Hey, don't know if anyone will read this. Doesn't really matter though. Someone might, if you are, hello!
Just some background info: I'm 21 male. Never really had acne though I did get a few pimpels when I was 18, but they faded. I would break out occassionally but nothing special. However a few months ago it started getting worse and although my face isn't all lumpy etc, it's very red and looks terrible. I have a few lumps on my jawline.
So I finally went to the dermatologist and he said I have nodular acne! Said I need to start a course of Decutan for 4 months (hopefully no more)
And so it begins.
Day 1 - Everything Tastes of Lipsalve
So I managed to buy Decutan thank god! I was worried I would have to wait a week. I took my first pill this morning at about 11. I know I should have waited for a meal but I was too excited to start lol and didn't feel like waiting, but I had just had breakfast a bit before anyway!
About 5 minutes after taking the pill, I immediately started imagining my lips drying up. I say imagine, because I tend to fear the worst! But I just started using lipsalve right away 
Had a small nap this afternoon and when I woke up I felt kind of stuff but I doubt too that that is the medication! Was doing a lot of climbing yesterday...
Its 6:30pm now and just had shower and moiturized face. I had a tiny whitehead appear in the corner of my nose but it vanished after the shower. Overall, don't really feel any different!
REALLY DREADING THE IB. Hope to avoid if possible
My skin is quite smooth (other than jaw line and a cpuple of placs on my forehead... Wonder if that means it'lll work quicker? Or am I being too hopeful 
Day 2 - Not too Bad!
So this is a morning update... I'll write again in the evening.
Day 1 was not bad at all, I was expecting to wake up covered in horrible whiteheads! In fact by yesterday evening my face already seemed to look a little better (imagination?) although it did make the one whitehead i had (pre-decutan) a little larger. Then I went out till about 330am (not drinking, rarely drink much anyway but won't be touching a drop till after the pills) and when I got home I did have a new whitehead developing to the left of my chin.
Woke up this morning and the whitehead I thought was developing did kind of emerge, but it was already small and dried up so that's good 
So I'm happy so far. Just took me day 2 pill, hopefully today won't bring any nasty surprises!
Only side effect so far is the dry lips. I moisturize with SIMPLE oil balancing moiturizer after shower and haven't had any dry skin so far.
I don't feel the urge to jump when I stand by a window either!
Gotta go to uni in a couple of hours to do an assignment I;ve got for tomorrow, Only known about it a month!
EVENING UPDATE:
So my face did get a bit dry this afternoon but the moisturiser worked well for me
I did get a couple of small white heads too but they've all gone now excpet for one, and it's not a big or painful one so not bothered about it.
The big whitehead/lump thing (sorry I have no idea what the correct terminology is!) EXPLODED this evening before my shower and I spent about 15 minutes dabbing it with a tissue (sorry for the horrible details). It literally burst on its own, I did not touch it at all. Is that ok? It made the area around it a bit red.
Showered and moisturised and waited 20 mins for my face to "recover" (I get scared to look at my face right after I moisturise!) and its lookin ok! the eyebrow pimple which burst is already lookin a bit smoother and not too angry lookin. The lumps/pimples I had on my jawline are much lower and/or dried up and literally falling off lol. I found one on my facecloth (eW!)
So right now my main fear is that eyebrow pimple becoming much worse tomorrow after the explosion 
Can't wait for the day when I no longer have to duck away from mirrors! Or look at people in the face when I speak to them and not feel embarressed. Or go to bed at night and not have to decide which side of my face I can sleep on! (or try force myself to sleep facing the ceiling!) You get the drift
Btw I read through my earlier posts and saw a lot of typos, sorry about them but I am literally typing my thoughts out and if I had to proof read this i'd end up deleting half of it!
Day 3 - Ah Bliss
Morning Update: It is 6:23 AM 
Decided I will wake up at 6AM so that I have an hour to fix my face before catching the bus to uni at 7 
Checked in the mirror after I woke up and I swear my face is really looking better already! Not a single whitehead, the lumps are practically gone, but there is still the redness. Hopefully that starts to fade! Becuase a few weeks ago i had a large cluster on my right cheek and tht left these sort of blotchy purple marks under my skin nad though they;ve faded slowly over the weeks they still show and it's pretty ugly 
Oh yeah I had a few dry patches when I woke up but controlled easily with moisturiser. My lips aren't too dry either, I am eating my toast and I haven;t eaven put on my lipsalve yet and they feel fine. Is it possible that I could be having such a good result with just 20mg and on my 3rd morning? Will update in the noon after I finish from uni at 1. That's about the time I usually have my 'mini breakout' on these pills I've realised
Afternoon Update: Time is 1:32 pm
Just got bak from uni. Went to check face in mirror. AFter 6 hrs straight I usuaully look like hell when I get back but I'm lookin so clear! Just a few small white heads here and there, (which always happens at around this time of the day since starting decutan) but these always go after my late afternoon shower so hopefully it'll be the same today. I didn't moisturise my face at uni once and I have no dry skin yet. Used my lipsalve once or twice but more as a precaution!
So it's day 3 and I'm still happy with how my face is progressing HOpefully these mini whiteheads that appear means I won't get a huge breakout after week 1. That would be soooo bad after having all these positive results!
Evening Update: Time is 8:52 pm
Whenever I feel a bit itchy on the face and it won't go even after ignoring it a while, I now simply dab a little moisturiser over it and it really works.
The whiteheads that came up went down again. I just wish the redness will fade because I'm naturally quite pale! Avoiding the sun is so unnatural to me! But I'm acting like a vampire and walking to the side of buildings etc etc.
The monster eyebrow pimple that exploded yesterday has healed very well so far My forehead feels quite smooth and looks quite clear which is a relief because before Decutan I could feel it on the edge of breaking out! seems to have calmed down,, phew. Got some dried pimples on my jaw line, the lumps are still going down.
Didn't feel too self conscious at uni today! And I just found out my morning lesson from 8-10 is cancelled tomorrow so i can wake up at 8 instead of 6! Mmmmm sleep.
Oh yeah I fell asleep this afternoon again. Don't think it was because of the pills though; I only had 4 hours sleep last night! When I woke up I felt quite drained, but that usually happens anyway. My energy levels seem fine. I'm going to continue going to the gym. Unfortunately I think I have to stop my Heavy Whey Gainer because it has 5000IU of vitamin A ... But I really want to take some sort of shake because i'm naturally thin and these shakes have been really helping me put on a bit of weight (I eat like a pig!)
Anyway goodnight dear reader (me lol tomorrow morning)
Akk accutane buddies! lol jk
I just read your log, theres a part in there where you said your skin felt itchy... me too! omg Im sitting at work right now and where i have acne my skin is like so itcy! the only thing that calms it is when i go home and shower, otherwise my skin feels creepy crawly! Maybe its in my head... ha ha
Anyways good luck!
Day 4 - Left Cheek, Why Have You Forsaken Me?
Morning Update: Time: 8:34 a.m.
So I woke up today and found two white heads on my left cheek, which is supposedly my good side! Trying not to panic 
But I don't think it's much worse than the small whiteheads I was getting yesterday that vanished by the evening. The only difference is these 2 are on my cheek
Pores on cheek seemed to be smaller, because they looked quite large last night. Just looked in mirror, face had little bits of flakey skin all over, so just slathered myself in moisturiser. Thankfully still got 20 mins before I emerge into the outside world. Its quite sunny today, but i'm wary of putting sunblock over the moisturiser! Maybe I'll just try avoid the sun as much as possible... Is 5 minutes exposure okay? Or is even that small amount of time bad?
Oh thanks for comment Rai! ITchy faces are the worst cos it reminds you of the pimples! Also, my friend sent me a vid of this guy who had loads of little worms in his face, giving itchy faces a whole new dimension.
Afternoon Update: Time: 2:41p.m.
I think I'm getting my initial breakout. Well i hope I am cos if this isn't it then the future doesn't look too bright! Since this mornign I now have a whitehead on my lip, and 1 just below, 2 on my left cheek, 1 on my right cheek, and 1 in between my eyebrows. The only good thing is they're JUST little whiteheads, ie no painful lump underneath or anything like that. I'm hoping they will just dry up and vanish!! Maybe by tonight??? *fingers crossed*
Face is still quite red.
Also it feels so strange, kind of dry but at the same time sticky. Eh can't really explain it. Felt quite self conscious today at Uni!!
The GOOD NEWS is the lumps that I had all along my jawline before starting decutan are still smoothening out and drying up and haven't become worse. Gonna go shower now and hopefully in an hour or 2 my face will look better again Tryign to keep positive lol
Evening Update: Time: 10:29p.m.
Well day 4 wasn't as nice to me as the other days but I guess not too bad. Of the white heads that emerged, 2 remain: one on my bottom lip, which i can sort of feel but is drying up I hope, and one on my left cheek which is drying up and I;m sure will be gone by tomorrow. I'm telling you, resisting the urge to burst the one on my lip took a lot of willpower! But I've made an oath not to pop! Cos you know ,once you pop you can't stop. Sorry that was lame.
Ummm..... I think I've been putting on too much moisturiser. I really don't mind having dry skin as long as Im not outdoors but I just thought it was bad for the acne but is it ok for it? as in, if i'm going to be in the house all afternoon should I just not moisturise if it doesn;t bother me? My face is a bit flushed. I slept again this afternoon and woke up with a headache but I don't think that's the pills. HAd another late night last night.
Really hoping tomorrow is a better day!
If anyone can help me my questions are:
1) Should I use LESS moisturiser and only when necessary?
2) Can I eat apples or will I overdose on vitamin A? lol
3) Can I spend a few minutes in the sun walking from A to B or must I use sunblock even for that?
Day 5 - Time to Buckle on Seatbelt
Morning update: Time: 7:01a.m.
I slept really badly last night, and I use the word 'slept' liberally here. It would be more accurate to say I tossed and turned for many hours last night and got a few minutes here and there of sleep.
My face was itching all night. As in itching like it hasn't itched before. It is still itching now. I woke up and I don't have any new whiteheads that I noticed (although my jawline does feel more volatile) BUT i do have a sort of raw bump or 2 on my left cheek which I just KNOW will turn into whiteheads by this afternoon. The whitehead on myy cheek from yest is still there but its very dry and flat. My bottom lip pimple has also dried up thankfully but is still visible. I'm just so sad that my left side of my face is gettin these 'breakouts', because before decutan it was my good side
I'm not saying my lack of sleep last night is def due to decutan because I've often had similar experiences, especially the night before an event I'm dreading (tutorial with architect gotta show him my design plans and don't really have any )
I would feel so much better if my face didn't itch. I tried not to put too much moisturiser this morning. AAAAGHHH its just so frustrating my face feels like I have ants attacking it.*breathes slowly for 10 seconds*
My jawline lumps which were going down first few days seems to have got a bit worse, although the left side might still be doing okay. This is quite depressing as I want to go out tonight but if my face isn't doing well I think i'll stay in
OH YEAH, I have a strange little rash on my left arm, about 2 inches long and an inch wide. Like its a bit red. It appeared yesterday morning but vanished but now I'm eeing it agian. No idea what it is. Sigh def gonna be self conscious at uni today
Afternoon Update: Time: 2:26 p.m.
Sigh uni was a nightmare. I kept feeling my face falling apart lol and i went to the bathroom at a point and looked at my reflection in my mobile phone screen and my lips looked like they belonged to a rotting corpse. I wanted to stay in the cubicle and not get out but I had to. My face also felt reeallly strange and horrible, like it was being pulled, but also it felt oily (and i don't usually have oily skin).
Got home and checked in mirror and it wasn't as bad as I thought lol. I think I was letting my imagination run away with me. Just had shower and need to moisturise. God I hope my face is ok for tonight. I'm skiving my 4 o clock lesson cos I want to try heal for tonight!
Evening Update: Time: 10:04 p.m.
Hey. My face is very red. Must have been too long in the sun today (about 25 minutes on the bus though I did try to shield my face wid my drawing pad, plus walking between buildings). But it might be a side effect redness. My face doesn't feel very good right now. Not very happy. But this is week 1 so I shouldn't expect too much. I read the "what to expect" seciton on the site and it has so far described may Week 1 perfectly (although I still have 2 days to go).
week 1: Usually slight improvement, some people have reported an initial worsening of acne. Skin is red, irritated, and itches.
That's pretty much how it was for me, slight improvement on day 1-3, and then worseing on day 4 and 5. My skin is red, irrititated, and itches. Well at least I'm on track
It says skin clears up in week 2 before breaking out agian, can't wait for the clear up! Hope it happens lol.
Oh yeah, tonight I'm gonna do an experiment. Hoepefully I won't kick myself in the butt for trying this. But I've read that it;s not god to wash face more than twice a day and I've been washin 3 times a day (morning, noon, evening). So today I'm not gonn wash my face tonight and see how I look tomorro morning. Seems insane to me but I won't be going out tomorrow so at least I can hide in my room all day if it goes wrong 
Also I'm drinking too much water I think. I drank about 4 liters today.Anyway I'm gonna try get an early night because I've only been getting a few hours sleep each night and I read that sleep is an important part of the healing process.
OOO OOO I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE HOW MY FACE LOOKS WHEN I WAKE UP ON DAY 6... haha
Gonna try to cut back on this log because I'm starting to obsess too much. I'll drop the afternoon update.
Day 6 - Dead Mosquitoe in My Hair!
Morning: 7:45a.m
Slept horribly again. Maybe got 2-3 hours max. There was a mosquitoe in the room too that kept buzzing near my face and when i washed my face this morning it fell out of my hair, dead. I must have swatted it. That's how badly I slept... I had a dead mosquitoe in my hair.
Oh ye, I couldn;t stand not washing my face, it felt HORRIBLe, so at 3a.m. I finally caved in and went and splashed it. Woke up OKish today, i got a couple of white heads in between my lip and nose area, and the nodules on my jawline don't feel TOO good, but not too bad either.
Will be in all day so at least I don't have to worry about sunlight. I think I got a bit too burnt yesterday.
Is it normal to not be able to sleep? Or should I do something about it? WIll this phase pass?
Evening Update: 09:17pm
Skin improved a lot in the noon with all the white heads going down except 2. Now it's evening, still not bad. However, a white head appeared on my chin and 1 on the right side of my nose, but i could feel them forming all day. BUt face is starting to get itchy again and Its so hard to to touch it, in fact I usually do I picked off a little scab and der was a little bit of blood whic hI had to dab and im SO PISSED OFF ABOUT THAT.
I hope I wake up better tomorrow than I did today. But face seems to be gettin a bit better... (from the IB, its worse than b4 the pills though)
Week 1
Day 7 - Time goes by, so slowly
Morning: 7:16 a.m.
Finally on the last the day of week 1! Wow can't believe how slow it seemed to pass!
Its already been a whirlwind. I was very happy the 1st 3 days. Days 4 and 5 were terrible I felt terrible. Yesterday seemed to be the start of better things (i think).
Today seems pretty much the same as yesterday, although I woke up with less whiteheads. In fact, only 1 or 2 new ones, which i'm sure will dry up by tonight. The annoying ones are on the right side of my nose AAAGHH i hate those, and I have 2 on my chin (haven;t had a spot there in a while, ah well!)
Slept a LITTLE better last night, but still nowhere near what I would like. I prob got about 4.5-5 hours sleep. This is very strange for me lol because I usually need at LEAST 8 hrs. Ah well, maybe that's why the days seem to be taking longer!
Gona try keep positive. Well, as positive as I can be. The nodules on my jaw are still there, the assholes! I can FEEL the beginnings of a pimple forming on the left side of my nose (on the bridge) but hopefully If i stop thinking about it it won't happen
I've been taking my pill with my morning toast. I wonder if that's bad. Maybe I should start taking it in the evening befre bed. Thinking about it, that might be ab etter idea since I always seem to get worse a couple of hours after the pill and improve by the afternoon, so hopefully if I take it the night b4 I will sleep through it all!
Realised why I think it's taking so long. When I read other logs I simply fly through them, and read through days in seconds. I keep forgetting to take it into perspective.
DAy 120 looks very far away from where I'm standing.
TMJ:
Good luck on your course. I'm just about to start month 5, and it IS a bumpy road. If the insomnia keeps up, you need to tell you derm about it. Especially if it started at the same time that you started the meds. Its supposed to all be worth it in the end.... it's just hard to see it that way. Sometimes, taking a break from logging the days makes them go faster....
hey thanks for the reply.
I think you're right. I think I'll only start posting for significant events , or at the end of each week. becase I really am becoming obsessed. I don't want to sound overly dramatic but my spirit has really been crushed. It's not the pills causing depression or anything like that, it's bcause they made me worse. The first few days when I was seeing improvements I was over the moon!
Day 9
So face turns BRIGHT red easily. Anything to reduce that?
Got couple of whiteheads, nothing too bad. 1 on chin, rest in the 'crease' of my nose where it touches cheek sort of. God i hate those i've been getting there for the past 4 days. Also face is very dry today, drier than normal.
The lumps on the right side of my jaw are worse than b4 the pills, I think maybe that's the IB happening there,, since that's where the nodular acne is i think. Cos my face just has the regular spots lol
Managing to Sleep normally again so that's one victory.
Day 10
the lumps on my jaw neck seem to have dramatically decreased overnight wow
Got a couple of whiteheads on my chin, but now all dried up kinda, and a little red lump on my right cheek, plus d usual shit going on in the crease of my nose, but its actualy a good day I think.
However today my face was super red, and super dry. As in more than usual. Hopefully that's a one off. Also I need to get head and shoulders cos my scalp must be dry... each time i touch my hair it snows a little Yuck. Luckily you can't tell by look at my hair.
Umm, bit of obvious advice but don't burst any whiteheads no matter the temptation. I burst one on my chin yest noon and it resulted in redder skin, more whiteheads and generally I was worse off. I hadn't popped one throughout the 9 days and then I did that.. I could have kicked myself! So don't pop they go down very quickly with the pills! 1, 2 days max!
Hey!
only 20mg a day for now, gotta meet up with my derm after 1 month and we see from there.
Some of the doses I read here are just scary! I hope I don't have to go so high, since 20mg is already turning me into a blind leper! My elder brother had MUCH worse acne than me, and he only ever took 30mg a day at the most and cleared up just fine after 4 months and didn't have any serious side effects other than dry lips. Hopefully I'll take after him
what dosage are you on?
Day 11
Good day today
The lumps on my jaw are practically all gone! Its 5:37pm now and the white heads on my chin have dried up and gone, my forehad and nose are pimple free, my left cheek is pimple free except one dried up pimple. My right cheek developed 4 small whtieheas in the noon but they've gone now, however I have a small red lump so that's the only bad part really... oh and a small red lump on forehead.
Hopefully this good trend continues! and i'm praying the red lump on cheek goes down! it sorouted yesterday
Day 12
getting better each day
no white heads
the lumps on my jawline neck are practically gone! All i have is a small/medium red lump on right cheek, and a V small red pimple on left cheek. The rest are all red marks etc. So in certain light my face looks good But in harsh sunlight it drains all the colour and accentuates the redness so i dont look good then
PLEASE LET THIS GOOD TREND CONTINUE!
oh ye, face getting dry far easier now, and my eyes are kinda red too. plus i got a headache yest and had it today a bit too, but not too bad
Day 13
No dramatic changes. Still working on that red lump on right cheek. I feel like I'm progressing. I just wish the red marks would fade....... I noticed a sort of trend for face dryness. IT's very dry in the morning, becoming less so in the noon, and in the evening I hardly need to moisturise (unless I go out)
yeyy 2 weeks tomoorrow, half way through month 1
hey thanks for commenting! Feels nice to know someone is reading!
I'm not sure my acne would be considered severe though, and by that I mean my face isn't covered in pimples. However I have nodular acne (on my jaw line) which is a serious KIND of acne, and the dermatologist said that if I don't do somethign abot that it could leave scarring, hence the accutane.
Right now i don't really have any pimples... just 3 small red bumps which are almost gone, but I have LOADS of redness and markings so I still look quite terrible Especially since I'm fair skinned.
Day 14 + 15
Face is still improving each day Haven't had any new whiteheads for several days now, and the bumps I had are going down by the day! The only thing that makes me self conscious right now are the red marks, and the fact that my face goes bright read after slight exertion.
Any ways to help that?
Day 16
More of the same! Still waiting for those 3 red spots to go, though they are getting better by the day.
Need to moisturise often and put vaseline on lips. Thankfully I've managed to prevent my lips from become cracked so far.
I wonder when the redness will start fading.....................