Hi there.  It seems accutane has a different affect on everyone from reading all the posts here.  I am definitely one of them.  I totally understand about avoiding certain situations due to acne.  I am 37 I am taking accutane a 4th time.  That is of course not to scare you at all. I actually have a few friends who went on accutane at 16 and they are also in their late 30's and their skin still looks amazing.  I think I just have that unfortunately really hard acne to treat due to genetics, and hormones.  I can say my acne never came back as badly as before accutane.  My main issue is severe oily skin  as in within 30 minutes of washing my face and I mean on face, back and scalp and lots of closed comedones all over my back and face.  What really brought me back to the derm was the severe back acne that came back about a year ago and haven't had that in years. Nothing seems to work other than accutane, but for some reason for me as soon as I go off accutane all the oil comes back and black heads and white head. I am a little disappointed that I went in for my last month of accutane of a 5 month course today and the derm was actually talking to me about maybe having to go on it again at some point!  I don't think I will though as much as I hate how bad skin dictates my social life and confidence. I am very lucky  I have not had severe side effects like many users on this site have had.  All that to say definitely invest in Aquaphor!  I never stop putting it on my lips and I actually now have to put it in my nose because my nose is so dry.  I use Cetaphil cleanser from the drug store or Purity cleanser from Philosophy.  I use cetaphil oil free moisturize with sunscreen and I sometimes use a oil free night time moisturizer as well. Prepared to be red.  Im perma red all the time and my hands get really dry to which I use lotion and mix it with aquaphor.  I hope it works for you there are lots of great suggestions on this site on what products to use while on accutane.  Good Luck!

Hey  oh God that must be so annoying I really feel for you. To be honest I'll probably be one of the unlucky ones too if it's not one thing with my skin it's the other. If your skin is improving with accutane although not perfect maybe it is helping but you just need a few round to really help kick it. You said you had really bad back acne ,do you get it anywhere else on your body or just your back ?  With my folliculitis I got really bad spots all over my chest and back and it looked just like acne, maybe that's worth thinking about. I really hope either way you get it sorted because it's not fair. Have you tried birth control as well as accutane?  My derm told me I should stay on dianette for as long as I can after stopping accutane and his example was 'accutane puts the oil glans to sleep and stopping dianette will wake them up' I don't know how true this is. 

Thanks for your suggestions looking through some posts cetaphil and aquaphor definitely look like necessities. I'm on day 4 and no side effects yet but I want to be ready haha. 

Keep me updated with how it goes for you! 

Hi, I just wanted to say hi. I'm a 27 female on day 10 of takingIsotretinoin 30mg and I'm starting to see some of the commonside affects. I'm thirsty all the time, the skin on my hands is really dry- I'm having to wear moisturising gloves on a night to stop my skin from cracking open. My lips are dry, my scalp is dry, I'm losing my appetite (but I'm not sure if that's the tablets or all the water I'm drinking) and as of today I'm feeling achy in my arms/legsand my lower back aches.

I've suffered from acne on and off since I was 19 and over the last 2/3 years it's got worse. Honestly I feel a bit like a fraud because mine is only mild but it is incredibly painful, some days I can't even let my kids touch my face.

It would be nice to talk to someone else who is going through it, swap tips, maybemoan about it all.

I really hope it works out of you x

On 30/12/2015, 21:05:48, Llydia said:

Hi, I just wanted to say hi. I'm a 27 female on day 10 of taking Isotretinoin 30mg and I'm starting to see some of the common side affects. I'm thirsty all the time, the skin on my hands is really dry- I'm having to wear moisturising gloves on a night to stop my skin from cracking open. My lips are dry, my scalp is dry, I'm losing my appetite (but I'm not sure if that's the tablets or all the water I'm drinking) and as of today I'm feeling achy in my arms/legs and my lower back aches.

I've suffered from acne on and off since I was 19 and over the last 2/3 years it's got worse. Honestly I feel a bit like a fraud because mine is only mild but it is incredibly painful, some days I can't even let my kids touch my face.

It would be nice to talk to someone else who is going through it, swap tips, maybe moan about it all.

I really hope it works out of you x

Hi ,

Oh no it sounds like you've got the side effects quite bad already, probably cos you're on 30mg , I'm only on 10mg so my side effects aren't too bad ( yet) haha. My lips are really dry and I'm really thirsty now that I think about it, but nothing too bad up to now. It's strange but the most of my face it feels bruised when I touch it like by eye and my cheeks, don't know if it's me being thinking too much but maybe it's something to do with it. 

Urgh I know the feeling, my nephew likes to stroke my face when he goes to sleep bless him haha, can't wait till the day my skin is actually nice and smooth. I'm the same mine is only mild but sometimes it can get a lot worse but in short bursts it's weird. Right now my skin is actually doing really well, I have one annoying huge spot/cyst on my right cheek but that was there before I started , and I haven't had any new spots since so fingers crossed it's starting to work, I don't ant to get my hopes up though I up my dose to 20mg tomorrow so maybe I'll start breaking out soon. Have you had an initial breakout yet and how is your skin doing ?

Same to you! Let me know how you get on 

Hey! I've got mild-moderate acne, very persistent (tried everything except roaccutane) and it leaves scars. Im thinking of starting roaccutane in August, on the advice of my dermatologist. I know they are the expert but does anyone have advice on their experience? Thanks