First day on accutane!
I'm turning 21 in a couple of months and I've had acne since the eighth grade (so about 8 years).
Every year it gets worse. Right now it would only take a glance to know that my acne is severe.
My forehead is usually okay, with minimal scarring. However, both of my cheeks and chin are
pretty much all covered with marks and breakouts. And recently, I've started breaking out near
both my temples, which makes my whole face covered in acne. Since I probably can't get any
worse because any more breakouts probably wouldn't make much difference, I decided that it's
time I try accutane, despite how scary it is.
To start from the beginning... I searched online for the nearest dermatologist who's registered to
prescribe accutane and made an appointment to see him. He's nice, but straight to the point.
When he first sat down, he immediately commented on how severe my acne was. He also said
that at this point accutane would probably be the most aggressive and appropriate. He then went
over the possible side effects and warnings of accutane and stressed the importance of making
sure that I wouldn't get pregnant for the duration of the treatment. To make sure that my body
can take the drug well, labs (blood work and urine sample) are necessary each month prior to
subsequent prescriptions. Since I live in California, there's some insurance clause that dictates
accutane patients to have been on some form of antibiotics and have failed results before they
could cover the costs of accutane. This was something I wasn't aware of, so make sure you guys
consult with your dermatologists beforehand!
I also told my dermatologist that I will be traveling out of the country for three months sometime
mid-June, which shortens my treatment to a little over five months. He agreed that it's not ideal
but still doable. He would have to gradually increase my dosage throughout the treatment so that
I could have the strongest results in a shorter time.
One month later (of taking the antibiotics Minocycline), my breakouts seemed to have calmed
down a bit, but definitely minimal improvements overall. I went back for my second appoointment
on January 27, and the doctor agreed that accutane would still be the best bet. He told me to
discontinue taking antibiotics, and start accutane after a day gap. I take it morning and night, each
pill is 20mg, so a total of 40 mg a day. He also prescribed 14 days worth of prednisone (a type
of steroids taken orally) to help with my initial breakouts. The most common side effect of it is
weight gain, since it'll increase my appetite. Just throwing it out there in case that might be an
issue for someone!
For my skincare, I was using St. Ives green tea scrub with salicylic acid as my face wash, CeraVe
lotion, and tea tree oil as a spot treatment. I've switched over to the CeraVe foaming face wash
and stopped using the tea tree oil since I've read that accutane will make me incredibly dry. I've
also started using Aqauphor as my lip balm to prevent my lips from overdrying.
I'll be updating weekly for myself and anyone who's interested out there! Although I constantly
feel defeated by my acne, but for once I'm hopeful. I also believe that this could be the only thing
out there that might work, so fingers crossed!
I had acne going though puberty and going into my first year of university it cleared up a lot. Usually in the summer it goes away too. However near the end of the summer going into my second year of university up until now, being in my third year my acne has gotten a lot worse. I went to the doctors a lot to figure why I was breaking out so much and they decided to do testing, where I found out that I have PCOS, which is polycystic ovaries for anyone who doesn't know. This can cause fluctuation in weight, emotional highs and lows and of course fluctuations in my hormone balance cause breakouts.
Acne has always been something that has made me very self-conscious and after a year of testing I was able to convince my doctor to put me on accutane.
The prescription she gave me was 40mg dosage for my first month and what I had been noticing was in the first 2 weeks my skin became very flakey and peeled then was almost glowing in place where my skin was almost clear. In my third week up until now my my skin has been very dry, my lips have been very dry and my acne was gotten worse. I went to see my doctor after my first month perscription needed to be filled again and she bumped me from 40mg to 50. I'm hoping this will speed up the process and my skin will be clearer faster.
I have read all the articles and blogs people have written about stages they went through on accutane and how this seems to be consistent with how most peoples skin reacts in the first month. I'm just hoping in the second month there will be more clearing instead of breaking out.