Hi to whoever is reading this. I am a 22 year old female who has been battling acne since the age of 13. My acne was only on my forehead and my back until I reached the age of 15, at which point it spread to my cheeks. After high school, it spread to all areas of my face, back and chest. However, the acne on my face has always been pretty "mild", while my back acne was moderate. Even though I technically have mild acne, it is extremely persistent and never fully goes away. It also scars my face and leaves a lot of hyper pigmentation/red marks. I have tried dozens of topical prescriptions, oral prescriptions such as doxycycline and minicycline, and more with no success. My dermatologist finally put me on accutane and I began taking 20 mg on April 6, 2016. I decided to log my journey on here for people who are interested in accutane for mild acne.
The first three pictures are before taking the first pill. The next three pictures are on day 4 (April 9). You can see that my skin is already very dry in those pictures.
my right cheek is just all scars now and no raised bumps. the only raised bump I had was the big one on my left cheek which I popped today.
April 12 (day 7): skin is still a little bit pink. Skin is still very oily. Two new pimples appeared on the bottom of my left cheek. One new pimple appeared on my right side beside my chin. Lips are starting to get dry. First four pictures are on this day.
April 13 (day 8): My skin is still very oily. I got two new blind pimples on my chin. My face is not red anymore, however today I noticed a lot of hair loss in the shower.
April 14 (day 9): My lips are getting very dry now however my skin is still oily. I got a few new blind pimples on my chin and a new big pimple on my left cheek. Pictures 5,6,and 7 are on this day.
April 15 (day 10): My lips are getting extremely dry and peeling. I woke up with a lot of closed comedones and a big blind pimple on my right cheek. Having a very bad skin day. I popped all the pimples that had a white head and they all turned into red open wounds. Pictures 8 and 9 are on this day.
April 16 (day 11): My lips are extremely dry and peeling to the point that theyre bleeding. I am breaking out a lot on my chin and right cheek.
April 17 (day 12): I popped all the new pimples on my right cheek since they were ready and had white heads, however my skin came off and it left open wounds. Definitely shouldnt be popping pimples on accutane. Today i woke up with a new big pimple on the left side of my jaw. I put vaseline on my lips overnight and they are 100 times better today. Pictures 10, 11 and 12 are on this day.
April 21 (day 16): skin is looking better on my cheeks and chin. skin is healing pretty quickly. got two new pimples on my forehead today though... haven't broken out on my forehead in at least 2 weeks so kinda sucks but they popped easily. lips are getting EXTREMELY DRY. the skin around my lips is getting red and looks like my mouth is bigger than it is. Vaseline kinda helps. I can tell my skin is definitely getting less oily as I don't even need to blot it throughout the day. Normally I would blot my face 5-10 times a day before accutane. The last 4 pictures are on this day.
FYI I've been using benzoyl peroxide 5% as a spot treatment on new pimples and popped pimples the whole time I've been on accutane and haven't had any issues.

