Hi all,
My name's Vicki, I'm a 24 y/o female and after a 5 year long battle with my GP and what felt like every type of acne cream prescription and more antibiotic courses than I've had hot meals, I finally on the 26th October 2023, started my Isotretinoin treatment with my Dermatologist
So for a little bit of background, on assessment my acne was graded at a level 3/4, I get acne in the usual places;
- Face, mostly concentrated around the cheeks and jaw line, with the occasional odd spot making it down to my neck. Along with whiteheads around my nose and upper chin area (under my lip) but my forehead is relatively clear.
- Back/Shoulders/Upper Arms
- Chest
And I also have incredibly oily skin, upon washing my face, 10 minutes later, I am once again shiny as a disco ball I also have rosacea and due to my good old Dermitillanania, I am an avid picker/popper, meaning I have some scarring on my face also.
I'm currently on 40mg a day, and am now just under a week into treatment. I just found this board and I would love to have somewhere to document my little journey because, believe me when I say, my acne has been a huge hit to my mental health and overall confidence the last 5 years and on the day I finally got my Dermatology appointment, I won't even lie to you, I genuinely cried.
I'll try to update this as often as I can and will be happy to answer any questions anyone may have!!
Update, week 1;
Haven't noticed too much of a different in my oil production as of yet. Forehead maybe seems a little bit less oily and same for the cheeks, but nothing major.
We're in the purge phase at the moment, so beginning to get a lot of new spots appear, mostly on the lower portions of my cheeks. A few "under the skin" spots that bloody hurt, but nothing I'm not used to at this point.
No major side effects, had a bit of a headache issue (way more than normal) but I'm just powering through!
I'll drop these photos for reference on what we're working with, but baring in mind these were taken on day 3 of treatment so it'smore of a baseline to go off for improvement. Also for some reason my phone has gone a bit whack with the colours, so try and ignore that, tried fixing it to bring it back to a level similar to real life but honestly that's just too much effort than I care to put into this
Genuinely feels majorly daunting posting these photos online as I have never posted photos of my skin like this so, please be kind
Update, week 2;
Okay, so a little late on the post but the photos were taken on the Saturday so still works for a week two update!
Have started to notice a few more changes on my second week of treatment, mainly BY GOSH ARE MY LIPS DRY Not even like dry as in cracked and sore, but more dry as in they feel so tight and dehydrated and I am constantly having to apply lip balm and I really notice it when I don't for more than an hour or so.
I've also begun to notice some peeling on my face, mainly on my nose, forehead and the top of my chin/under my lips.
Skin is also starting to get sensitive now, if I scratch my face a little too rough, I now manage to scratch off some layers of skin
Still no major dryness yet but I prepared ahead with a moisturising face wash and the biggest tub of Cerave moisturiser I could find which I'm applying twice a day to combat the problem before it starts so this may be why. My face is starting to feel a bit tighter though? I hope that makes sense!
Still got some pretty sore spots on my cheek, but again, nothing I can't handle.
Obviously won't be posting update photos for this as the whole of acne.org doesn't need to see my cleavage but my spots on my chest appear to be clearing up and there's nothing too major there at all now
Here's the update photos for anyone that's interested!