Week 1

Today concludes week one of my accutane journey, i think i'll update once a week.

So far there hasn't really been that much of a noticeable difference, the only side effect i've really experienced is unusually dry and frizzy hair but i was probably going to cut it today anyway so it won't be that annoying. other than that i haven't really noticed much dryness, first few days i was actually more oily than usual, but that'll probably change soon

Week 2

Alright guys made it through two weeks! this week was pretty rough, side effects hit me hard. So far the side effects i've noticed is pretty killer back pain which is kind of annoying because i work out a lot and it pretty much leaves me useless afterwards, and some really dry hair and lips, but i don't think i've had any oil on my face in like 5 days which was pretty nice. Also, not sure if it was related to accutane or if it was just a nasty bug, but i got really sick over the weekend and probably puked like 15 times, i usually never get sick but i heard accutane can weaken your immune system, but it could also just be a coincidence.

As far as acne goes, i think i've noticed some slight improvement, it definitely looks less inflamed but i noticed some pimples breaking out in kind of unusual places for me, like a couple on my cheeks and neck but they went away pretty fast, other than that i noticed the lack of oil has made my face pretty sensitive, i have a bad habit of picking at them which i am trying to break but i noticed that now if i do it hurts a lot more and starts bleeding pretty bad. Well thats all that happened this week hopefully i'll start seeing some actual improvement soon

Week 3

Week 3 down! This week was definitely better than last week. So far the worst side effect i've had by far is back pain. At the beginning of the week i went to the gym with a couple of my buddies and stupidly decided to do heavy deadlifts, i felt some discomfort while doing it but when i woke up the next morning i could barely even get out of bed or walk around, thank god it was saturday lol. Other than that the other side effects have been pretty mild, my lips and face have been pretty dry but as long as i moisturize and use chapstick like once every 30 minutes i feel normal. Although one day i forgot to bring blistex to school and at the end of the day my lips were incredibly chapped and red. The only side effect i was really concerned with was anxiety and depression because i kinda have a history of both but oddly i've actually felt less anxious, depressed and more confident despite looking like shit.

With acne i've noticed a little improvement. I still have a bit of active acne on my face but the ones i do have arent as big and inflamed but i have noticed that my acne and hyperpigmentation from old acne has been more red so it kind of looks worse, i'm not sure if it's just from the dry skin but i read that other people have the same problem so im not worried about it too much

Good luck on your journey man! I also lift quite a lot so feel free to check out my journal.

Week 4

So just finished week 4! In a couple days i'll be done with my first month on accutane. I'm currently about to leave to go get my blood tested so i can get my 2nd month supply. This week is the first week where things are actually starting to look up. My side effects seem to get better every week, in fact the only side effects i still really notice is the persistant dry lips, and oil free skin but thats not really a bad thing. Week two and three i had really awful back pain but that eased up and i barely even notice it at all anymore. With acne this week i've seen the most improvement since i started. My acne has finally started to really improve, i still have a way to go but i currently only have about 10 or so small to medium sized pimples on my face which is a heck of an improvement compared to the 20 some i had last week. so thats it for this week guys, i really hope i keep making progress forward and this isn't just the calm before the storm but after this last week i'm pretty happy with how it's going

Week 5

What's up guys, just finished week 5. Everything is going good as of today. I went to my dermatologist at the beginning of the week and he said my body is handling the medication really well so he bumped me up to 60 mg a day so i'm taking two 30 mg pills, once in the morning and once at night. This is as high as i'm willing to go, i didn't really want to up my dosage but he said if i do i'll only have to be on accutane for about 5 months instead of 6-7 months so i decided to do it anyway, last week i was clearing up really well like maybe about 60-70 percent more clear than when i started, after upping my dosage i started breaking out really bad for about 4 days which i'm guessing was just a minor initial breakout, but the last few days or so my skin started getting a lot better again and it's almost where it was at last week before i upped my dosage. The side effects haven't been too bad, i did notice my back pain came back a little bit and my face is just a little more dry but other than that everything is normal

nice read. we're actually on the same track although i'm being placed on a lower dose 20mg/day.currently on my 4th week now and didn't notice so much side effects aside from dry lips and dry eyes. my acnes really tamed down a lot and 80% of my skin is oil free now. huge improvement.
were there any other topical treatments/antibiotics prescribed to you other than accutane? and what facial soap/cleanser are you using?

Hey I am very similar to you a very active athlete (Junior in high school) and plan on getting a prescription at my appointment in a week (my deem has already suggested accutane so it shouldn't be a problem). I also get acne a lot in the same places (I feel like so many people are complaining mostly about their cheeks but the center of my forehead and my temples are war zones. Did you experience no initial breakout? Thats what I am most concerned about having my face blow up for who knows how long scares the crap out of me. Hopefully since my acne seems to be similar to yours It won't be too bad.

hey thanks man! I'm currently not on anything other than accutane. Although i was on minocycline for about 8 months or so before it stopped working and that's when my derm decided to put me on the tane lol. I actually did ask to be put on an atibiotic for a month on my last appointment to help with inflammation but my derm seemed pretty certain that it wouldn't help the process much. Ever since my face hasn't had any oil on it i haven't found any need to actually wash it with any products so i usually just use water and put coconut oil on my face before i go to bed and let it soak in to help moisturize it and act as a disinfectant.

i feel it brohaha. I actually haven't experienced much of an actual initial breakout. For me it seems to just gradually get better week by week although i did break out a bit once i upped my dosage. Did your derm say how high a does you're gonna take? I could be wrong but i think that would also probably play a role in whether you get an initial breakout. Good luck man!

Week 6

another week down! This week wasjust kind of continuing the trend of gradually getting better every week. Beginning of the week was kind of rough though, i broke out a bit on my forehead and jawline even though i usually don't breakout there, it doesn't really concern me all that much i feel like i just have my good days and bad days on accutane.Over allthough my face is looking pretty decent, redness is really down and i don't have any large or inflamed pimples just some small ones. Crossing my fingers for fully clearing up at least for a little bit within the next couple weeks:)

I haven't talked about my dosage yet so I guess ill just have to wait and see what happens at my appointment on tuesday but I think your correct saying the dose plays a role. It seems people who start low have less chance of an initial breakout but lose some time as a result. I got prescribed an antibiotic called erythromycin over the phone two weeks ago while waiting for my appointment since I had obviously become immune to the minocycline. My acne is coming back a worse than before I started minoand it only lasted 7 months successfully so I don't want to waste time on another antibiotic just to have my acne back worse after a few months. However, Erythromycin is apparently the only safe antibiotic to take with accutane so hopefully it will be able to minimize/prevent a possible initial outbreak. Ive seen a lot of other people seeing a lot of success minimizing outbreaks while taking them at the same time. Im glad things are going well for you keep it up! It seems as tho you'll be clear in no time.

thanks man!i appreciate that. Seems we do have a pretty similar history of acne with both of us taking minocycline and becoming immune after 7-8 months and breaking out in similar areas.just curious, do you plan on starting a log? I think it would be interesting to see how antibiotics effects the course of accutane since my derm turned me down when i asked for them.

other than isotretinoin, my derm recommended me to use duac gel (a combination of benzoyl peroxide and clindamycin) to be applied on the pimple area. i'm also using glycolic acid cream at night to lighten acne scars, anyways, i think it would be a good idea also to include your photos every week on your log to see the improvement of your face.

my derm recommended that to me also but my face has beem so dry i didn't want to put anything else on it that could irritate it. Yeah i was going to start posting photos but i didn't think to do it at the start of my log but i think i might start next week even though my face has cleared up some

I do plan on starting a log. Idk how often I will update it but I will try to do once a week for the first few weeks and then probably every other week or so when my skin startsgettingreally clear. Hopefully the antibiotics work well for me Iguess we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Week 8

hey guys sorry i didn't update last week, just got lazy and didn't see the point when there hasn't been anything to really update about. Still breaking out somewhat consistantly although nothing like before, i noticed i breakound kind of in waves like every week or two and then i'll start to clear up again. At the moment i have about 3-4 medium/small pimples and a big ass cyst like pimple on my cheek that i got earlier in the week, my mom actually thought i got in a fight because it's swollen and looks kinda like i got punched lol, but other than that my face is looking pretty decent right now, crossing my fingers on getting the goose egg shrunk down a bit cause i have a date on Sunday and i'm trying to not look like shit. Symptoms are same old same old, nothing really changed much, joint and tendon pain kinda suck though, i actually went on a light jog with one of my buddies last week and developed shin splints out of nowhere even though i never had them before. I'm thinking about posting pictures sometime in the next few days but haven't decided yet or not. Thats about it for this week guys i think i might start updating every other week unless something happens