Acne.org Products
So today is my first day on 60mg of tane. 20mg in the morning, 40mg at night because my insurance won't cover 30mg pills.
I would say I have moderate to severe acne as of now since I get on average 1-2 cysts a week. It looks a whole lot worse than it should because I have a bad tendency to pop them which has left a lot of hyper pigmentation on my face.
Cystic acne seemed to take me by storm 2 years ago. It didn't gradually occur, it hit me almost overnight. I didn't get the normal kind of acne, the kind that sits on top of your skin. Mine took days to develop and made my skin look swollen. It was so severe my friends couldn't even tell it was acne and would ask "what happened to your head bro". If I had normal acne I wouldn't care, but these intense cysts literally made me look like I got into a serious car accident or bar fight.
I was traumatized badly from this and developed acute anxiety to a point where I had 4-5 uncontrollable panic attacks a day. My life seemed to turn around, i quit my job, soccer team, and left many groups of friends I had developed while I was still confident, charismatic, and happy.
My anxiety and depression became so bad I had to take a semester off from college when I saw my life was falling apart at too fast a rate. My increasingly severe cystic acne seemed to tear away at my life piece by piece.
To get my main point across, I read extensively on acne.org before starting accutane. The more I read, the more reluctant and fearful I got of popping this pill. Not only did a majority of people seemed to get IB but it seemed to more severe and longer lasting than a normal breakout.
I am returning to school since my acne died down a little in recent months and my anxiety/depression became under control. I CANNOT afford to regress and fall back into the anxious, cystic, bloody, scarred/scabbed, sweaty mess I was a year ago.
So I ask - Is it worth it? How bad was your IB? How long did it last? How did you cope with it? Will I break out in places I don't normally break out?
On top of that, I'd really like some support as I've been depressed these past few days just imagining a breakout as bad as the ones I've had in the past, the ones that kept me sitting in the bathroom in shock at what my face was becoming.
Everyones Accutane experience is different but to answer your questions yes its worth it. Like I said everyones IB differs but mine were never terrible. I usually start clearing up really well after 3 months. You cope with it by knowing youll have completely clear still at the end of your course. Yes most people break out in different places than usual.
I can also relate to feeling depressed but for me Accutane is a antidepressant because it clears my skin. Sure its going to get worse in the beginning but its worth it in the end. Youre already feeling depressed because you have acne so by taking accutane at least you are doing something to fix the problem instead of just being miserable worrying how bad the IB MAY be.
