I decided to create my own post because I have spent multiple hours on this site and wanted to get some of my questions answered.

Throughout my life I did not have bad acne at all. Just a couple of pimples here and there that would sometimes be either cystic or inflammed and would take tetracycline to combat the little acne I had. When I got to my sophomore year of college living in a fraternity house, I began to break out much worse mainly around my mouth and lower cheeks. I went to a derm in the town where I go to school who recommended that I start accutanebut since I was hesitant of it she told me to try epiduo for a while and see if that cleared me up. It did not at all and I got much worse. Finally, I gave in and started taking accutane.

First off, I am 6'6 weighing about 210. I started accutane in early December of 2018 and was planning on being done around the beginning of May2019. My doctor dosed me at 100mg from the start (because I weigh so much). The first month I got a horrible IB consisting of Cystic and inflammed acne pretty much everywhere. The next month she upped my dosage to 110 and after a full month of that I was pretty much the same. After the third month I was prescribed an antibiotic that would work with the medicine and it helped a little bit. The 4th month I was prescribed Prednisone with my accutane to reduce the inflammed pimples and bumped up again to 120mg per month. I was on that for a while and ended up gaining a little bit of weight. My doctor knew that I would be on it for at least an extra month but did not know how much longer. The fifth month I was off the steroid off the antibiotics and I have been making very small progress. I am my 6th month now and have been making very slow progress as my breakouts have been slowing down a bit and becoming less inflammed. The only problem is almost every pimple I have had has left behind a tiny red mark so it almost looks as bad as it did when it was broken out. It seemed that my IB lasted 5 months and now it is slowing down because I am only getting 3-4 new ones a week that go away within a couple of days. Throughout the whole treatment I had very mild dry skin (up until about a month ago) and very chapped lips. No other bad side effects. MY doctor is happy with the improvement I have made within the last month but says she does not know how much longer I will need to be on it. Maybe one or two more months.

I clean my face at least twice a day and moisturize twice a day as well.

I drank a good amount while in my first 4 and a half months of accutane because I thought my liver was able to handle it due to my blood results always coming back great. But when I told my doctor that I had been drinking a lot she said that is probably one of the main reasons I have not been responding as well or as fast as I had hoped. Do you think this is true?

A couple of other questions.

Has anyone started seeing positive results in theirlate 6th month early 7th month of accutane?

Do the red dots (which my derm says is not scarring) go away soon?

Can I spot teat the pimples while on accutane?

Thank you!

1 minute ago, CC051 said: