Hi Ella!

I have just finished a 6 month course of accutane, and while i know many people have had bad side affects, I went through the course with only minor side effects. The main side effects i experienced were dry hands and lips and face, eczema rashes (i think it was eczema, as Ive never had it before, and my dermatologist gave me some cortizone cream for), headaches if i missed a dose, and I started to get a bit dizzy at times which worsened towards the end of my treatment. I have just finished my course two days ago, and while I seem to be suffering light withdrawal symptoms, Im expecting all

My side effects to go away as the roaccutane leaves my body.

I know many others have experienced worse side effects and some that have altered their thinking. That was the main side effect worrying me, and after speaking with my dermatologist, we agreed that any major problems that arose as side affects while on the roaccutane, meant that I should consider stopping the treatment. I was especially worried, as I have previously suffered depression and anxiety. But I seemed to be fine with all that throughout my treatment.

I guess you should give it a go and then if anything is worrying you, you can always stop. You seem to have tried everything out there, so this may work wonders for you when nothing else has. I was in a similar situation to you, having tried lots of treatments, products and lifestyle changes, but nothing worked for me either.

My skin is now blemish free completely, and smooth. I had pustules all over my back, and that is now smooth and free of any pimples as well. Since i have only just finished my course, i am still waiting to see if any of it comes back or if any side effects or other effects stay with me afterwards. Ill write back on this forum and let you know if anything happens.

Also, since you were asking about products, i thought i would share my regime and my favourite serum.

I am used to using lots of products on my skin, morning and night, to keep it clean in the hope of deterring my acne. I used to use cleansers, scrubs, masks, toner, moisturiser, serums and night creams. So it came as a shock to me when my dermatologist tried to encourage me to just use a simple non-comodegenic cleanser and moisturiser. I was given quite a few free samples, and came to use and love the Cetaphil moisturiser for extremely dry

Skin, the QV moisturiser for

face with added SPF30, and the QV face cleanser. I also kept using my Estee Lauder Idealist Even skintone serum. I used to use this before my roaccutane, and while i was cautious about using it while being treated, I started to use it more and more, as I know the accutane is supposed to make your skin regenerate more quickly, so my thinking was that the even skin tone serum should work better with the roaccutane helping to get rid of scarring. Not sure if it really helped or if it was just the roaccutane getting rid of my old acne scars on its own, but I feel that the serum helped. I used it on my arms as well ( even though its a bit pricey) but we had just gotten a new puppy and i always had deep claw marks on my arms because my skin was so fragile. I was worried that i would get scars all over the place because of the scratch marks, but I have put the serum on all my scars and all of them see to have completely disappeared.

Anyway, hope my feedback helps. Let me know if you have any more questions. Only too happy to share my experience with roaccutane.

Cya!

Thank you for the information!

It's stories like these that give me the courage to go through with Accutane since I feel like I've run out of options. I've come to terms that if I do get major side effects, but they were still tolerable, I'll just suck it up. It's kind of funny because just a few days ago, a woman told me she was on accutane a few years ago, and her skin was pretty darn clear aside from two small zits (which were barely visible), but she told me the first few months were horrible.

I'll just have to hope for the best.

I just really want to feel confident again, and not have my life circle around my skin. I'd like my life to not be circled around me doing certain things in fear I'd break out such as worrying what I'm eatting when I'm out, or how I sleep, if something touches my face, etc

How long were you on it if you don't mind me asking and how many mg were you on? The beginning of my treatment has been postponed until Jan 13, because of a mistake that happened with my blood work...I was really upset about it since I would have liked to begin it the first day of January, but my dermatologist is planning to put me on 40 mg. Since I weigh 47 kg, I was okay with it, but I'm worried I'm going to get the side effects right away since I'm not starting on a lower dose and then working my way up.

Oh alright, I'll look into those products, I actually got samples of cetaphil moisturizer but they were for oily skin and so far I've like it. I'll look into Estee Lauder Idealist Even skintone serum, though what's in it? I looked it up and couldn't find the ingredients in it on the website.

When did you start to see improvement and did you have an IB? Also was your skin oily before? and how dry was your face during treatment? Sorry for the questions, but I was wondering if moisturizing the skin would be enough to combat the dryness or was it the kind of dryness that made the skin flaky and peel?

Thank you very much for your help!

Hello again Ella,

Good to bak from you! And I know how you feel. I used to be there, wondering if something i was doin was going to affecty skin. So

I have been free of that paranoia, but Im now waiting to see if i have to go bact to that or not!!

Umm, so i was put on 40mg for 6 packets (equivalent to 6 months worth), and so i had a total dose of 7200mg. Thats just over what i should have had for my body weight. I didn't finish the last weeks worth of capsules though, because i really wanted to finish on the last day of last year, and it didnt matter too much since i had already reached my ideal dosage amount.

I started to see improvents around the 2 month mark. Now I was quite desperate for clear skin because i got married when i was 4 months into the treatment. I had perfect skin from about 3 months onwards so I was lucky. I was having only one tablet a day around the wedding and honeymoon ( and sometime one tablet every second day), so i could enjoy the sun, and have a few drinks, and after that time, I started getting a few zits popping up again much to my dismay. But as soon as I went back to my regular dosage, it cleared up really quickly.

The acne didnt really het worse at the beginning of treatment. It just seemed to stay constant. I didnt have really bad acne though, i just had heaps of those white pustule type ones that take forever to go away unless you pop them. I havnt had one though since they went after I started the treatment. And even when I had some acne after my wedding, it was the little red ones that hurt.

Umm now to your questions about skin. I used to have an oily T zone, so i pretty much had combination skin type. I found the cetaphil moisteriser to be quite hard to rub in, so I wasnt using too much at first. But at work, i started finding that my skin would start getting so dry arouns my mouth and nose areas that it would start to peel beneath my makeup, making me look sick or like I hadnt applied my makeup properly!! So, i found i had to spend a littlw more time in the mornings rubbing more moisteriset into my face. The rest of my body didnt get so dry, but i still tried to rub moisteriser all over on occasion. But my lips, omg, they got so dry!!! I

Would wake up in the morning and yawn ans my lips would spli! So painful! So I got into a really good routine using heaps and heaps of the carmex lip balm and then i would apply elizabeth arden 8 hour cream to my lips at night. I never had split lips after doing all that, unless i forgot to apply.

But, yeah my skin didnt get too dry, mainly because i put heaps of moisteriser on in the mornings. I did find that sometimes I would be in the shower and be just gently rubbing my skin and finding a whole heap of it peeling off! That was a bit scary! Didn't do anything bad though, because my skin just felt softer and smoother when that had happened, even if a little more sensitive.

Oh and Im not too sure with that estee lauder serum. Ive thrown the packet and the info slip ages ago. If you ever go past a counter for estee lauder just ask the sales assistant. They might be able to tell you. Im pretty sure it has lemon in it cos I can sometimes catch the faint scent of lemons when i use it. But yeah, sorry, cant help on that one. I probably have too much blind faith in the product!

Oh and I was also thinking that you should ask your derm to start your treatment off slowly. I started with 1 20mg every second day for 2 weeks, then moved onto

20mg every day for 2 weeks, then was on 2 20mg tablets everyday for the rest of the treatment therefter. I think perhaps it eases your body into the medication, and helps against some of the side effects,

I totally feel the same way as you. Im kinda starting to think again that if i eat this, will i develop some pimples, or if I dont wash my face properly, ill maybe get some. I guess waiting to see what happens after a little while. I havnt even been off for two weeks so Ill have to let you know in a about a months time if anything comes back. Right now, my skin seems a little less dry, which is a good sign!!

Anyway, I tried to answer everything. If I have forgotten

something or you have some more questions, just ask me!