Hi Heather! You're adorable, and jeez you have the greatest eyelashes! your skin looks really good, and i dont think your scars look bad at all! By the time you finish accutane i think your skin will pretty much look flawless..I wish i could do a good job with face make up, but i dont ..always looks like im trying to cover something up, which i am, lol..but wow your makeup looks great!!

 

Heyyy aww thankyou haha, yeah my eyelashes are my favourite feature lol. The scars don't look as bad as they are in the pics, you can only really see the redness but theres proper rolling scars and boxcar things in there, but I'm starting to feel abit better about them ahh the make-up thing really is just yeeears of trial and error1 and i mean years lol. i think this is the first time ive actually been happy with my make-up routine. what make-up do you use if u dont mind me asking? x

 

hi heather as of late, i've been using a tinted moisturizer called intellishade, i got it at the derms office...i actually dont wear face makeup all that much, just doesnt look natural on me..im pale and have the redness that goes along with being pale, i tend to get red on the cheek area but near the nose, not the outer cheeks, so if i just put some blush on it kind of evens everything out, lol...but i hate when i get cysts, i would love to cover them, but i havent found any makeup that does it well for me, and it seems if i do try, the makeup comes off the dam cyst and nowhere else! hopefully i wont even need to worry about this soon I hope you have a fantastic time on your trip! xo

Hi Heather! You're adorable, and jeez you have the greatest eyelashes! your skin looks really good, and i dont think your scars look bad at all! By the time you finish accutane i think your skin will pretty much look flawless..I wish i could do a good job with face make up, but i dont ..always looks like im trying to cover something up, which i am, lol..but wow your makeup looks great!!

 

Heyyy aww thankyou haha, yeah my eyelashes are my favourite feature lol. The scars don't look as bad as they are in the pics, you can only really see the redness but theres proper rolling scars and boxcar things in there, but I'm starting to feel abit better about them ahh the make-up thing really is just yeeears of trial and error1 and i mean years lol. i think this is the first time ive actually been happy with my make-up routine. what make-up do you use if u dont mind me asking? x

 

hi heather as of late, i've been using a tinted moisturizer called intellishade, i got it at the derms office...i actually dont wear face makeup all that much, just doesnt look natural on me..im pale and have the redness that goes along with being pale, i tend to get red on the cheek area but near the nose, not the outer cheeks, so if i just put some blush on it kind of evens everything out, lol...but i hate when i get cysts, i would love to cover them, but i havent found any makeup that does it well for me, and it seems if i do try, the makeup comes off the dam cyst and nowhere else! hopefully i wont even need to worry about this soon I hope you have a fantastic time on your trip! xo

 

ahhh right, well that can only be a good thing! letting the cysts breathe! i can't help myself when it comes to make-up i NEED to put it on if im going out. thankyooou im so excited but a bit in panic mode because ive not started packing yet lol! done all my online check-in stuff tho bought some nice new shoes n stuff yesterday woke up today n popped the painful thing on my cheek, then applied some BP so hopefully its gone down by tomorrow! pleeeease have gone down! the ones on my chin are healing but the one that popped up the other day is still sore and getting bigger im just ignoring it! so looking forward to going away and relaxing x

Hi Heather! You're adorable, and jeez you have the greatest eyelashes! your skin looks really good, and i dont think your scars look bad at all! By the time you finish accutane i think your skin will pretty much look flawless..I wish i could do a good job with face make up, but i dont ..always looks like im trying to cover something up, which i am, lol..but wow your makeup looks great!!

 

Heyyy aww thankyou haha, yeah my eyelashes are my favourite feature lol. The scars don't look as bad as they are in the pics, you can only really see the redness but theres proper rolling scars and boxcar things in there, but I'm starting to feel abit better about them ahh the make-up thing really is just yeeears of trial and error1 and i mean years lol. i think this is the first time ive actually been happy with my make-up routine. what make-up do you use if u dont mind me asking? x

 

hi heather as of late, i've been using a tinted moisturizer called intellishade, i got it at the derms office...i actually dont wear face makeup all that much, just doesnt look natural on me..im pale and have the redness that goes along with being pale, i tend to get red on the cheek area but near the nose, not the outer cheeks, so if i just put some blush on it kind of evens everything out, lol...but i hate when i get cysts, i would love to cover them, but i havent found any makeup that does it well for me, and it seems if i do try, the makeup comes off the dam cyst and nowhere else! hopefully i wont even need to worry about this soon I hope you have a fantastic time on your trip! xo

 

ahhh right, well that can only be a good thing! letting the cysts breathe! i can't help myself when it comes to make-up i NEED to put it on if im going out. thankyooou im so excited but a bit in panic mode because ive not started packing yet lol! done all my online check-in stuff tho bought some nice new shoes n stuff yesterday woke up today n popped the painful thing on my cheek, then applied some BP so hopefully its gone down by tomorrow! pleeeease have gone down! the ones on my chin are healing but the one that popped up the other day is still sore and getting bigger im just ignoring it! so looking forward to going away and relaxing x

 

i'm so excited for you! ive noticed on vacation i dont obsess so much about my skin, i'm too busy having fun..its so nice to forget about my skin and just relax and have fun! Although i do miss my bathroom when im on vacation..i'm so used to my mirrors and set up, lol...I always come home and basically go straight in there to see whats happening on my face bc i dont pay all that much attention to it while im away...last week when i came home, i frkn had a big ol whitehead on my chin ..was like uggghhhh..how long was that pretty thing sittin there for..i was yapping to woman next to me on plane..must have been there then...yuck!

i'm so excited for you! ive noticed on vacation i dont obsess so much about my skin, i'm too busy having fun..its so nice to forget about my skin and just relax and have fun! Although i do miss my bathroom when im on vacation..i'm so used to my mirrors and set up, lol...I always come home and basically go straight in there to see whats happening on my face bc i dont pay all that much attention to it while im away...last week when i came home, i frkn had a big ol whitehead on my chin ..was like uggghhhh..how long was that pretty thing sittin there for..i was yapping to woman next to me on plane..must have been there then...yuck!

 

awwkk i wish i could be like you! i obsess even more when im away, but i suppse it wont be too warm in holland, so i wont be like ahhh my makeup is meltingggg! hahaha thats happened to me so many times, whiteheads are such assholes! i don;t have any at them moment, just some sore lumps n bumps but ive been taking the penecillin so im hoping there will be some improvement by tomorrow! ahhh so excited this is the first time me and my sister have went away just the 2 of us can't wait! x

Day 61.

Feeling alot better about my skin today. Even though I still have a fair few bumps on my face. I managed to pop them all quite easily and they seem to be healing, fingers crossed! I'm soo excited about going to Holland tomorrow! I had a nightmare last night that I forgot my make-up hahaha! Oh god please no.

I've been doing alot more exercise recently, and I can totally feel it afterwards, accutane really does mess with your muscles/joints! I don't seem to be getting as much fatigue anymore so that's a plus! Getting really into this indoor climbing last night was my third time in just over a week and I'm getting better and stronger already

Had a really bad day yesterday with worry about my skin but I've started to see past it and just be excited

Hope everyone is having happy skin times

I think your skin looks great! If mine looked like that, I would be TOTALLY PSYCHED!! But hey, it doesn't matter what other's think about your skin really, I know you just want it to be over and you want to feel good when you look in the mirrow. I get that! My sking is not budging yet. Not at all. It's hard to stay positive but trust me, you look sooo good. You are super cute and a couple bumps don't take away from your general cuteness! It's a long, bumpy road but we will all get there

Hang in there and keep on, keepin' on...

I think your skin looks great! If mine looked like that, I would be TOTALLY PSYCHED!! But hey, it doesn't matter what other's think about your skin really, I know you just want it to be over and you want to feel good when you look in the mirrow. I get that! My sking is not budging yet. Not at all. It's hard to stay positive but trust me, you look sooo good. You are super cute and a couple bumps don't take away from your general cuteness! It's a long, bumpy road but we will all get there

Hang in there and keep on, keepin' on...

 

Aaww thankyou I know what you mean, I feel vain in a way by posting on this log and taking accutane, but that's not the case at all, I'm so insecure. My acne used to be REALLY bad, and it wasn't until a few months before I requested accutane that it actually cleared up. I started taking yasmin the bc pill and it cleared my skin for quite a while but then it came back all of a sudden. This was when I had a derm appointment booked to see about getting rid of the scarring. The scarring is what really got to me, you can't see how bad the scarring is at all in those pics, it's really ugly. But about 2 days before my derm appointment I came out in a HUGE cyst right on top of my scarring. It was so sore I couldn't sleep sometimes and I cried and cried because I knew the scarring would again be worse. So that's why I asked for accutane, I wish I;d done this years ago when my acne was it's worst but I thought it was just a teenager thing and it would go away. The yasmin really helped but my body got too used to it.

Thank you so much btw. You've made me feel really good I guess 8 years of getting cysts that cause permanent scarring has just made me fed up with it. I get one and it goes away and I think that must be the last one, but it never is. And I'm sorry you've not had any positive changes yet, I remember when my acne was at its worst (cysts joining together and getting infected) I just didn't want to leave the house and I would cry with the pain, so I really feel for you. I know my skin might not be like that just now but I know what it's like. It's so unfair but you will get there and be in a happier place thank god for accutane!

Day 63.

We're in Holland woooo hotel is so lovely and we got the Hong Kong room (every room is themed to a different city). Lighting in the room isn't too bad but I can see my redness sooo much more, ach I'm just ignoring it. It's so relaxing and peaceful here, I'm loving it, really needed a change of scenery for a while.

Anyway, I'm off to walk my sister to her flying skills test, hope everyone has a great day

Day 63.

We're in Holland woooo hotel is so lovely and we got the Hong Kong room (every room is themed to a different city). Lighting in the room isn't too bad but I can see my redness sooo much more, ach I'm just ignoring it. It's so relaxing and peaceful here, I'm loving it, really needed a change of scenery for a while.

Anyway, I'm off to walk my sister to her flying skills test, hope everyone has a great day

 

hi heather! soo happy you're having a great time..the hotel sounds great, i love that, themed rooms! relax and have fun! xo

Day 64.

Jeez is it only a day since I last posted? Feels like longer!

We arrived in Amsterdam today and are having so much fun! Apart from my face, it continues to break out! 2 huge mofos popped up literally last night on my forehead, and more on my chin. Grrrr. One side of my mouth is starting to crack and my face is SOOO TIGHT when i wipe my make-up off. It looks like theres a thin layer of cling-film over the top of it, weeeird! Have a bunch of mosquio bites now too, so not lookin too attractive haha. Can't help but get really self conscious when I'm walking about outside. Although there is an upside, the lighting in the bathroom is very kind and I'm so happy about that lol

Day 67.

Got home yesterday but omg I had such a BLAST in Amsterdam. I did drink a fair whack of cocktails but I still stand by my statement that the hangovers don't seem to last as long since I've been taking accutane.

I was really looking forward to the so-called "amazing 3rd month" where your supposed to start clearing up but it was the total opposite for me. I broke out quite bad while away but I've woke up today and things seem to be healing, so perhaps things are now turning a corner. Red marks are starting to annoy me, they won't budge, and theres so many big ones. You can't really see them in photos because the lighting isn't too bright in my flat and I don't dare to take photos in natural lighting haha.

Day 69.

Everything seems to be healing recently apart from a new active next to my lip, but that's fine. My skin is alot drier now too and on my foreheads theres a whole bunch of clogged pores but they're easily covered! It feels like time is slowing down now in terms of the accutane journey. Still 70 odd days to go, wow I'm not even half way yet! I'm reeeeally hoping my skin is OK for when I start uni in just under 2 weeks. Fingers crossed!

And OH MY GOD my face was soooo red when I got up this morning, thought I was trippin!!

hi heather, im so glad you had great time in amsterdam! i have 2 verrry annoying clogged pores on my forehead too ..im only on day 25..cant believe i have 125 more days ..ughhh..feels like time has stopped! i'll be going through all the holidays on accutane, including new years! shld be done beginning of january sometime so will be a great way to bring in the new year...but jeez it does seem a lifetime away!

hi heather, im so glad you had great time in amsterdam! i have 2 verrry annoying clogged pores on my forehead too ..im only on day 25..cant believe i have 125 more days ..ughhh..feels like time has stopped! i'll be going through all the holidays on accutane, including new years! shld be done beginning of january sometime so will be a great way to bring in the new year...but jeez it does seem a lifetime away!

 

aww thankyou after a couple of drinks i managed to just completely forget about my skin! the blocked pores are so annoying! ive tried squeezing them but nothing, so im just gunna leave em alone. i have about 8 of them on my forehead haha but u can;t see them with makeup on so its fine!

yeah that'll be a fab way to bring in the new year it does seem like so long doesn't it! when you think 5 months, it sounds ok but when u put it into days it's like aaahhh so long! i'm decorating my sisters bedroom for her this week, just started it today! gotta do painting, wallpapering and laminating the floor, the works! im hoping my back holds out! x

hi heather!..hope all is going well, and hope you're having a good time decorating..hope to hear from you soon!

Well I started yesterday..............argh its exciting!!! x

hi heather!..hope all is going well, and hope you're having a good time decorating..hope to hear from you soon!

 

hey lisa! yeah all is going well thanks the decorating went extremely well and my sisters room is looovely now! so glad i got it over and done with skin-wise everything is pretty good, no new actives for a few days now although i woke up this morning with a clogged bump under the skin on my chin, but its not sore or anything so im holding out hope it doesnt turn into anything horrible! im getting a well deserved drink tonight with my cousin that ive not seen in nearly a year. i always felt so self conscious when i seen her cause she has lovely skin and i didnt. she wouldn;t have care but we hadn't seen eachother for years and the last time i had seen her my skin was fine. i hate how acne stops you from doing normal things and seeing people you care about! we're going to a roller disco tonight haha, should be fun, then hitting the town. i have no idea what day im on with my accutane course, have kinda gotten to the point where ive gave up tracking it, hence why ive not been on here. not really had a lot to post about. i suppose thats a good thing! i start uni on monday too, ahhh excited but nervous at the same time! the scarring on my face is starting to annoy me again because i have no actives to concentrate on now. but my doctor gave me beta blockers to help with the anxiety on my first day at uni. how have u been getting on? just read your blog there, the lip zits are painful ive been lucky enough to not get any of those....yet!

Well I started yesterday..............argh its exciting!!! x

 

yey thats great! keep us posted on how your getting on! x

Day 82.

Wow, had to sit and double check my other posts to count what day I was on as I didn't think I was as far on as I am! Wooo! Lamost half way there, I think? Maybe more.

Not really much to update skin-wise, I only have one active but without make-up it looks worse causa red marks n scars, can't wait to finish accutane so these red marks can fade! It's mainly side effects I wanna update on. I'm am getting verrrry tired pretty much all the time recently, and the joint n muscle aches are getting worse. If I sit in strange positions I hvae to hobble for a while til the pain goes away, mainly when I sit on my knees and stand up, its quite uncomfortable but bareable. It was my first day of uni today and it went really well, managed to get talking to a couple of people that are in the same classes to me so that's half the battle really! I noticed my eyes getting sooo dry when I was sitting listening to the guy doing my induction. It's the first time I've experienced the dry eye thing since beginning this course and it was weeeird!! Think I've been coming down with a bit of a cold as well, throat is really tickly when I'm trying to sleep but that might be the accutane drying out my throat. Oh joys!

Apart from acne/accutane/scars/red marks etc my life has kinda turned a corner it seems recently. I'm progressing in work and really enjoying it and I'm so glad to finally start university! That was one long summer!

Day 85.

2 days til my next derm appointment and then month 4 begins! Wooo! I'm sure I don't need to get a blood test this time, here's hoping anyway! Slightly breaking out on my forhead the past coupla days, that might just be stress due to uni beginning though. Yesterday I started getting a sore throat and today it's much worse I think this may be due to my mouth/throat getting reaaaally dry when I'm trying to sleep at night recently, it's horrible.

I bought kelo-cote advanced scar repair treatment a while ago, and I've started applying it to my scars at night time before I moisturise. I've read loads of good reviews about this stuff so fingers crossed!

Day 90.

My derm appointment was supposed to be on Friday just passed but I COMPLETELY FORGOT!! Arrgghhh! I had such a mad week with starting uni and my boyfriend broke his ankle so I've been running about after him!! Today was the first chance I got to phone to reschedule and the soonest appointment I could get was the 5th of October! What a bummer. I have 200mg of accutane left, all of my derm appointments have been less than 30 days apart so I have extra. So I'm now going to have to take 20mg a day until the appointment. Tbh I'm actually not too fussed about this because the side effects have been really getting to me recently. I was soooo UNBELIEVABLY tired all day yesterday, my lips are coming out in random lumps and bumps (they're not coldsores) and they're coming and going after a couple of days, and my whole body is aching anytime I do anything. I can't even sit in the sae position for ten minutes without standing up and having to hobble about for a few minutes. The lips are the most bothersome though, they're getting really painful. The palms of my hands have been peeling too, as if there has been blisters on them that burst, but I didn't actually have any blisters. I just noticed today, too, that the skin inbetween my toes is peeling quite bad too.

Ahhhhh, ONLY 2 MONTHS TO GO!!! Well....2 months and ten days now.

Ohh...and does anyone know how to change ur log name? I realised mines says "Just started Accutane" when infact I started 3 months ago...

What would have been day 95.

So I stopped taking my accutane pills on Thursday just passed. My lips came out in TONES of small blisters which conveniently got worse the day of a wedding reception I attended on Friday. I spoke to NHS 24 the night before and they mentioned something about alergies. This made me panic as I had just thought it was my lips going haywire from the dryness. The next day I phoned my derm who said it was very unlikely that it was an allergic reaction to the accutane and that it must be coldsores. He told me to go buy Zafirax cream for my lips and said I didn't need to stop taking the accutane if I didn't want to.

So I went to the pharmacy and told the pharmacist what had happened and she said that I should go straight to my doctor because of how acute and extensive the damage was to my lips. So I paniced again and went to the doctor. Managed to get an appointment. He took a swab of my lips and agreed that it was coldsores and prescribed me oral medication for the cold sore virus. I've never had a coldsore in my life.

It turns out these were definately an allergic reaction to something because I stopped using the lip balm I had been using and by the end of the Friday night my lips were completely fine again. I'm thinking it must be the lip balm because coldsores don't go away that quickly!! I seriously looked like Pete Burns in the morning and by the evening I was completely normal again.

I don't believe it to be the accutane that caused this, though I am keeping off it until my derm appointment on Friday. I had been alternating between 4 different types of lip balm for a few days and I believe this is what has irritated my lips. On the Friday I switched straight back to my old lip balm and all has been good since. It really was quite a horrible experience, it was so sore to eat and I looked bloody awful! Can laugh now though. From now on, if I buy new lip balms I'm going to try them all once at a time!! Because that was scary.

Day - I have no idea!!

After the blisters cleared on my lips, they stayed away. They left loads of dead skin on my lips which was extremely easy to peel off and ever since then my lips haven't been anywehre near as dry as they had been! No cracks in the corners or anthing, lovely! Have been sticking to my normal lipbalm and everythings been fine. Started taking accutane again 3 days ago, a lower dose just to be safe. Had my derm appointment today and it was a nurse that took my appointment. Didn't have to have blood work done, YAY! And she said I will only be on accutane for another month. Strange because the derm had said I would be on it for 5 months, not 4. Will wait and see. She says I should come to my next appointment with no makeup on so they can see the progress. I really don't want to I've still not left the house without makeup on because of the scarring. Hmmmm!

Hey guys, it has been almost a month since I completed my accutane course, albeit they cut it by one month. The first few derm appointments I had were with an actual dermatologist and they said I would be on tane for 5 months. Then for the last couple of appointments I was seen by an 'acutane nurse'. They told me no it is 16 weeks bug hey ho I'm not complaining, my skin is clear, just a few blackheads left. Glad to finally be off it, even though my journey wasn't much to complain about, I am looking forward to being able to exercise and not be sore for ages afterwards. Oh and ofcourse, my akin not being DRY!!!

Today I am going to do something I haven't done in years, and go out in public without make-up. I'm going to the hospital with some powder on but I'm going to take it off once I'm in the office.

The reason I first got a derm appointment was due to acne scarring, not red marks or pigmentation but proper scarring. I mentioned this to the 'accutane nurses' at my most recent appointments and they played dumb as if they couldn't see anything. I did have make-up on but I wear amke-up everyday and have to deal with peoples eyes darting about my face at the indents and rolling scars on my cheeks and forehead. The GP that originally referred me to the derm took a light to my face and said the scarring is quite severe and no cream will help it, that only surgical options will do the trick. I think the NHS are at it trying to save money. First by replacing the actual dermatologists with nurses and now trying to say my scarring is non existant. Maybe the lighting in the office is really good!!! I don't think so.

So I will take my make-up off and show them my skin, and let them feel the bumps. If they still play dumb then I'll go back to my GP in a years time (when the skin is recovered enough from tane to have work done on it) and get him to re-assess my situation. I'm convinced they know I will need lazer resurfacing and don't want the expense. It's a shame because they have no idea how much this scarring affects my day to day life.

I don't want to have to end up going to a private clinic who are just after my money.

If I can get a picture of the scarring in an area of good lighting I will post them soon.

Also, if there is anyone new to accutane that have any questions please send me a message, I like helping people and giving advice