Finally back on track! Being off the medicine for the week, my lips instantly went back to normal. I don't know how to continue to count my days, the dr office said the medicine was still in my system so I'm just going to continue counting as if I never stopped taking the accutane.
Day 40:
Couple new tiny breakouts on my forehead, they don't appear to have cyst potential so I will let them run their course. Joint pain still very real and I', sure the dry lips will show back up in the next couple days.
Day 47:
Yesterday was rough. I feel like I'm on a roller coaster ride, so many ups and downs. I have gotten 3 styes in the last week, 2 were very minimal and not noticeable. But the 3rd completely wiped me out, my eye lid was so swollen. I have opted to not wear my contacts anymore to see if that will keep those nasty things from coming back. And I need to get some eye drops.
I questioned if I should stay on or quit. My eyes are literally being put through torture. Have you ever read into eye issues and accutane? Its kinda of scary a lot of things I read were that people still had issues with their eyes long after stopping the medicine. But just like before you can have some pretty bad symptoms and then wake up one day and their gone. My eye isn't scratchy no irritation, its refreshing I can breath a sigh of relief for a bit.
I don't know if it has anything to do with uping my dosage. I asked the Dr if higher dosage meant stronger side effects, he said you would think so but generally it isn't something they see.
Symptoms I've had so far:
- Dry lips- Only time the dry lips have let up was when I stopped the medicine for a week
- Dry itchy scalp- Only had this for a few days
- Rash on neck- Felt like it itched forever (but only lasted a week maybe, rash is completely gone)
- Achy joints- Happens off and on (mainly after sitting for long periods of time)
- Dry skin on face- I just started seeing this, time to moisturize more!
- Dry nose- This hasn't really let up at all (but its tolerable with some aquaphor or vaseline)
- Weight loss- I only noticed this after first starting medicine, lost 5lbs without doing anything (it came back )
- Dry eyes- My most hated symptom! Everything above seems like a walk in the park compared to constant scratchiness of the eyes. But it too has let up, so fingers crossed I weathered that storm!
I'm not sure if I ever got the initial breakout, if so it wasn't too bad.
The eye problem is weird. I haven't read any reports of stye's, let alone multiples. Most of what I have read is regarding dry eyes and sensitivity to bright things (especially at night). I guess you are pretty lucky 
I too question at least a couple times a week if I should stay on or quit. Most of my debate is centered around what I have read of others having permanent or at least very long lasting sides after accutane (joints, pain, night vision, bowel related, etc). Usually the symptom in question goes away within a day or two and I'm back to being committed to the full course. It's a really tough choice and the decision we make in either direction may be regretted.
I guess I don't particularly like the idea or possibility of living with any of the permanent sides and I equally dislike the idea of uncomfortable acne. Hence why I usually convince myself to just stay on.
Hopefully someone has more insight into the stye problem. Keep at it!
I'm really worried about having eye issues. I have dry eyes anyway so I'm trying to do drops as often as I think about it and the gel at night. I'm so susceptible to eye issues I feel like this is going to make it much worse. Maybe I should go ahead and buy me some cute glasses.
Hang in there it should get better! I love your lip arsenal it looks a lot like mine.
Lol my eye arsenal is outgrowing the lip one! I had styes when I was a little girl so maybe I'm just more susceptible to them now. How do you like the gel drops? I haven't tried those but maybe I need to.
This is the one I'm using and so far I like it. You can really only use it at night, but I feel like it's thicker and works better.
I got a recurring sty around my 4th month! The doc prescribed me some eye-drops and it never came back. You might be past the intitial flare-up stage, but don't be surprised if it rears it's ugly head a little later in the month, cysts love surprise parties!
If it does, have no fear - that's the worst it's gonna get!
Mandy, I thought it'd be good for you to know that if you type "Accutane before and after" (i think) on google search images your photo comes up eventually. Just letting you know
Oh goodness, thanks for the heads up! Wonder why
Thanks rwpennell! I'm going to add that to my collection
Megtree, did your dermatologist prescribe? I wasn't sure if they did or if I needed to go see my eye dr. I can only hope I am past the flare up. This has been rough!
Mandy, I thought it'd be good for you to know that if you type "Accutane before and after" (i think) on google search images your photo comes up eventually. Just letting you know
Oh goodness, thanks for the heads up! Wonder why
Thanks rwpennell! I'm going to add that to my collection
Megtree, did your dermatologist prescribe? I wasn't sure if they did or if I needed to go see my eye dr. I can only hope I am past the flare up. This has been rough!
He prescribed me some antibiotic/hydrocortisone drops. I can't remember the name unfortunately. You might want to talk to your derm about it first (accutane can make you more prone to them). That way if it's something he's used to dealing with, with his other accutane patients (like my case), he simply prescribed the drops and recommended the optometrist if things didn't improve. If he doesn't feel comfortable or thinks it might be something else, he'll probably tell you to go anyway. Either way - you have to go to the derm every month anyway right? If you can hold off until your next appointment, it might save you the extra copay.
Best of luck---keep marking off the milestones. I had a similar experience to the one you had with your doctor, we have a Polish truck driver where I work and when he started with the company a few months ago, his skin was in a really bad way---I know that sounds mean but it's not meant to, it's just he had these enormous red cysts all around his nose and his hands were completely covered in---you guessed it---a type of flaky, white rash. He's a nice guy but seemed so uncomfortable and to be honest, he looked in pain with it all. Haven't seen him for a while---agency staff come and go---but he's back in this week and I literally could not believe the change=His hands have completely cleared up and his complexion looks amazing. No spots whatsoever, even skin colour and tone. I haven't had chance to ask him but I'm convinced he's been on Accutane and it's little moments like this that make me think it'll be worth all the side effects in the long run
There was this really smart kid in my high school who had absolutely the worst acne in the whole school. Somehow, by junior year his skin was baby soft and I had always wondered how was he able to do it. At that time, I had never heard of Accutane nor I knew there were such powerful drugs out there. He wanted to become a dermatologist.
I think thats awesome the kid wanted to be a dermatologist! I don't know if people know how much acne can affect us, so when theres something that can clear us, we are beside ourselves with happiness. And becoming a derm, is kinda like paying it forward so good for him! And what better for a dermatologist to sit down and say hey, Ive been there I know.
Day 53:
So the cyst that I had cortisone shot in it, went away like normal. And has now reemerged. 
That puts me at 3 active cysts at the moment. Why do cysts have to take soooo long before they can just go away? I'm bummed.
Medicated blistex is doing wonders for my dry, chapped lips.
Going on almost a week with no eye issues!
Thanks! I did a little research and you can print a order form and take it to your local pharmacy and they will order it for you. If I can't get my dr to prescribe me something, then I will be ordering it!
Rash on my arm this morning it itches like crazy. But I'm not so sure if its anything from accutane or I ended up with poison ivy. I'm going to treat it as if it were poison ivy and see if that helps. I almost forgot to take my accutane pills yesterday I don't know if I've ever jumped out of bed so fast. That was a close one. I don't know if I've ever been so dedicated to medicine before. Lol.
