DAY 1

Hi all,
One of the things I found the most frustrating when researching about isotretinoin (accutane or now aka Claravis) was that it was difficult to find the side effects and effectiveness of the medication throughout the entire course. Another topic I found impossible to find was people taking Accutane to treat hormonal acne, which is what mine would be. Hope this will be some help to others.

So ironically, I had perfect skin in my teens. Then I got off Sprintec (birth control pills) about a year and a half ago (which is a whole another story by itself) and it took me a full year to get my menstrual cycle back. During that year I had absolutely horrendous back acne. I mean it was so bad I couldn't sleep on my back and I had to throw away several white tops from spots of blood, but weirdly enough during this time my face was still completely clear. I had bacne for about five months I would say and then one day it just completely went away, and I thought the worst of my problems were now the scars left on my back. I was so wrong. First it started with small blackheads on my nose and my cheeks. Then came actual full blown pimples and last but not least cycstic acne. Physician told me once my body balances out my hormones and I get my period my acne should also go away. so I waited and finally got my period. But my acne stayed.

I tried ALL sorts of natural remedies, from spearmint tea to DIM supplements to cutting out all non organic meat and produce and ridding of all plastic ware but NOTHING WORKED. Finally went to derm and after few blood test and appointments I finally have my accutane and my fingers crossed.

I was hoping my face acne would go disappear as magically as my back acne had but i don't think that is going to happen. So my physician and derm had two completely opposite outlooks regarding treating hormonal acne with accutane. Physician (who was very anti-accutane) said that because hormonal acne is an internal problem it needs to be treated from the inside out. The thing is I got blood work done for my hormones and I checked out and my period is super regular now... The derm said skin type can change so accutane might give it that little push it needs to start heading in the healthy state it used to be in. She also said even if I'm having hormonal issues accutane literally shuts off that route of getting acne so acne will not be one of the channels of my hormonal problems showing up on the surface.

Right now, I got about 3 cystic acne along my jaw, blackheads around my eyebrows and nose and acne scars and regular pimples all along the side of my cheeks. Today is day 1 so obviously i don't have much to say regarding the effectiveness of the pill, but I will be posting here at least once a week to journal my progress with the pill along with any side effects that I experience.