Hi everyone,
I've read this site for a while and have finally decided to make my first post. I've had a long battle with acne, trying all of the typical options -- Differin, Retin-A, Tazorac, The Regimen, antibiotics, etc. I finally was able to get on Accutane this past January, finishing my course in June. The treatment definitely had its ups and downs, but towards the end and for the first 1.5 months afterwards, I started clearing up a lot. Rarely saw a new spot and was mainly concerned with my red marks and scarring. However, I'm now going through a breakout and it's only been two months since I finished the Accutane course. The breakout isn't as severe as my old acne, yet, but it has me really worried for what's to come. My lifestyle hasn't changed in any way that could have triggered the breakout.
Have others experienced one-time (or infrequent) breakouts after Accutane, or is this a sign that I'm going to relapse and need a second course? Acne has a severe impact on my mental and emotional health, so I really don't want to lose that glimmer of hope that I saw right after my treatment ended.
Hey sorry to hear you're breaking out already. I finished my course in July. Like you I suffered from years of acne and tried everything before accutane, I was extremely reluctant to try it because of the side effects! My doctor tried to convince me for 2 years to try accutane before I finally did it. Anyways my skin actually cleared up completely by week 11, which was very surprising to both me and my derm. I had severe cystic acne covering my entire face, neck, shoulders. During the rest of my course I had tiny spots come up, my derm said they were closed comedones. I only had one at a time and they would disappear within 24 hours. I probably only had 4 or 5 of them. During the last couple of weeks of my course I noticed just under my jawline felt rough on both sides when washing and moisturising, on close inspection i realised there were loads of these tiny closed comedones. They are still there now but one side has almost completely cleared up and the other side there are still a lot. They aren't visible thankfully. I don't know what causes them and I don't know if they will go. I have never had these before so I really have no idea. I just remembered also I had one under my bottom lip a couple of days ago and one on my nose a couple of days before that. I hope this isn't the start of acne returning, because I really don't want to do another course of accutane in the future.
What is your breakout like? What kind of acne is it?