cystic acne, though not quite as bad, and nowhere near as many. Some of the other side effects include my throat being dry, lips get extremely dry and flake if I don't moisturise them a few times a day, dry skin (arms and hands) and little spots of eczema forming on my arms. To anyone who reads this, I hope your treatment is going well.
Day 81
Well I haven't posted on here for a while, so here's an update. My acne is pretty calm, just the odd cystic acne on my body, neck and face. Hopefully it has improved enough for my dose to get increased to 40mgs in just under two weeks time. My eczema flared up a few times from my last post, but not too bad. Beside that I have really dry skin and lips, no surprise with either of those. Hope everyone's treatment is going well 
Day 92
I had an appointment with my derm yesterday, the result of it is my dose has double to 40mg/day. He said the length of my course would be another 8 months, taking my total time of Oratane to 11 months come June of next year. Obviously being my first day, on the higher dose, there is nothing to comment on.
Good luck mate glad to see a fellow nsw person here as well.Also taking oratane but on a higher dose and btw what products do you use ? Sunscreen,moisturiser and lip balm wise?Hard to find good product in Australia
Hello fellow NSW person, the products I am using are-
Avene- Skin recovery skin, extremely gentle cleanser (both are for my face)
QV- Gentle wash, skin lotion (both are for my body)
Lansinoh a nipple cream that I use for my lips, just try using before you go out in public. It gives my lips a slight glazed look, which doesn't bother me, but I thought I should mention it.
Neutrogena Ultra Sheer dry-touch sunscreen lotion spf 30+, my derm said that some sunscreens can actually increase the acceptability to cancer(while on Oratane only).
Good luck with you treatment mate
hey man, i am happy you are seeing improvements.
I have VERY SIMILAR body acne to you, except i also have it on my mid back and lower back, and upper shoulders.
Did any of your acne scars on your shoulders (like raised bump type scars)? Did you pick at any of them?
Also, did you ever take oral antibiotics before taking accutane?
thanks
I have VERY SIMILAR body acne to you, except i also have it on my mid back and lower back, and upper shoulders.
Did any of your acne scars on your shoulders (like raised bump type scars)? Did you pick at any of them?
Also, did you ever take oral antibiotics before taking accutane?
I was told to never pick at any of my acne while on Oratane/Accutane. As for scarring on my shoulder I can't see any, than again it isn't in a spot that's easy to see (I guess if there's scarring it would be minimal).
I used doxycycline for around nine years. I also used it in combination with every type of toner, fash wash, mask, medical creams etc. So any questions on long those lines feel free to ask.
I have just look at some of the question you posted in regards to body acne and accutane, and will try and answer them.
For body acne I didn't even have the nerve to put the picture up for my chest and other areas that I choose not to show in public. My chest was a hell of a lot worse than my shoulder, but now I only have one real spot of acne of my chest (none on my stomach). My inner thigh, hamstrings and backside are calmer than they've been since maybe primary school. And as you've seen in my log I have both facial and body acne.
As mention above I used doxycyline in combination with other acne products/medicines and well I was never acne free. One of my mates older brothers had serve acne and accutane cured him, he hasn't had any acne since his treatment. I can also support this through my of my football (soccer) teammates having the same results. So far I have nothing to complain about with my treatment. The only side-effects I have are dried lips/skin, fatigue and I am more easily distracted at uni (perfectly fine with sport though). As for how you asked about the thinning of the skin, well I think I have always had pretty thick skin and haven't noticed a difference. I also did muay thai training with the intent to compete in a semi-contact fight. I never notice any weakness in my skin.
Good luck with your decisions around your acne and ask me any questions, whether now or even a month or two down the track.
Ps- I just had a massive acne on my back, about an 3cm wide and 2.5cm high, but that's the extent of my back acne on accutane really (beside tiny superficial stuff at the beginning).
I'm happy and courageous to see your improvements. Thanks for the link bro. I'm on 20mg/day and it is only my 4th day. My derma hasn't prescribed me any topical treatment.
Mate you don't want to use topical treatments while on accutane. The medication is harsh enough on its own. This isn't just my view only, my derm said you can't/shouldn't use them. You should not even use acne face cleaners and toners. If you want to use a face wash and moisturiser use a general cleaner type like Aveene or QV (depending if they're in your country) or similar products of your choose.
dood, have you ever wondered why the reason you still have acne? It is because you were on doxycycline for NINE years.
I bet you had very minimum body acne prior to doxy, am i right?
Actually I had a reasonable amount of body acne before I went on doxycycline, plus I had acne for five years before (ages 8-12). Also whenever I was off doxycycline my acne got a lot worse. The reason my acne was controlled, compared to what it could have been, was due to doxycycline. I never had any reactions to the tablets. Apparently my dad had bad acne as well, though not quite to my extent. As an after thought I was off doxycycline for a while when I used the gel version of Accutane. But thanks for suggesting it though.
hmm. Did you take any antibiotics prior to doxy?
Also, did your acne return to its original severity once stopping the doxy?
In regards to the antibiotics I honestly can't remember mate, it was too long ago.
The last time I had stopped taking doxycycline was about two-and-a-half years ago, from what I can remember it did return to its original severity. I have no pictures to say it returned to the same severity or worse.
do you remember how long it took for your acne to come back?
I think within a week or two. It never completely cleared me though, just calmed it down.
jamie, what about weight loss/gain?
Mate my weight has been pretty stable, give or take a kilogram. I haven't changed my diet and I haven't done as much physical activity as pre-Accutane, just thought I'd mention that so my answer can be viewed in the right context.
Day 179
Sorry about the image quality and lighting. For some reason I had to compress my images, never had to do that previously on here (usually does it automatically). Nothing else to really comment on. Still a bit fatigued, but a lot less stressed since I have a two week break from uni.
Shoulder as of 21st of June
Shoulder as of yesterday. There's a few spots of acne on each shoulder, that don't show up in the light/camera angle, but considering that I can say that shows how much they have improved.
Chest as of 21st of June and now
