Day 2 -

well I took my 2nd pill while eating some romaine lettuce, 2 pieces of "natural chicken" from kroger and a small avocado and today i didnt get an upset stomach after taking the pill so thats a positive.

I have been experiencing some hair loss from i believe either my eye lashes or my eyebrows (might be due to stress and/or anxiety from my acne and from taking minocycline, but i think it is because i have been freaking out alot lately due to being so afraid of getting a break out). I have been noticing it for the past couple of months and last night i woke up to about 5 or 6 pieces of hair and that has never happened before. I usually only see maybe 1 or 2, but when i woke this morning it was worse than usual. I have been extremely stressed lately due to starting accutane so I hope it is just that and not because of the minocycline. I have read that hair loss can continue even after stopping the medicine, but I have never been so stressed out in my life like I am now so i am attributing it to that.

I get to pick up my kids tomorrow and will spend time with them until they go back to their mom next Tuesday (single Dad here ) and it is my beautiful daughters bday on the 16th of this month, so I am going to do something special for her this weekend and try my hardest not to worry about acne and just enjoy the nice weather this weekend.

I hope everyone who reads this is having a good day today and I would kindly like to say FUCK ACNE!

on another note, there is an Acne Vaccine that is in the early stages of testing and if everything is successful, it will supposedly be available in about 2 years at the least. I pray it does come out and it does find alot of success, so that if my children ever develop acne (God please dont let them go thru this) they will have a cure for them! I just wished that shit was out now so I wouldnt have to start accutane lol, but that is life...

have a good day/night yall!!

Any pics? All the best my dude. You can do this!

I just took these pics in pretty bad lighting lol, but I dont have ALOT of active acne spots...about 4 or 5 all over my face and in the neck area, but so far it has been 1 week and a day of stopping minocycline cold turkey and usually when I lowered the dosage I broke out really bad in a weeks time, but when I was on doxy a year and a half ago, I stopped cold turkey and broke out BIG TIME in a month, so I am praying that either the 10% benzoyl peroxide acne wash I am using is either controlling the minocycline break out or the accutane has already kicked in.

Since I have had acne for over 15 years (and im a popper), I have issues with scarring...but honestly, the scarring truly didnt start happening until I started using Retin-A Micro a year and a half ago. I used to be a popper all my acne years but scarring wasnt an issue until I started going to the freaking derms to try and rid of my acne and started applying all those damn creams they prescribed. Epiduo wasnt TOO bad, but retin A micro was the worst in regards to scarring, but each time i broke out from lowering dosage or stopping antibiotics cold turkey, the break outs would be the scarring inflamed type and this is what I fear the most now.

My skin is still oily so that is why I still use the panoxyl 10% acne wash morning and night and I dont care what anyone says, I am still going to keep using it until my skin tells me otherwise. Its a wash you keep on the face for only a minute while showering so its not like BP you keep on your face all day.

I recently switched from Cetaphil moisturizing cream to an Oil Free Neutrogena Acne moisturizer and it seems like it is helping and not breaking me out like cetaphil was. I felt like the cetaphil cream was breaking me out, but it really moisturized my skin very well. The neutrogena one seems to be less moisturizing than cetaphil, but it doesnt seem to be breaking me out so it will do for now until my skin starts to dry up on my face - I may have to find a different one for dry skin instead of for oily skin.

today was day 6 on the 20mg pill and so far I have not really noticed or felt any side effects. My lips may be slightly more dryer than usual, but other than that nada.

Today is the sixers vs heat NBA game and Im rooting for the sixers to win so they can be 2-0 in the series!

have a good night y'all 🙂

I'm on Accutane too, good luck!

Everything is looking good ma dude. Hopefully accutane kills the acne for good

13 hours ago, Tommypoo said:

I'm on Accutane too, good luck!

i hate having to go this route, but if two derms told me to do it then fuck it Im gonna do it. Im just gonna keep on with a low dose though and fight tooth and nail for my derm to keep it at 20mg. How long habe you been on accutane @Tommypoo

8 hours ago, jPablo said:

Everything is looking good ma dude. Hopefully accutane kills the acne for good

Yea man, hopefully! I got my fingers crossed lol

Day 12 -

well...im not entirely sure if its day 13 or 12, I'll have to look at my accutane pill box again, but im pretty sure its 12 haha.

Anyways, my face has went from oily to DRY AS Fucckkkkk (excuse my french). For the past 3 or 4 days I will literally wake up and i got these flakes on my face, just like the retin A flakes I used to get when I was on that shitty cream, so I guess the medicine is already kicking in. But guess what folks, I still am using the benzoyl peroxide wash when i shower and it doesnt burn my skin or anything like that...im noticing that as long as I moisturize afterwards -I will be fine (so far). So I am going to keep applying it until my skin says otherwise.

Im also noticing that my eyebrow hair is falling out less and my eyebrows seem to be growing baby hairs again so im keeping my fingers crossed that they continue to grow. That damn minocycline antibiotic is the devil in a pill and I seriously believe it caused me depression as well as anxiety. I thank God I am off that pill as it was causing me alot of damage physically and mentally. (If your reading this and are on antibiotics, please find a way off them ASAP)

Rick James must of thought cocaine was a hell of a drug, but he never tried MINOCYCLINE beforeeeee hahaha

20mg a day for me seems to be really manageable. The only side effect I have felt is dry skin and dry lips. Im praying i dont break out or dont lose any hair while being on accutane. Oh and I also pray that Junior downstairs doesnt stop functioning cuz even though I have 2 kids already, I dont need to be dealing with erectile dysfunction any time soon (Im sure all the guys out there can relate) :-p

Since i am on the heavier side (221lb model over here ladiesss lol) i know 20mg is a pretty low dosage for me and if i continue with this dosage, then i will be on it for maybe more than a year (I think), i still have to wrap my mind around that, but each day that passes I am slowly getting there.

My goal for today is to get a moisturizer with spf in it as my moisturizer is not doing the trick anymore...it will moisturize my face for about an hour or so and then i start to feel dry again. Tis sad because it doesnt break me out so now I am on the hunt.

I have a question though - I naturally have an oily skin type so I have to get an oil-free moisturizer and that has worked for me. Now that accutane has dried my face, should I get a moisturizer for dry skin tone? If anyone can answer that has actual knowledge of this subject, plewse let me know! I will be forever in debt to you 🙂

have a good weekend folks!

1 hour ago, Ludadubz said:

Day 12 -

well...im not entirely sure if its day 13 or 12, I'll have to look at my accutane pill box again, but im pretty sure its 12 haha.

Anyways, my face has went from oily to DRY AS Fucckkkkk (excuse my french). For the past 3 or 4 days I will literally wake up and i got these flakes on my face, just like the retin A flakes I used to get when I was on that shitty cream, so I guess the medicine is already kicking in. But guess what folks, I still am using the benzoyl peroxide wash when i shower and it doesnt burn my skin or anything like that...im noticing that as long as I moisturize afterwards -I will be fine (so far). So I am going to keep applying it until my skin says otherwise.

Im also noticing that my eyebrow hair is falling out less and my eyebrows seem to be growing baby hairs again so im keeping my fingers crossed that they continue to grow. That damn minocycline antibiotic is the devil in a pill and I seriously believe it caused me depression as well as anxiety. I thank God I am off that pill as it was causing me alot of damage physically and mentally. (If your reading this and are on antibiotics, please find a way off them ASAP)

Rick James must of thought cocaine was a hell of a drug, but he never tried MINOCYCLINE beforeeeee hahaha

20mg a day for me seems to be really manageable. The only side effect I have felt is dry skin and dry lips. Im praying i dont break out or dont lose any hair while being on accutane. Oh and I also pray that Junior downstairs doesnt stop functioning cuz even though I have 2 kids already, I dont need to be dealing with erectile dysfunction any time soon (Im sure all the guys out there can relate) :-p

Since i am on the heavier side (221lb model over here ladiesss lol) i know 20mg is a pretty low dosage for me and if i continue with this dosage, then i will be on it for maybe more than a year (I think), i still have to wrap my mind around that, but each day that passes I am slowly getting there.

My goal for today is to get a moisturizer with spf in it as my moisturizer is not doing the trick anymore...it will moisturize my face for about an hour or so and then i start to feel dry again. Tis sad because it doesnt break me out so now I am on the hunt.

I have a question though - I naturally have an oily skin type so I have to get an oil-free moisturizer and that has worked for me. Now that accutane has dried my face, should I get a moisturizer for dry skin tone? If anyone can answer that has actual knowledge of this subject, plewse let me know! I will be forever in debt to you 🙂

have a good weekend folks!

I had oily skin, now I'm on accutane it's really dry. La Roche posay do a moisturiser (effachlar h something ) that was actually made for oily skin dried by isotretinoin so it's an exact one for accutane users .

Im gonna try that one out

I've been on Accutane for about 2.8 months now, I've already seen some improvement and my forehead has cleared up completely. I still have really bad acne on my cheeks and jawline but it looks like it is already starting to clear up to a degree. I'm on 20mg as well, just gotta be patient which is hard for me!

Good luck,
Tommy

21 hours ago, Tommypoo said:

I've been on Accutane for about 2.8 months now, I've already seen some improvement and my forehead has cleared up completely. I still have really bad acne on my cheeks and jawline but it looks like it is already starting to clear up to a degree. I'm on 20mg as well, just gotta be patient which is hard for me!

Good luck,
Tommy

@Tommypoo,

if you dont mind me asking...how much do you weigh? and can you give me your weight in lbs and not in kg, please lol. Alot of people on here must be from Europe because I always see people posting in kg.

i just talked to my derm today and she said if i stay on 20mgs I will be on it for almost 2 years in order to reach the cumulative dose. That shit was kind of depressing to hear, but I really dont want to raise the dosage.

just an update on me Day 17 :

i notice that im starting to get dandruff or dry scalp and it causes me to itch!!! So i bought neutrogena T/Gel to see if that helps, if not, I will try Nizoral next. I also have freaking dandruff on my beard or dried out flaky skin (cant tell) that is noticeable about an hour after i take a shower, but so far cerave moisturizer lotion on my beard has kept it at bay...as long as i rub it into my skin so that my beard doesnt catch most of the moisturizer, the dandruff or dry skin goes away.

i am also starting to feel joint soreness, and have been feeling it for a couple of days now but it is definitely manageable.

the eczema on my hands will flare up if i dont apply lotion on it (red dots start to appear on thr back of my hands), but the aveeno daily moisturizer has been keeping my skin on my arms hydrated and the eczema does not flare up at all. I never used to apply lotion on my skin and now i am realizing moisturizing is very important!!!

i broke out with 3 pimples on my forehead about 2 days ago, but they are all white heads now and i want to pop thr fuck out of them so freaking bad, but I am trying to hold back on the temptation of doing so. My neck area (where i rarely every get acne) has popped 2 pimples also where 1 is really red and thr other on the other side if turning into a white head but still red.

fingers crossed that I start to clear up very soon, and if I do, you best believe my ass will stay on 20mg for however many years it takes for me to reach my cumulative dose. My doc said i need to go up to 100mgs a day and Im like ffuuuccckkkk that!!!!! Theres not enough Dr. Dans lip balm to fix 100mgs worth of accutane lips SMH...my doc is crazy, i told her the highest i might go is 40, but i seriously doubt i will go higher.

good luck to my fellow acne/accutane folks...i hope you have a good night/day or whatever time of the day it is where you live. 🙂

You could take 100mg. People have been on way more.

11 hours ago, jPablo said:

You could take 100mg. People have been on way more.

I have read medical studies and dermatology articles about the higher the dose, the more side effects you have. Also, there are studies that say low dose treatment is as effective as the standard 1.0 per kg or whatever it is. 0.1-0.5 (low dose) per kg works with less side effects.

There is a doctor from Las Vegas, Nevada on (realself.com) who is actually taking a long term 20mg per day dosage of accutane to keep his acne in remission and he says the highest he puts his patients on is 20mgs-40mgs a day and does not go higher than that. He states that once the patient is clear of active acne and they stay clear for at least 3-4 months after, he then takes them off of the drug.

The only downside is that you may be on the drug longer. If being on a higher dosage is not necessary, then I am definitely not going to do it. The only way I will go to a higher than 40mg dosage is if i experience a break out then i will just say screw it and gradually go higher.

At 20mgs, the only side effects i am experiencing is slightly dry skin and dry lips and the freaking dry scalp or dandruff that hopefully the neutrogena T Gel will fix. (Fingers crossed). I sometimes experience sore joints, but i have found that when I take my pill in the morning, i dont experience the soreness compared to if I take it in the evening.

Day 18:

welllllll, it looks like I am slowly breaking out and its freaking annoying...i wish I could go back to my original pics that I posted April 16th, because I now have about 8 active pimples on my face and neck area. There is one on my neck that is really big and pissing me off. I hope this is my IB stage and that it ends quickly without scarring. The thing is, I am unsure if this is the breakout from me stopping minocycline or if it is the accutane IB...shit sucks not knowing, but oh well.

As far as my eyebrows falling out, my derm gave me a prescription for Latisse. That shit may not becovered by my insurance and costs about 150-200 for a small ass bottle. It is used to grow eye lashes, but it can work for eyebrows also. If anyone reading this has ever used Latisse, please let me know of your experience AND if it was for your eyebrows. If all else fails, my ass is gonna get a freaking hair transplant for my eyebrows because I am NOT about to be out here going out with no damn eyebrows. The price for eyebrow transplant around my area ranges from 1500-5k AND oooooooweeeee that is expenssiveee!!!! but I do not care, my eyebrows are more important to me than money. I just pray that I dont reach that point 😉

yall have a good day/night and may a acne vaccine or cure show up tomorrow so that we all can be cured of this disease 🙂 (wishful thinking)

Day 20 of about 730 or some crazy amount of days...- (If i stay on 20mg daily)

well, today marks the day that I finished my 2nd boxof the 30 pills and my acne is still worse than my original pics (sigh) and today was a day i felt really down. I know its not accutane making me feel that way, but just the struggle has hit me and this usually happens every once in a while. It sucks to see new acne pop up and even today at work, I went into my car and saw a pimple under my lip that popped up WHILE I was at work. It was literally not there when I got to work, but happened to pop its acne face up while I was inside. Shit irks me but I gotta keep truckin.

i have 2 big pimples on my neck (I think they are called cysts) and out of desperation I sawthat vicks vapor rubworks on cysts to bring the inflammation down. So for the past 2 days I have been doing that and I believe it is working. The inflammation on both the cysts have gone down and is noticeable when i touch them. I have a pea-sized cyst next to my eyebrow that has been there for almost 2 weeks now and I am going to put some vicks on that bad boy tonightto see what happens.These type of pimples Im talking about are the ones that stay on you for WEEKS! And are huge and red and embarassing. (I CURSE U ACNE GOD)

ANYWHO, the celtics and 76er's play today and I am definitely gonna watch it. Gonna root for the 76er's and hope they make it to the east conference finals (NBA aka basketball for all you who dont know)

On another note - does anyone know any additional information on the acne vaccine that the University of San Diego created? I emailed and called the doctor who created it and the only thing i see about it is that it is ready for human trials and that was written inlast year April. There is no new information on this and I would really appreciate anyone who does know about what stage it is in. One article said that it could be available by 2020 and another said it would take several years.

One other thing...does anyone know if I can change the title of my thread? I would like it labeled so that it shows Im doing a low dose treatment. If an admin can help me with changing the title, that would be awesome! 🙂

Everyone have a good day/night!!

P.S.Life goes on and we have to try our best to make the best of it. One thing I know is that I used to live with severe acne (way more than what I have now back in theday when i was 15-20 years old) and I did so much with my life and even had relationships and was very out-going. Joined the military and made many close friends that I hanged out with. Acne cannot get the best of you and you must not let it.

One person i looked up who was in front of cameras constantly who had alot of acne is named Marcus Smart (now plays for the boston celtics) and that man was in front of cameras all the damn time and his acne was pretty bad. It never stopped him from making it into the NBA. He would do his interviews with 20 cameras in his face and he never seemed bothered by him having acne. Truly inspirational and stuff like that helps me get through the down days that I experience.

Love and peace to all my fellow acne sufferers 🙂

Day 26 -

just got my first month blood work done and the lady who took blood out of me sure did jam that damn needle in my arm because i reeeallllyy felt it!!!! I hate needles, but it was quick so i cant complain.

In regards to accutane, my few cysts have been going down in size and it may be because of the vicks I am applying, but I was hoping vicks would be working better/faster than what it is. I think tonight i will try a different all natural type of rub that i bought that is similar to vicks annddd I will try vaseline also. I have about 3 cystic type pimples on my face/neck so i will experiment by putting one of each product on each one to see how each of them respond. Cystic acneis the worst so I am going to find out the best way of getting rid of them before they get big OR to lower the inflammation as quickly as possible. 😉

Honestly, my eyebrow loss/thinning is what plagues my mind...even moreso than acne. I mean, i lived with acne for over 15 years, but i always had my damn eyebrows. If anyone reading this can provide any type of helpful information to stop my eyebrow loss/thinning, I would be super greatful. My derm gave me latisse and i have applied it for about 5 days now, but that shit dont usually kick in until about 3 months (for most people). I cant stress about it cuz stress is a cause for hair loss (and acne) but mannnnnnnn lossing the eyebrows is not a good look in front of the ladies lol.

An annoying thing from the accutane is the dry lips. Dr. Dan cortibalm works but i feel like i have to apply it every 30 mins or so and i drink a crap load of water and putting my dr. Dans cortibalm lips on my high quality h20 I drink (walmart brand lmao) doesnt really sit well with me. I may need to explore the depths of amazon and see what other lip balms are out there for me to use my money on.

If I was a million or billionaire, i would invest my money in finding a cure for acne. I am surprised no one has done this since it is the most common skin disease in the world. I recently found out that the acne vaccine from the university of california failed its initial trials and is no longer active. When the guy over the phone told me, my heart just sank and i said fffuucccccc***** with the guy on the phone lol. We are in 2018 and the most common skin disease has no cure smh. It is QUITE infuriating.

Well ladies and gents, today is another couple games of basketball and my puerto rican ass is gonna watch every single game ;-). I hope yall have a good night/day and may the acne on yo' face and bodybe gone by the time you wake up tomorrow!

- peace and love and no stress!!!