I started accutane 17 days ago. I take 80mg a day. 40 in the am and 40 before bed. I had dryness start around day 3, my face got so red it burned and cetaphil actually burned to apply. The cleaner and moisturizer. I had a ton of zits and dry scabbed areas that makeup made my face look worse. Even my hair wasn't oily after 3 days! I then forgot to make my morning dose for 3 days in a row. My symptoms subsided and now I've not forgotten my full dose for 6 days. The symptoms never returned that badly again. Does this mean it's not working or that the initial breakout was just short? Any thoughts? I do have about 4-5 sore pimples right now, but the first week on accutane it's like all the areas were irritated and pimples everywhere!
I'm not a doctor, so what I say isnt reliable.
I think that your initial breakout may have some relation to what type of acne you have.
I have cystic acne, the type that is way under your skin that sucks really bad. Since my acne stems so deep in the skin I feel that it takes longer for me to get over the initial breakout because it has to flush through so many layers of skin, acne that would have appeared over the next few months had I not taken the tane.
For me, Im on week five and I'm still breaking out like a mother.
If your breakout is really inflamed, you can ask your derm about prednisone, I'm not a doctor but I think they prescribe that for bringing down the inflammation and swelling.