Congrats on making the decision to take accutane! It's a little daunting, but completely worth it just little further down the way! We'll both have clear, wonderful skin in no time. Best wishes

Thanks! Just had a quick look at your log, your results look amazing!

Edit - I've just seen you're starting a second course, good luck!

Day 2

Not much to report (as expected). I woke up with a banging headache this morning (like I'd drank loads of beer the night before) and have had a bit of a headache all day which has gradually been getting better. I've been drinking lots of water to try to counteract the dehydrated-ness, but I usually drink lots of water anyway.

Couple of things I didn't mention before - I was planning to quit smoking yesterday when I started my course but I didn't.. oops. Maybe in a few days. Also I'm trying to eat better, I never usually eat breakfast at all so I'm starting with that (with some ground up flax seed on top), and more fruit. I've read bananas and carrots can cause breakouts but I love those guys so I'll probably carry on eating them, I don't see how they can be bad for you!

Really wish I had a time machine right now..

Day 4

Not much to report. My skin doesn't feel it but it's a bit dry when I wake up. I've started using a little bit of moisturiser in the morning but that's it. Now that I'm writing this I realise I haven't even used any lip balm today, which I guess goes to show my lips aren't getting too dry yet either, I think the Carmex must have helped.

Other than the morning of day 2 I haven't had another "tane-over" ie. waking up with a really bad headache so I guess it was just the first dose. The mild headaches in the day have all but disappeared now.

As for my skin, the breakout I was enduring when I started my course is starting to go away but I'm not putting this down to Roaccutane. I think it would have happened anyway, although maybe a bit slower. Pretty sure I don't have any new spots, although I can feel one under my skin at the bottom of my chin which might surface soon..

I've felt a bit down yesterday/today but I don't think it's due to accutane as I currently suffer from depression anyway and some days it's worse than others.

All in all it's going ok so far, but early days of course

...in a couple of weeks i might also be posting a blog just like this..... i'm really at my wits end and Accutane is the next big thing..actually it is the only thing since i've tried a bunch of topical regimens......... i do wish you're right about it being 96% successful...........

it also took a lot of courage to post my pictures in here.......

aaaaaaaaaaccccccccccckkkkkk......... God Bless and good luck to all of us........

...in a couple of weeks i might also be posting a blog just like this..... i'm really at my wits end and Accutane is the next big thing..actually it is the only thing since i've tried a bunch of topical regimens......... i do wish you're right about it being 96% successful...........

it also took a lot of courage to post my pictures in here.......

aaaaaaaaaaccccccccccckkkkkk......... God Bless and good luck to all of us........

 

I was a bit wrong, it's actually 95% - http://www.acne.org/accutane.html

Good luck with whatever you decide to do. I kept changing my mind too until I finally realised I couldn't carry on like this, I just want to be normal and get my confidence and personality back. I forced myself to stop reading all the horror stories, I tried to think of it logically and realise that it's only a small percentage of people compared to the millions who are successful. After I started focusing on the positive stories I found my decision easier to make, and although I've only just started I feel like it was the right one. This probably doesn't help you much sorry, but yeh it's a hard decision to make that's for sure.

Day 5

I wasn't going to post today but I've decided to be a bit brave and post some pictures (can't believe I'm doing this haha). I feel really embarrassed but here goes, this is my face on Day 5. Getting slightly drier and my breakout that I was enduring when I started the course is really clearing up (although I'm not sure if this is the drug or just naturally occurring).

In comparison, here was my face when I started (urgh):

So yeh, some improvement but I don't know if it's Roaccutane, supplements or just naturally occurring. I have a feeling it's naturally occurring but accelerated by the drying up of my skin.

Edit- Oh yeh forgot to mention, on my day 5 pictures you can see I have/had a whitehead right down on the bottom of my neck! Really weird, but I've read about people getting acne in strange places on Accutane hehe.

Looks like there's already some improvement! I'm noticing that somewhat as well. However, I would not hesitate to believe a breakout is around the corner for me.

Good luck man.

Cheers man! And yeh I feel exactly the same, I'm sure I'll have a huge breakout any day now..

Day 6

I hope I'm not updating this too often but I had something new to report. Last night as I was getting to sleep I kept getting a sharp stabbing pain in my left cheek which was keeping me awake (or half awake anyway), is that normal? I don't remember reading anyone else mention something like that..

I also had a similar pain on part of my chin earlier, on the same area where it feels like a spot is under my skin. Is it just the Accutane pushing all the crap out of my skin which is making it hurt like this? For now it's bearable but I hope it doesn't become worse/more regular.

Cheers

Edit - Oh and I forgot to mention I quit smoking today. I don't think it has much of an effect on acne/scarring but it might so that was another good reason to quit.

Damn, the more I read about accutane, the worse the stuff sounds! I'll luckily never have to go on it cause my acne is just mild and always has been, but best of luck to all of you folks taking the accutane challenge. May it clear your skin for good and leave you without any harmful health problems!

Damn, the more I read about accutane, the worse the stuff sounds! I'll luckily never have to go on it cause my acne is just mild and always has been, but best of luck to all of you folks taking the accutane challenge. May it clear your skin for good and leave you without any harmful health problems!

 

Hmm maybe I made it sound worse than it is, but it's been good so far apart from this last thing. I'm hoping it's just my skin adjusting to the medication and that it will stop when my body has got more used to it

Gratz on quitting smoking. Please keep it up!

Sometimes the really small acne hurts the most - I think sometimes small black heads can hurt quite a bit. Was there any acne where you felt the pain?

Cheers. Whenever I quit I usually go 2-4 months and then end up smoking again, after the hard bit is already over. Hopefully I'll stick to it this time. The adverse side effect of quitting is that I have been biting my lip all day which isn't good as they're also drying up. Munched through quite a bit of skin, oops.

Yeh I am getting a couple of small spots kind of along my jawline on that side so that might have been it, hard to remember where the pain was now. Maybe it was just a one off thing.

Day 7

Quick update: Starting to get worse unfortunately. I have about 6 or so really small whiteheads forming. I have to go to "work" (volunteering) tomorrow and I hate working with customers with my skin like this, grrr. I also have an interview next week so if my skin gets worse it's going to completely trash what little confidence I have. I hope it clears up before then so I can do well, have to wait and see I guess

As for side effects, nothing to report really.

Going through the same thing now lol

Going through the same thing now lol

 

Hehe, yeh I see on your log. It's so weird, they are coming and going so fast. I think I have gained some and lost some since just this morning.

Day 8

1st Week done!

Not very happy with how my face looks at the moment so instead of uploading another picture I'll use this child's colouring page of a clown's face to illustrate my acne:

Ok so I have this big cyst on the lower part of my chin and I'm starting to freak out about it. I've got an interview on Tuesday and I really don't think I can even go through with it if I still have this, it's bad enough with just normal spots. Argh this sucks so much. Not only does it ruin my confidence but apparently, statistically you're less likely to get a job.

So I've heard about cortisone injections? Can anyone tell me more about them? Do they get rid of cysts over night? And is it likely to get an appointment with a derm at really short notice in order to get one? Maybe I could phone up Monday and get an injection the same day, and then the cyst might go down by 4:30 the next day? Thoughts?!

I'm sorry I totally understand how you feel.

Day 10

My face is really sore, still loads of spots, and did I mention it's really bloody sore. No wonder depression is linked to Accutane.. I doubt it's a chemical thing it's probably just because of all the shit breakouts you have to live with.

I'm getting worried now that because I'm on a low dose my IB is going to drawn out for god knows how long. Don't most people get over their IB after a week or so?

From my reading of other logs, it appears the initial breakout can occur any time during the first month, but most often before the 20 day mark.

I've been going through mine for like 4-5 days now. It sucks and it's probably only causing more scarring. I'm changing my pillow case often in hopes to reduce the intensity of the breakout.

Day 11

Well this sucks. So depressing to look at day 5, my skin then looked amazing compared to now. 24 hours before my interview and I don't even want to leave the house.

Aww pal I'm so sorry you're having such a bad time with the IB I know how you feel with the whole interview thing, they are bad enough without acne aren't they?

You should know that you can get hired despite the acne though, I got my first 'real' job (since I left uni) about a year ago now and my skin was really bad then. When I went in I made a joke about it because I was so self conscious and I thought I'd get in there first (something about me being old enough to have graduated from uni despite having 'teenage' skin) and it really helped break the ice I found. They asked me a couple of questions about it, and I ended up telling them that although it looked bad I wasn't going to let a few spots hold me back. Now that was the last thing I believed at that time, I actually wanted to rip my skin off my face myself with my bare hands, but they told me later that I came across as resilient and positive - 2 things employers really like.

I don't know if this story will help you in any way, but hopefully if nothing else you can realise you have as much of a shot as anyone else? I think if you act like it's no big deal, people will believe you (even if it's the last thing you believe).

Good luck!

J x

That's a pretty good story, although I don't think I could ever do something like that! I'll just have to try and not think about it. It seems to be worse every day I wake up though.. dreading what it's going to be like tomorrow. Thanks for the support

ahh, cheer up! i'm in week 4 and going through IB hell as well... my face looks GROSS, but guess i'm lucky i'm a girl and can wear makeup to fortunately cover it up, even if a little it (it's still evident there though)

and the article about acne can impact getting a job thing -- chin up, i work on wall street and as a girl it SUCKS not looking perfect in a world pretty much dominated by apperance haha

here's to hoping we both have clear skin by summertime! )

yo fellow UK-er, I'm just a few days behind you and also in that crappy early rut phase. Face is worst it's been in years atm. You're just starting on 20mg? Did you go through the NHS? I'm starting on a half dose of 30 and being bumped up to 60 in a month or so, and I'm a pretty skinny guy so would've thought that was a minimum for someone of our age. I'm surprised they started you off on such a low dose if you did go through the NHS..

Anyway, enjoy the ride (no that wasn't intended as a sick joke lol), it gets better eventually!