I just wanted to share my story and say how accutane was the single-handed best decision of my life.

I suffered from mild acne throughout high school, but got worse around my junior year. Once I started getting it pretty bad, I went on antibiotics. Let me just say this: ANTIBIOTICS ARE THE DEVIL. Speaking from personal experience, they temporary cleared my acne, but then a year and a half later it came back way worse. I really do think antibiotics create these immune bacteria which will eventually make acne much worse.

I went to many different derms and they all said my acne wasn't bad enough to go on accutane, so they continued to prescribe these pointless antibiotic prescriptions regardless of the fact that I told them I have been on them for 2 years (which is way too long). Yes doctors know more than us, but only YOU know your own body. I knew that antibiotics/topicals were not working for me.

Accutane can be prescribed for severe or persistant acne which shows no effect from other treatments. After I encountered a few ugly cysts that destroyed my confidence in daily activities, I knew I could no longer put up with this. I sought out for a derm who would prescribe me accutane. I found a very old dermatologist who prescribed accutane for over 40 years, saying that it is the only way to cure acne. Because of his high success stories, I decided to give it a go. He gladly wrote a prescription for it because he knew the trouble I was going through. I was put on a strict 40mg twice a day regiment throughout the entire 6 month course. Keep in mind I was only 135lbs at the time. I thought it was too high of a dose for me, but it really did provide tremendous results, as the higher the dose, the less chance of remission (something I absolutely did not want).

Sorry for the novel, so I'll shorten it up! The first week of my course, my skin actually got a lot more oily which was odd. I didn't see too much difference throughout the first month until the end of it, though. I started getting these real bad cysts, which pissed me off. After a few days, they got to a point where they could pop...I know popping on accutane can leave scars, but if they are ready to pop, pop them! They went away pretty quickly after popped and it relieves so much pain. Just never use your nails, because accutane makes your skin super fragile all over, so it is super easy to peel off your skin if you dig your nail into it.

My initial breakout didn't end until around month 3, so don't worry if things aren't looking up. To be completely honest, I didn't see any major clearing until month 6, to which I still had a lot of red spots. I did not get completely clear until a month off of accutane, so please give it a chance and if things aren't looking up, do not quit! It will work!

The dryness will suck, the red spots will suck, just deal with it because 4 months after finishing my course, it was hands down the best decision of my life. Chapstick is your best friend. Get aquaphor lip repair, it works wonders.

I even got dry skin patches, almost like eczema during my course. The secret to curing this is to get a super thick moisturizer, such as a tub of cetaphil, and douse the affected area in the moisturizer. I have had bad affected areas clear overnight from this method. No need for an additional derm visit.

The point is, if you are contemplating going on accutane, or thinking you need to quit because it isn't working, you need to know that it will work! So many people have been completely cleared and never returned to this site to tell their success story because they are done with the whole acne battle and never want to go back to it. You only hear of the horror stories online, so ignore them because they are super rare.

Right now I am 100% clear: face and body. Of course I still get the occasional pimple, but it is absolutely nothing to the ones I used to get.

Accutane is a godsend, so stick with it and everything will be alright!