On 1/5/2018 at 10:08 PM, alainasic said:

Hi Everyone!
Warning: Long Post Ahead....
So this is my first post but I felt it was necessary bc it might help others lol. I'll start off with a little background on me and my journey with acne. I've struggled with acne on and off (like 95% on) since I was 10, 11 years old, in 5th grade. I'm now 25, about to be 26. The only time it was "off" was when retin A was working when I was using it and for a few years after my 1st dose of Accutane. My acne varied between moderate to severe; when it was bad, oh it was bad but it sure made me grateful the days I woke up with only two or three pimples on my face. I dealt with blackheads, white heads, cysts, red bumps.. It was whatever my face and hormones were feeling for the week. I remember right before school ended my junior year I got a huge pimple that didn't wanna budge right in the middle of my cheek and that was my final straw.. I found a Dermatologist that prescribed Accutane and started it as soon as possible. I'm pretty sure I was on 30 mg 2x a day. I remember from week like 3 or 4ish to week 12ish being absolute hell.. dry skin, which was manageable because of how oily my skin was before, but the chapped lips and cracks around the corners of my mouth is something I won't forget. But just like that it was done, my face was clear. I finally had clear skin by the middle of my senior year and it felt great. Fast forward to 2012ish, I'm 20 years old, stressed because I felt stuck in life and in an unhealthy relationship. My acne started coming back with a vengeance.. I always ask myself if the stress of my relationship made it return or if it was just an inevitable thing. Since then, I've been back on the journey to curing my acne.. the past few years I've been on retinA, starting at .05% strength and working my way up to the strongest dosage after that didn't work. It did nothing, my go to acne medicine didn't work anymore on my skin. I tried a new dermatologist and he had me try epiduo. It did nothing, in fact I actually think it made my face worse. I will tell you, I do not care how bad my face gets break out wise while on a new medicine, if I've made it to that point I'm sticking it out to the 6 month mark because then I know it's not working if my face isn't better by that point. I think benzoyl peroxide makes my face break out more than helping. I started googling "small dosage of Accutane" hoping people have had success jumping over the IB by doing so. I found a lot more information on it then I thought I would and figured nothing else is working at this point so what do I have to lose. But I also found it difficult to find a blog where someone continuously updated on their progress, which is what led me to making this one lol. So at this point my face isn't as oily and isn't as bad as the first time I went on it.. I deal with tiny black/white heads that are everywhere but probably only noticeable to me unless you're close to my face, but oh do they bug the shit out of me. I also deal with red bumps on the sides of my cheeks (mostly my left for some reason) and then occassionally the corners of my mouth/forehead. People say my skin looks good for someone who's going on Accutane (my best friend yelled at me today when I told her bc of how miserable the IB was the first time hahah) but it's literally the only thing left or I continued numerous medicines and creams to maybe never find one that works. But with that being said, my face never has a point where it's completely clear and as a 25 year old it's frustrating. Now my derm isn't my favorite, sometimes I feel like he doesn't understand what I'm trying to say and kind of rushes, but since his office is close and he prescribes Accutane he would have to do lol. I explained I wanted to do a low dose of Accutane and I ended up getting prescribed 40 mg/day but I just can't get myself to start that high, it sounds like way too much. I decided I'm going to start out with 40 mg every other day and see where that goes. I might as well mention I'm a woman, I stand 5 ft 2 and weigh probably around 105 lbs. I'm going to try to keep this as updated as possible and include pictures. Remember everyone reacts differently so please be patient, it is worth the wait! Wish me luck everyone!
p.s I also just got a spray tan in these pictures which always makes my acne look a little less worse hahah

Routine:
-Wash morning and night with dove soap
-Moisturize with Equate All Day Moisturizer that has a 15 SPF (Off brand of Okay Complete All Day Moisturizer)
-40 mg claravis every other day
-Regular chapstick brand chapstick
This might change as I go but that's currently what I'm doing as my routine.

Also, I'm open to suggestions on avoiding the IB so if you have any advice or were one of the people who avoided It, feel free!!!

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Hello,

The risk to you with repeating tane doses becomes quite high. We have people who have taken it for 5 times... and it kept coming back. I am not sure, but I think in some countries repeated doses are banned altogether.

You could invite permanent and irreversible effects for something that may be gone in few years anyway.

I advise extreme caution with this drug.

What halps:
Kefir cultures helped my stomach, and L carnitine can help some muscle side effects. High vitamin d dose might be good as well.

On 1/6/2018 at 8:05 AM, fiksi said:

Hello,

The risk to you with repeating tane doses becomes quite high. We have people who have taken it for 5 times... and it kept coming back. I am not sure, but I think in some countries repeated doses are banned altogether.

You could invite permanent and irreversible effects for something that may be gone in few years anyway.

I advise extreme caution with this drug.

What halps:
Kefir cultures helped my stomach, and L carnitine can help some muscle side effects. High vitamin d dose might be good as well.

Yeah, this was taken into consideration when I was weighing my options but I felt the possible outcome outweighed the risks.. I'm keeping positive and praying this will is the final time I'd ever have to consider being on this drug again. But thank you, no side effects so far muscle wise or stomach wise, but I'll keep that all in mind!

1/8/18 - Day 4:
Hi everyone! Nothing really new to report. I took my second pill on Sunday. I'm not experiencing any side effects, no unusual dryness or more pimples than usual. The pimples I had before seem to be healing, as one or two new ones popped up (nothing out of the normal).
I'll keep you guys updated!

Update - Day 6:
So I've taken 3 pills now, I didn't expect to notice any side effects but I did point out to my mom today how my face was dryer than normal.. My hair I feel is less oily, I'm on day 2 without washing and I usually start to see a little oilyness at this point, making me wanna wash it but not now, not complaining about this side effect though lol.. I've had probably 3 newer pimples that are noticeable since I posted last and the other ones I had seem to be healing pretty well.. I have one huge one on the left side of my face that is taking a little longer to go away but it's pretty big lol hoping I'll wake up tomorrow and it's smaller.. Overall nothing really too out of the ordinary except a little dryer than usual.. Today I did a honey sheet face mask, I love these things, they're the bomb and they're super moisturizering, I recommend them to anyone on Accutane or just with dry skin in general! I'll keep you guys updated!

good luck

On 1/11/2018 at 6:08 AM, fiksi said:

good luck

Thank you!

Update- Day 23:
Sorry I haven't updated! Since I've posted last, my face has been on and off.. New pimples here and there, I was thinking I successfully avoided the IB stage but I'm pretty sure I'm going through it now, the timing would make sense. I've taken 13 pills so far, I take my 14th today. It's funny because my left side is usually breaking out while my right side has an occasional pimple, mannnn but I must of have a lot of stuff under the surface just waiting for the time to pop up. My right has a huge cystic pimple that's in the corner of my mouth, it's finally smaller today, hoping it's healing lol.. smaller pimples around that one that go down onto my jaw line.. I had a few tiny forehead pimples that went away quickly.. And I thought I was dry before, but I obviously forgot how dry.. not as dry as the first time on Accutane but dry! But through this all, my mom looked at me last night after not seeing her all day and goes "oh your skin looks good!" And she's right lol though my face is breaking out, the complexion of my skin is looking better and more smooth! So positive thinking.. I'll keep you guys updated!