Hey everyone... I have had a lot of redness (well pinkness, actually) since going on accutane 10 years ago. I flush really bad and my whole face gets really red way too often.

 

I am going to try the v-beam laser in a couple weeks. I was wondering if anyone here has heard of it.

 

Also, in short... without reading all the 35 pages on the thread what can I take away from all the advice given here? I see there is some good stuff here, just not sure what to do.

 

Thank you much.

I'm sorry, but I can't really shorten it for you. I really recommend reading it all because what may have been important to me may not be important to you. What I can tell you is that some people have found that lasers helped them while for others they did absolutely nothing. Also, some people have found that their accutane induced flushing virtually disappears while on anti malarials such as mepacrine, but you must remain taking the drugs as they don't cure the problem (at least not with short term use). It really depends on how bad your flushing is. I'm assuming it must be pretty bad if you still flush 10 years post tane.

Hey everyone... I have had a lot of redness (well pinkness, actually) since going on accutane 10 years ago. I flush really bad and my whole face gets really red way too often.

 

I am going to try the v-beam laser in a couple weeks. I was wondering if anyone here has heard of it.

 

Also, in short... without reading all the 35 pages on the thread what can I take away from all the advice given here? I see there is some good stuff here, just not sure what to do.

 

Thank you much.

 

 

I'm sorry, but I can't really shorten it for you. I really recommend reading it all because what may have been important to me may not be important to you. What I can tell you is that some people have found that lasers helped them while for others they did absolutely nothing. Also, some people have found that their accutane induced flushing virtually disappears while on anti malarials such as mepacrine, but you must remain taking the drugs as they don't cure the problem (at least not with short term use). It really depends on how bad your flushing is. I'm assuming it must be pretty bad if you still flush 10 years post tane.

 

It is sort of bad... but I have lived with it for a while now so I'm used to it. I am hoping the v-beam laser helps. If it does I will get back to you. Thanks...

I urge caution with lasers, ensure you get a test patch done first. IPL sent my rosacea from upper moderate to SEVERE.

Hey Lamarr, JT how are things? Not bad here, still taking Mepacrine, been about 6 weeks and it is sure making a difference Flushing is not gone but it is slowly getting better as time passes, I can only hope for continual improvement. I am actually waking up without a really red face, some days not red at all and the nose swelling has also improved as it was worst in the mornings. Hope things continue to progress in a positive manner (knock on wood).

Lamarr, the only thing the Mepacrine isn't making much of a difference with is my occular Rosacea. This is quite bad, troublesome. I get red eyelids and under eyes as well as the inflammation within the whites of the eyes. I also get the swelling of the eyelids and lose eyelashes when it flares up. Did Mepacrine help your occular Rosacea at all? If so, at which point did you notice improvements? If not, what else do you use to combat your occular Rosacea? I am just using OTC eyedrops and Visine at the moment to help the dryness and gritty sensations. I also get temporary blurred vision when it flares up.

The Mepacrine though I am just so greatful for that it is helping with the overall flushing and swelling of my face. I have been really quite amazed. I could feel a difference from about the 2nd or third day in, I started to get this sort of pale wash over my face that I hadn't seen since prior to this whole debacle.

Well hey bro, just also wanted to say THANKS A LOT for all your help as if it were not for you I would not have known about Remeron, Clonidine or Mepacrine. All things I brought to my Dr based on your advice. Especially the Mepacrine. THe internet is also a blessing, I can't imagine where I would be without these medications as the Rosacea I developed was severe, especially the flushing.

Let me know about the Occular Rosacea if you can when you have a few...be well.

Two things I started taking recently are really working. Vitamin K cream is one. I was told to take this after I get the V-beam laser done to reduce swelling. Well I started using it prior to getting v-beam and it helps relieve redness. I read it is taken by those with rosacea. The other thing I am taking is propanolol. This was prescribed to me by my doctor after mentioning I get very red flushes when giving presentations. It keeps me from turning red and it actually helps relieve stage fright. It's good to use stuff that works for once.

I feel bad for you guys.. drugs can really hurt people. it amazes me how much drugs are prescribed these days. and then some people go as far as taking different drugs to help what the other drugs did to them before.. to me its a big snowball. I'm not trying to be an asshole... just trying to open up some eyes

I feel bad for you guys.. drugs can really hurt people. it amazes me how much drugs are prescribed these days. and then some people go as far as taking different drugs to help what the other drugs did to them before.. to me its a big snowball. I'm not trying to be an asshole... just trying to open up some eyes

Well im gladly introducing you to my friend Mr. Flush, and after that meet we can talk again. It might just be your eyes thats closed..

Hey Lamarr, JT how are things? Not bad here, still taking Mepacrine, been about 6 weeks and it is sure making a difference Flushing is not gone but it is slowly getting better as time passes, I can only hope for continual improvement. I am actually waking up without a really red face, some days not red at all and the nose swelling has also improved as it was worst in the mornings. Hope things continue to progress in a positive manner (knock on wood).

 

Lamarr, the only thing the Mepacrine isn't making much of a difference with is my occular Rosacea. This is quite bad, troublesome. I get red eyelids and under eyes as well as the inflammation within the whites of the eyes. I also get the swelling of the eyelids and lose eyelashes when it flares up. Did Mepacrine help your occular Rosacea at all? If so, at which point did you notice improvements? If not, what else do you use to combat your occular Rosacea? I am just using OTC eyedrops and Visine at the moment to help the dryness and gritty sensations. I also get temporary blurred vision when it flares up.

 

The Mepacrine though I am just so greatful for that it is helping with the overall flushing and swelling of my face. I have been really quite amazed. I could feel a difference from about the 2nd or third day in, I started to get this sort of pale wash over my face that I hadn't seen since prior to this whole debacle.

 

Well hey bro, just also wanted to say THANKS A LOT for all your help as if it were not for you I would not have known about Remeron, Clonidine or Mepacrine. All things I brought to my Dr based on your advice. Especially the Mepacrine. THe internet is also a blessing, I can't imagine where I would be without these medications as the Rosacea I developed was severe, especially the flushing.

 

Let me know about the Occular Rosacea if you can when you have a few...be well.

No problem man, your rosacea symptoms sound identical to mine....Unfortunately mepacrin didn't help my ocular rosacea in the long run. I currently use genteal severe dry eye gel, take curcumin 500mg twice per day and use rosex gel applied to my eyelids twice per day. This does give me some significant relief but my eyes are still pretty bad. something called tranquil eyes helps aswell, give it a read over.

Get some rosex gel for sure though it helps somewhat. I tried protopic for a while once per day applied to the lids. It got rid of the inflammation and dryness but gave me severe burning (it is a side effect of the drug) which normally wears off as your body adjusts (mine never did). Worth a try also though....

I ask for most of these drugs off of Chu, he hadn't even tried the rosex or protopic for ocular rosacea but was willing to give it a try.

The mepacrin will continue to improve your rosacea up to about the 6th month mark so you have further improvement to look forward to!!

Take care

I feel bad for you guys.. drugs can really hurt people. it amazes me how much drugs are prescribed these days. and then some people go as far as taking different drugs to help what the other drugs did to them before.. to me its a big snowball. I'm not trying to be an asshole... just trying to open up some eyes

when accutane side effects are great enough in severity and numbers, to the point of them severely hampering your life, then you end up with no other choice.

All right guys I go to the Rhuem tomorrow, hope things go better this time, Seattle I will let you know, I did have my Vit D3 upped by my internist recently, really all it has helped w/ is the bone clicking....

Lamarr1986- If I don't get help tomorrow you tell Dr. Chu I am coming all the way across world to stalk and hunt him down for help....LoL

What Curcumin brand are you taking???? I have some tumeric supplements not sure if I see a differnce with the eyes????

How is the raynaud's like symptom? I notice now that it is colder here in the states my hand is acting up with that again...

Does anyone know how Sheefa is doing?

Hey guys

well stopped mepacrine and skin got worse which I expected and redness started to show and go over the yellowness but still a tad bit yellow

now i have my red butterfly rash while still flushing and it sucks and to top that still a bit yellow

I have been on doxy for over 2 months and it really has not done anything for me which im pretty shocked

Lamar im thinking about asking my doctor for plaquenil,as I believe anti-millarials are the solution because they heal the skin inside but wondering how should I ask him for it? and since your moms on it can you please reply/pm me with what i should say and how its safer then he thinks/and what not.

Because I dont know what he has against plaquenil but he would not prescribe me that over mepacrine which is a drug he can't even get in canada and has to compound it.

seriously apart from being yellow with mepacrine,I had no rashes/rough skin/serious flushing like I do now and to top it all off I am getting more mild acne from all this rough shitty skin and stress and it is fucking confusing to me since i am on doxy which is supposed to help with acne.

and If I could get plaquenil I believe I could get rid of these problems and escape the yellow part

From what I've researched, Plaquenil is very dangerous as well as Accutane. Particularly, the eyes check-ups seem scary :\

All right guys I go to the Rhuem tomorrow, hope things go better this time, Seattle I will let you know, I did have my Vit D3 upped by my internist recently, really all it has helped w/ is the bone clicking....

 

Lamarr1986- If I don't get help tomorrow you tell Dr. Chu I am coming all the way across world to stalk and hunt him down for help....LoL

 

What Curcumin brand are you taking???? I have some tumeric supplements not sure if I see a differnce with the eyes????

 

How is the raynaud's like symptom? I notice now that it is colder here in the states my hand is acting up with that again...

 

Does anyone know how Sheefa is doing?

Well I hope your rheumatologist appointment went well. How much D3 are you taking now? I still haven't heard anything from Sheefa, sorry...

Halfpipe,

The reason is probably due to the eye toxicity, but if you do your research on it you will see that its not as dangerous as you would think. The eye toxicity doesn't appear over night and generally occurs with chronic use of too high of a dose. If you get regular eye checks while on plaquenil you shouldn't have a problem. Most cases I have found tend to be with people that have been using it for years and at too high of a dose. I presume you stopped the mepacrine because of the yellowing?

Soul,

Hey man I'm glad to hear its working out for you. I'm in the process of getting plaquenil from my doctor so we'll see how it goes.

Lamarr,

Hey man quick question. I know in the past you said that you lift weights. I'm curious to know if you take any supplements for it (protein powder etc.)?

At the moment im just using cheap jarrow 500mg curcumin, 120 pills to a tub. My raynaud's isn't to bad the mepacrin works well for that. I have sheefa phone number so we occassionalyy exchange text messages, but it's been atleast 4-6 weeks since we last spoke. I'll text him later.

"italianboy" Plaquenil is NOTHING like accutane. So long as you are having blood tests and eye tests you will be fine.

Yeah i lift weights on and off and take whey protein 90% isolate only. No additives or sweetners etc. I try and keep the number of these down now though, i have read that high protein diets can lead to a loss in bone density...

Yeah but you're gonna most likely have to take it for longer than Accutane

Best option would be not taking anything actually

Lamar what does curcumin do? you just take that now,no mepacrine? does curcumin help with flushing/redness?

I am thinking about starting to take vitamin D3,thoughts?

Halfpipe,

Taking Vitamin D3 shouldn't have a negative effect on anything if that is your concern. Just make sure you get a good brand because the quality can vary. Personally I take Carlson Lab vitamin d3 2000 IU once daily. The best thing about Vitamin D3 is that it is pretty much dirt cheap. Other than that just make sure you get your blood tested every 6 months or so to make sure you don't end up with too high of levels. Even that concern is minor as it is very difficult to get too high of levels. If you haven't had your levels tested you should get that done first to see where you currently are at. The common perception is that 50-70 is the healthiest range, but I would argue that 70-90 is actually better for you (definitely want to be above 50 though). I know your question wasn't directed at me, but I went through the same process a couple of months ago so I figured I could help out.

Lamarr,

I'm with you on a high protein diet. You definitely want to keep it in line with your carb intake. When I was able to lift I was taking 20-30 grams of whey after lifting and that is pretty much it. I have to be very careful of the quality I get because I found that many of them increased my acne.

Yeah but you're gonna most likely have to take it for longer than Accutane

 

Best option would be not taking anything actually

If you don't have post accutane sides then you have no business on this topic. This is NOT a debate thread. I'm not trying to be a dick, but at the same time I'm not going to argue with you about something that you know nothing about (assuming that you do not have post tane sides)...

Hey seattle thanks for the quick reply

there is actually a person on the rocasea group forum whos flushing has been greatly helped from vitamin D and actually cured I believe and helped so much for redness and other symptoms

how are your results if you have been taking it?

and there are threads on here from people who says it keeps there skin Clear!

I am also getting orthognathic jaw surgery this summer and I am really worried

its still my decision on if i wanna get it or not but my orthodontist is recommending it

could this make my flushing/rosacea worse?

there is obvious swelling after but its supposed to go away/down

Allright I don't have much time right at the moment, but Seattle,Lamarr- I got Plaquenil I didn't even have time to even mention Accutane. He took one look at me, and did some tests in the office, looked at some of my previous notes of how steroid only helped my joint and tendon issues....

Seattle-I will send you a pm maybe this will help for your doctor to give it to you.

Lamarr-I will try and read back to some of your posts, I may have some questions, so I may email you. I am a little nervous with the med senstivity I developed after ingesting the poison.

Halfpipe-I argee with Seattle, I had low vit D levels after Accutane, I had my levels checked and was very low, probably part of the retinoid related osteopenia I developed. I found my bone don't click as much, My mood improved and my memory....I guess some of my flushing was helped, not sure though to be honest since I had other problems to on accutane. Get your levels checked, even though it is hard to overdose on Vit D...My doctor said 70-90 was optimal.

I hope this works...

Hey Jen,

Just replied to your email.

One thing i want to remind everyone who is suffering from tane side effects is this... We aren't your typical patient in many many ways, we require a doctor and treatments which think slightly outside of the box.

For example i and many others on old accutane forums find sunbeds help things quite alot. Not only will you be upping your vitmin D levels, you are helping inflammation by effectively killing t cells.

I really recommend buying one and laying under it for 15 mins twice per week. I am looking at preventing my health getting any worse and i think things like this will help do this.

Doctors probably wouldn't recommend this and would warn against skin cancer. But lack of sunlight is just as harmfull as to much sunlight. simply cover your face and hands and then you don't have to worry about wrinkles and age spots.

It will help relieve some of the inflammation and prevent low vitamin D levels thus maintaining bone density etc.

Lamar what does curcumin do? you just take that now,no mepacrine? does curcumin help with flushing/redness?

 

 

I am thinking about starting to take vitamin D3,thoughts?

I still take mepacrin, about 300mg per week. I take curcumin twice per day, helps with my eye inflammation. It may help the flushing but i can't comment on that anymore. so long as you don't get a flushing response to it, it should help.

Lamar im thinking about asking my doctor for plaquenil,as I believe anti-millarials are the solution because they heal the skin inside but wondering how should I ask him for it? and since your moms on it can you please reply/pm me with what i should say and how its safer then he thinks/and what not.

They don't heal the skin directly, they just relieve the inflammation in the right way, without and serious side effects.

Just explain the relief mepacrin gave you and say so long as your having regular eye checks you will be fine!

Yeah but you're gonna most likely have to take it for longer than Accutane

 

Best option would be not taking anything actually

Please don't try and be a smart arse. I'm sure if any of us had the option we would of probably never taken any drugs. Hopefully you won't pick up any side effects on your accutane course and find out what us guys are going through.

I am also getting orthognathic jaw surgery this summer and I am really worried

 

its still my decision on if i wanna get it or not but my orthodontist is recommending it

 

could this make my flushing/rosacea worse?

 

there is obvious swelling after but its supposed to go away/down

What kind of surgery, my dad is a dentist so with mine and his knowledge i would probably be able to give you a good answer.

its orthognathic jaw surgery

type it in a youtube and theres some crazy pictures/storys of what people went through and asking your dad would be great

so if plaquenil not heal the skin directly..and mepacrine does that would mean there totally different and I would not get the same benefits..?

Allright I don't have much time right at the moment, but Seattle,Lamarr- I got Plaquenil I didn't even have time to even mention Accutane. He took one look at me, and did some tests in the office, looked at some of my previous notes of how steroid only helped my joint and tendon issues....

Seattle-I will send you a pm maybe this will help for your doctor to give it to you.

 

Lamarr-I will try and read back to some of your posts, I may have some questions, so I may email you. I am a little nervous with the med senstivity I developed after ingesting the poison.

 

Halfpipe-I argee with Seattle, I had low vit D levels after Accutane, I had my levels checked and was very low, probably part of the retinoid related osteopenia I developed. I found my bone don't click as much, My mood improved and my memory....I guess some of my flushing was helped, not sure though to be honest since I had other problems to on accutane. Get your levels checked, even though it is hard to overdose on Vit D...My doctor said 70-90 was optimal.

 

I hope this works...

That is exciting news! I look forward to your PM as I want to hear about all the details haha...