Week 10:
Acne got worse. Could be from the slight increase in dosage or just because my diet hasn't been the greatest recently. Oil and blackheads are the same as they've been for weeks.
I'm feeling a little more tired than usual, and I have some stiffness in my knees. There's no joint pain, just less flexibility. My dry skin on my arms and peeling lips haven't gotten any worse. I'm actually getting better at dealing with my lips. I just rub off the peeling skin with water after I wash my face, and they don't have to peel again until the next time I wash.
Starting today I'm taking 40mg every day, since I have enough pills to take that much until my appointment. I know I've been taking it a long time without much results, but now that I'm on 40mg and getting more of the normal accutane side effects, I think it should start to really work soon.
Week 11:
I don't want to jinx it, but I think I'm improving now. My acne has been fluctuating this week, but right now it looks pretty good. I haven't broken out in a few days, and if this continues I will look pretty good by next week. My blackheads are the same as last week.
My face feels less oily, but it's still really shiny. I'm kind of confused by how shiny it is compared to how much oil there is. If I wipe my finger across my face when I haven't washed for hours, I barely get any oil on my finger. But my face is still really shiny all the time, even the second after I wash it. I don't know if it's because I use gentle cleansers, or if it's just my skin.
As for side effects, the dry skin on my arms and ears actually got better, and I don't have to moisturize them anymore. I'm still managing my lips okay, and I still get tired easier. My knees are still stiff, but there's no pain, and it's not affecting my workouts at all. The only new side effect is my eyes are slightly dry now. It's not bad at all, just dry enough to notice.
I'm feeling pretty good about my face right now, and I hope the improvement continues. I think I should have just started at 40mg from the beginning.
My face feels less oily, but it's still really shiny. I'm kind of confused by how shiny it is compared to how much oil there is. If I wipe my finger across my face when I haven't washed for hours, I barely get any oil on my finger. But my face is still really shiny all the time, even the second after I wash it. I don't know if it's because I use gentle cleansers, or if it's just my skin.
I noticed the same thing when I took Accutane. I had always assumed that my skin was shiny because it was covered in oil, but when my oil production stopped after starting Accutane, my skin was still shiny. I don't know if you exfoliate much, but in my case I suspected that it could be from over-exfoliation. Either way, it's a frustrating thing to discover.
I noticed the same thing when I took Accutane. I had always assumed that my skin was shiny because it was covered in oil, but when my oil production stopped after starting Accutane, my skin was still shiny. I don't know if you exfoliate much, but in my case I suspected that it could be from over-exfoliation. Either way, it's a frustrating thing to discover.
Yeah, I always assumed that also. I looked it up and the shininess seems to be caused by dehydrated and over-exfoliated skin, as you mentioned. I don't exfoliate on purpose, but I am using bp while on accutane, so that is really drying and exfoliating as a side effect. It looks like it's time to stop using bp and see if the shininess reduces. Did your shininess ever go away?
Yeah, I always assumed that also. I looked it up and the shininess seems to be caused by dehydrated and over-exfoliated skin, as you mentioned. I don't exfoliate on purpose, but I am using bp while on accutane, so that is really drying and exfoliating as a side effect. It looks like it's time to stop using bp and see if the shininess reduces. Did your shininess ever go away?
My skin does seem less shiny (when it's not oily) after stopping the Accutane, which makes me wonder if the medication was thinning out my skin. I still exfoliate because I get this weird, thin buildup of film on my skin that I can't help but rub off, so I still do have some shininess. Honestly I just used mattifying products to reduce the shine like Monistat Chafing Gel, Clarins Instant Smooth, and Milk of Magnesia.
Week 12:
I broke out a few days ago, but then it stopped again. So my acne isn't done yet, but it looks pretty good and I can tell it's getting better. My blackheads haven't improved much, maybe a little. I think I'll use blackheads to judge how much oil I have, since my skin is always shiny.
I don't know if my oil improved any more than it did last week. My skin is kind of dry and flaky in some places, but I can still feel a little bit of oil.
Side effects aren't bad. I'm managing my lips just fine, and I never really have to moisturize anything except my lips. I still get tired easily and have some knee stiffness, but it's not bad at all.
At the beginning of the week I finally stopped bp. My skin started to burn a little after using it, so it was time to stop. I'm pretty sure the accutane can replace it and keep preventing the acne. Now the only thing I use on my face is the cetaphil gentle cleanser.
Week 13:
I still get some pimples, but I'm getting less than I did a few weeks ago. My blackheads are not getting any better though.
I think my oil stopped decreasing again. I seems like it decreases right after I increase my accutane dose, but it doesn't decrease over time. I'm not going any higher than 40mg, so I just have to hope it gets rid of the rest of the oil soon.
My dry arms and peeling lips are doing fine. I'm getting a some shoulder stiffness as well as the knee stiffness. I was hoping to at least get rid of the oil without it affecting my joints. The accutane might start affecting my workouts soon.
I got bloodwork done and now my arm has a bruise right next to where they took the blood. I looked it up and it seems pretty common and harmless, but just really annoying. I'll try to put a lot of pressure on my other arm the next time I get bloodwork done so it doesn't happen again.
Week 13:
I still get some pimples, but I'm getting less than I did a few weeks ago. My blackheads are not getting any better though.
I think my oil stopped decreasing again. I seems like it decreases right after I increase my accutane dose, but it doesn't decrease over time. I'm not going any higher than 40mg, so I just have to hope it gets rid of the rest of the oil soon.
My dry arms and peeling lips are doing fine. I'm getting a some shoulder stiffness as well as the knee stiffness. I was hoping to at least get rid of the oil without it affecting my joints. The accutane might start affecting my workouts soon.
I got bloodwork done and now my arm has a bruise right next to where they took the blood. I looked it up and it seems pretty common and harmless, but just really annoying. I'll try to put a lot of pressure on my other arm the next time I get bloodwork done so it doesn't happen again.How
How would putting pressure on your other harm prevent a bruise??
I was wondering how I had some discoloration on my left harm and it is because of the blood test! I think it is a healing bruise
I don't really think that bruising is anything you can really prevent, it's from how the nurse/assistant put the needle in the vein. An experienced nurse will be able to usually get it in good on the first try without rupturing the vein and causing any other trauma. But if you got a rookie they might have made a mess of the vein, which causes bruising.
Source: Personal experience and a family of doctors and RNs lol
I thought the bruise might be from not putting enough pressure on the vein, and then having some blood leak out under the skin. But yea, it also depends on the nurse. I'll make sure to put more pressure on my vein just in case it helps next time.
How would putting pressure on your other harm prevent a bruise??
I was wondering how I had some discoloration on my left harm and it is because of the blood test! I think it is a healing bruise
I thought the bruise might be from not putting enough pressure on the vein, and then having some blood leak out under the skin. But yea, it also depends on the nurse. I'll make sure to put more pressure on my vein just in case it helps next time.
How would putting pressure on your other harm prevent a bruise??
I was wondering how I had some discoloration on my left harm and it is because of the blood test! I think it is a healing bruise
Is it on your forearm right next to the inside of your elbow? That's where mine is. Right now mine has amorphous purple shapes surrounded by yellow. What colors are yours?
How's your accutane course going? Did it get rid of your oily skin yet?
Oily skin is the last of my worries. I have pretty bad body acne and does not seem to be budging. How about you? Is your skin still oily?
Week 14:
My acne still looks pretty good, although I still get some pimples. Blackheads might be a little better. My oil doesn't look or feel any better than last week. Since I increased to 40mg my oil is down to about 20-30% of what it was before accutane.
Still have dry skin on my arms and peeling lips that I'm managing just fine. My stiff joints don't seem to be getting any worse. One thing that did get worse is my tiredness. It is hard for me to get up in the morning, and if I sit down to study sometimes I'll just fall asleep. But then when I try to sleep at night it takes a long time to fall asleep.
If that gets worse it will affect my grades, so I may have to lower the dosage sometime. I was planning on lowering it anyway, but it hasn't even reduced the oil to a normal level yet. I hoped the accutane would lower my oil to normal without having to take a high dosage for a long time, but I guess that's not going to happen.
That bruise I got from my bloodwork is almost gone. It will last about 9 days total. That was pretty annoying.
Hello mate,
It's a shame Accutane doesn't seem to be working like you wished it had. Hopefully you're one of those people where it only really kicks in after a few months. Don't give up yet.
I'm about to start on a 10 mg/day course for however long I deem it necessary. I too suffer from extremely oily skin and blackheads, no acne luckily.
One thing I'd never do is combine Benzoyl Peroxide and Accutane. I would never use BP to start with. It ruins my skin because it's way too harsh. So I'd be careful about doing it again (I see you've stopped)
Good luck, stay healthy and keep us updated. I truly hope Accutane can solve every problem you want it to.
PS : the bruising can be annoying. The dermatologist who did my bloodwork was pretty bad. I was actually telling him about how the last time I had bloodwork done (for dental surgery), a nurse completely messed it up and left me with three huge bruises. I asked him if this was because I have thin veins, to which he replied the nurse must have been pretty bad and it was all her fault and I shouldn't worry. An hour later I was looking at a huge bruise the dermatologist gave me.. Guess he wasn't very good either.
Week 15:
My acne is looking good. Usually I would pick at my face a little every morning and night, but most of the time there's just nothing to pick at now. I'm getting just a few pimples a week.
I'm still getting blackheads and some oil, though. I thought the accutane was supposed to get rid of the oil first, then acne, but whatever. I'm fine with improvement in either. It doesn't look like my oil is improving, and my skin is still shiny.
Side effects are the same as usual, but I started getting some actual joint pain in my knees. This is probably worsened by my working out with heavy weights all the time. When I was doing squats a few days ago my knees felt like they couldn't handle much more weight, like if I went up 20 more pounds I would have hurt my knees. At first I thought that was unacceptable and I would have to reduce the dosage, but I also want to give the accutane a chance to work. So I'll continue to use 40mg, but I may end up lowering the dose soon.
Week 17:
I've been busy with school, so I forgot to update last week and I almost forgot another week.
My acne is pretty much the same. I get some pimples, but my acne looks pretty good. My oil and blackheads are pretty much the same also. My face is kind of dry even though it is still oily, so I tried using moisturizer on it. I noticed the moisturizer does make my face look a lot more shiny, but it still looks shiny without moisturizer.
I'm still getting the same side effects. I'm feeling pretty tired a lot of the time, but none of the other side effects got worse.
I'm just going to finish the course on 40mg. I know I wanted to do a low dose originally, but even 40mg doesn't get rid of all the oil. And I've been taking 40mg for months now, so I might as well go for the cumulative dose instead of just taking it for a long time like I originally wanted to. Plus I really want to be done with accutane. It's such a hassle having to get bloodwork done every month, go to the dermatologist every month, and get a prescription from the pharmacy with a million birth defect warnings on it every month. When I'm done with accutane, depending on how much I took I may transition to a maintenance dose of vitamin a to try to keep the oil away.
Week 18:
I broke out a little bit but my acne still looks okay. My oil and blackheads are the same.
Same side effects, except now I'm getting the back pain. It doesn't hurt very much, so I'm not worried about it. That's really all I have to say. I think my acne and oil are going to stay the same for the rest of my course.
Week 18:
I broke out a little bit but my acne still looks okay. My oil and blackheads are the same.
Same side effects, except now I'm getting the back pain. It doesn't hurt very much, so I'm not worried about it. That's really all I have to say. I think my acne and oil are going to stay the same for the rest of my course.
Have you ever tried any zinc supplements >30mg ? As far as supplements go for oily skin, they seem to have the highest overall success rate (I'd say 1 in 6 reviews across multiple sites report at least a minor change) with the fewest health risks. I'm still trying to decide my first 3 week test for the summer, and zinc looks like it may be it.
Have you ever tried any zinc supplements >30mg ? As far as supplements go for oily skin, they seem to have the highest overall success rate (I'd say 1 in 6 reviews across multiple sites report at least a minor change) with the fewest health risks. I'm still trying to decide my first 3 week test for the summer, and zinc looks like it may be it.
Yea I've been on zinc gluconate for like 2 years. I started at 100mg for a month or two, then went down to 50mg for a while. Now I'm all the way down to 7.5mg per day. It helps a lot with my inflammation, but it never did anything for my oil.
Have you ever tried any zinc supplements >30mg ? As far as supplements go for oily skin, they seem to have the highest overall success rate (I'd say 1 in 6 reviews across multiple sites report at least a minor change) with the fewest health risks. I'm still trying to decide my first 3 week test for the summer, and zinc looks like it may be it.
Yea I've been on zinc gluconate for like 2 years. I started at 100mg for a month or two, then went down to 50mg for a while. Now I'm all the way down to 7.5mg per day. It helps a lot with my inflammation, but it never did anything for my oil.
You were on 100 mg per day for over a month? That's a lot of zinc man, I'm almost 200 lbs and I wouldn't take more than 50 mg for over a month lol. Good thing you went down in dosage otherwise that wouldv'e caused problems for you.
Bummer it didn't help with the oil though.
Week 19:
Well, I think I've been getting anxiety from the accutane, so I stopped taking it temporarily. It's been a little hard to talk to people for the last few days. When talking to people I would kind of freeze up and wait for them to say something first, instead of saying something myself. It's hard to tell if the accutane was causing this because it was more subtle than it probably appears in my last sentence. I've always been shy, and that happened sometimes anyway before I started taking accutane. Plus I spend a lot of time alone, and I'm sure that doesn't help. So I'm not completely sure that accutane was causing anxiety, but I feel like it was. And I can never be too careful with mental side effects. I can deal with physical side effects, but mental side effects are unacceptable.
My last dose was yesterday morning, so now it is about 36 hours after my last dose. I already feel better in most aspects. My joints feel a lot better, and I don't feel like I have any anxiety right now, but it's hard to tell with something like that. I also got a medium sized pimple, which I haven't gotten in a while. It's almost like I immediately recover from the positive and negative effects of accutane after I stop. I hope the pimple was just a coincidence though, because that would totally suck if I start breaking out a day after stopping accutane.
As long as I keep feeling normal, I'll probably start back up on 20mg in a few days for the rest of my course. I just have to be really careful and make sure I'm not giving myself long term anxiety or anything.
Week 20:
I felt fine since my last post, so I continued taking accutane at 20mg a day a few days ago. Now that I think about it, I think most of the anxiety was just from not talking to people very often, and only a little from accutane. I feel like there's a lot of accutane built up in my body now, and I don't want to hurt my joints or anything else, so I switched back to 20mg.
Everything is pretty much the same. My face gets a few small pimples a week, and looks pretty good. A lot of my oil is gone, but there is still a little too much. I'm still getting blackheads on my nose, but less than when I started accutane.
No new side effects, just the same as before except not as bad, since I'm only on 20mg now.
Week 21:
Acne is the same. My oil and blackheads, however, already got worse again after switching to 20mg. I stopped taking 40mg only 2 weeks ago. I knew my oil glands didn't completely shut down, but it appears they were just barely kept under control as long as I take 40mg. 20mg still helps, but accutane at this dose is not the answer for me. If I go high enough for it to work well, I get too many side effects and I can't take that much for very long. If I go low enough to avoid some side effects and be able to take it for a long time, it doesn't work well enough. I will continue to take 20mg until I run out and then maybe take a maintenance dose of vitamin a, but I will start looking for something else to add to the accutane.
At 40mg my face looked pretty good. Not much acne, not much oil. I thought about acne a lot less and I felt almost normal. But now I feel some of the familiar thick, greasy oil that I used to get and I need to find another solution. This time I will try to stick to realistic things that can actually work like accutane, and ignore those useless claims that one random thing will cure my oily skin. I guess it's back to my oily skin research thread.
I think a similar course of accutane could work very well for someone with weaker oil glands, but it was not the answer for my oil factory of a face.