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Complete Accutane Journey & Tips

 
MemberMember
36
(@accutaneinmybrain)

Posted : 05/02/2012 8:32 am

Hi everyone.

I created this post to supplycuriousminds with a complete (and hopefully) well-written experience, as well astips, dealingwith ourAccutane journey. I have read many posts on this site and other sites for a few years now and never reallyfound an all-inclusive guide for Accutane before, so hopefully this will answer some questions that you may have and provide that guide for you.

First things first, if you are considering Accutane and are reserved about it because of the bad rumors surrounding it, forget about them! The amount of positive experiences with Accutane outnumbers the bad experiences by such a large amount its ridiculous. It's just that people that have bad experiences tend to express their anger more than success stories because success stories don't usually come back to these blogs! [Edit: September 29, 2017. I have had some bad side effects from the medication, including permanent dry eyes and lips (meaning chapped lips virtuallyevery day), dry hair as well as hair falling out without any family history of baldness on either side of my family, stomach ulcers, dry skin, and permanent minor aches in joints. However, it is also worth noting that my skin has also been completely clear the entire 5 years post-accutane, and this isafter years of struggling with bad cystic acne. My skin is honestly an afterthought to me nowadays. So, there's good and bad here. If I could go back and redo it, I don't think I wouldtake it again, but only you can decide if clear skin is worth the risk of developing serious side effects.]

As a point of reference, ---- 140 lb / 21 yr old / Male ----- Claravis (Accutane) 60mg / day (30mg 2x per day) for 5 months.

Tips first, theres not too many...

1) AQUAPHOR!! Invest in this stuff its great and heals your crackedlips in about 2 seconds.

2) Aquaphor! Seriously, buy it.

3) Be active. Not physically strenuous active but swim, do something outside every day. On accutane you tend to get tired very easily and staying active is the only way to keep the Accutane tiredness at bay...

4) Using a moisturizing cream will help you on those extra dry days, although honestly I only used moisturizer on about 5 days out of the entire course, my skin didnt get too flaky. I seem to be in the minority here though.

5) Don't read all the crazy side-effects, you will start to think you have every one. There were times during my treatment I forgot I was on Accutane (minus my crackedlips) because I just didnt pay attention to it! It made the journey a lot easier. Trust me.

6) Try not to do hard drugs or drink too much on Accutane, its already putting your body through a lot. Admittedly I drank entirely too much on Accutane, maybe up to 3x a week some months, but my liver tests always came back perfect (luckily).

7) Buy aquaphor!

----------------------------------------------

Back to the journey...

So my entire course was 5 MONTHS. And I actually have one week left, but I figured this was close enough to the end to give everybody a clear complete assessment.

My skin started having problems when I was 14, first small pimples here and there and by the time I was 15, voila! Deeps cysts, pus, bacne, chest acne, and very bad cheek acne, usually clustering on my jaw line and wreaking havoc on my previously enjoyable life.

It eventually got so bad by the time I hit 17 I became quite suicidal about it. If you have experienced the life wrenching effects of acne you know what I am talking about. So like everybody else I tired everything... Benzaclin, tretinoin cream, tetracycline, etc. to no avail. After taking a tiny hiatus my acne reappeared when I was 20 and forced me to take the leap into Accutane.

First off, the only regret I have with Accutane is not taking it 5 years sooner!! Probably would have changed my life.... oh well.

So I started my Accutane journey 5 months ago, being a junior male in college and part of a fraternity. Not the easiest of circumstances.

MONTH 1 (The Start of a Long Road)

The first month of Accutane was BY FAR the hardest part of the entire experience. The first few days there was not much, but within 3 to 4 days my lips became very chapped and at the end of the first week, BOOM. World War 2 had less action than my face that week. I moved from what may be considered "Bad" acne to "Holy shit dude what happened to your face" acne. Not fun. My face broke out the worst it had in years, I got deep pimples all across my face, it was horrible. Broke off with a girl I was getting serious with because I couldn't handle the frustration I felt every time I looked in the mirror, I wanted to have a clear face for her. Just another clip of acne ruining my life. I digress. So yeah the first few weeks were very rough, pun intended, and the lips got real sad. Other than that the face got drier as well as the eyes. I didn't drink very much the first month.

MONTH 2 (The Frustration Month)

The second month on Accutane was better and worse than the first for a couple reasons. First of all, I did not have any results except for a red face with healing acne marks from the torturing first month, and it can be frustrating not to see results. My lips were still chapped, and my joints started to hurt, something that has never happened to me before. I was still getting pimples in certain areas, but they had definitely decreased in size and number from before I started Accutane.

MONTH 3 (The Turnaround)

I entered month three with a defeated attitude, the Accutane was not working as well as I had hoped and I was started to get down. The so-so results continued, and I did have less pimples although a rougher face. Then, in the middle of month 3, everything seemed to take a fantastic turn for the better! I would wake up some days and be amazed at how much better my skin looked even from the night before! It was an amazing feeling to finally wake up in the morning and not dread going to the mirror. Also worth noting, (obviously not related to my getting better) I did drink a lot in the third month. For all the commentors out there I know it's bad yadayadayada liver, I know. But yes, I would say that I drank about 3x a week, about 10-15 drinks per session. Liver tests came out perfectly normal. Also worth noting is that I used cocaine about 1x a week (fridays...) usually about a half-gram for a month or two, also never affected my liver or treatment. Not that I condone its use. Don't use drugs kids!

MONTH 4 (Better than Expected)

Wow! After an uplifting second half of month 3, month 4 was the best clearing I've ever seen of my face! I never got one single pimple in month 4, and every day I woke up was so much better than the last because my skin was healing at such a fast rate I couldn't keep up. My scars started diminishing, the red marks started to fade, and my skin was getting clearer. Most of the improvement happened in this month, and besides old marks my face was totally clear by the end of month 4. I started getting more positive comments about my face from my peers, and I started to feel more confident again. Lips were still severely chapped and joints hurt to a good extent, either way those minor pains were never going to stop me from finishing this miracle cure.

MONTH 5 (Tying loose ends)

Month 5 is probably the most boring month haha. Every side effect you have up to that point is established and your game plan has been set for a while, so nothing new comes up. My skin continued the healing process that started in month 4 and I am only staying on it for this month to hopefully ensure permanent clearing. My skin looks better than ever, my face is not too red for being on accutane month 5, and my scars continue to fade. While writing this, I have one week left to take. Keep in mind, I had BAD scarring going into this treatment, and accutane has already cleared so much of it up! The dermatologist said its very possible my remaining scars will fade naturally over the next year because I am still young, and hopefully I will be scar free! That would be a dream come true. I continue to drink, although not it's only about 1x a week, maybe 2 but I still have about 7-15 drinks per session.

All in all, I can say that taking Accutane has been one of the greatest decisions I have my in my life thus far, and as I said before my only regret is not taking it sooner!! I am going to follow this post up in a month or two when I have been off for a while and can give updated results. Hopefully you have not judged me too harshly by now, and I only hoped that this helped to provide a source of knowledge for the people that want it.

Good luck in the journey! Remember, Aquaphor!

gold casio, Henry84, FinerMake and 11 people liked
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MemberMember
2
(@danielpimen)

Posted : 05/02/2012 3:36 pm

Thanks for the post I'm in my second month of Accutane, luckily I didn't have a bad initial breakout. Hopefully my results will be as good as yours. Keep on partying

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(@Anonymous)

Posted : 05/02/2012 10:01 pm

I like how open you are about this. Many people out there are wondering. What if I take a line or drink 10 drinks tonight, what will happen? Good to know nothing terrible happened to you. I think it's good you are able to be so honest about the drinking and drugs bit ;) keep on keeping on

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MemberMember
36
(@accutaneinmybrain)

Posted : 05/03/2012 12:04 am

You got it Daniel, thanks for commenting.

 

BeautifulDisasters, it is nice to know that at least one person has related to this lol. And yeah I needed to be open about it, no other post here has ever really gone into a detail or honesty I've wanted so I figured I'd just do it.

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MemberMember
6
(@kaydon)

Posted : 05/03/2012 9:17 am

Hi everyone.

 

 

I created this post to supply the inquisitive minds with a complete well-written experience / tips with the Accutane journey. I have read many posts on this site and other for a few years now and never usually found an all-inclusive guide for Accutane before, so hopefully this will answer some questions you may have and provide that guide for you.

 

First things first, if you are considering Accutane and are reserved about it because of the bad rumors surrounding it, forget about them! The amount of positive experiences with Accutane outnumbers the bad experiences by such a large amount its ridiculous. It's just that people that have bad experiences tend to express their anger more than success stories because success stories don't usually come back to these blogs!

 

 

As a point of reference, ---- 140 lb / 21 yr old / Male ----- Claravis (Accutane) 60mg / day (30mg 2x per day) for 5 months.

 

Tips first, theres not too many...

 

1) AQUAPHOR!! Invest in this stuff its great and heals your cracked sad lips in about 2 seconds.

 

2) Aquaphor! Seriously, buy it.

 

3) Be active. Not physically strenuous active but swim, do something outside every day. On accutane you tend to get tired very easily and staying active is the only way to keep the Accutane tiredness at bay...

 

4) Using a moisturizing cream will help you on those extra dry days, although honestly I only used moisturizer on about 5 days out of the entire course, my skin didnt get too flaky. I seem to be in the minority here though.

 

5) Don't read all the crazy side-effects, you will start to think you have every one. There were times during my treatment I forgot I was on Accutane (minus my cracked sad lips) because I just didnt pay attention to it! It made the journey a lot easier. Trust me.

 

6) Try not to do hard drugs or drink too much on Accutane, its already putting your body through a lot. Admittedly I drank entirely too much on Accutane, maybe up to 3x a week some months, but my liver tests always came back perfect. (Thank you Super Liver.)

 

7) Buy aquaphor!

 

----------------------------------------------

Back to the journey...

 

So my entire course was 5 MONTHS. And I actually have one week left, but I figured this was close enough to the end to give everybody a clear complete assessment.

 

My skin started having problems when I was 14, first small pimples here and there and by the time I was 15, voila! Deeps cysts, pus, bacne, chest acne, and very bad cheek acne, usually clustering on my jaw line and wreaking havoc on my previously enjoyable life.

 

It eventually got so bad by the time I hit 17 I became quite suicidal about it. If you have experienced the life wrenching effects of acne you know what I am talking about. So like everybody else I tired everything... Benzaclin, tretinoin cream, tetracycline, etc. to no avail. After taking a tiny hiatus my acne reappeared when I was 20 and forced me to take the leap into Accutane.

 

First off, the only regret I have with Accutane is not taking it 5 years sooner!! Probably would have changed my life.... oh well.

 

So I started my Accutane journey 5 months ago, being a junior male in college and part of a fraternity. Not the easiest of circumstances.

 

MONTH 1 (The Start of a Long Road)

The first month of Accutane was BY FAR the hardest part of the entire experience. The first few days there was not much, but within 3 to 4 days my lips became very chapped and at the end of the first week, BOOM. World War 2 had less action than my face that week. I moved from what may be considered "Bad" acne to "Holy shit dude what happened to your face" acne. Not fun. My face broke out the worst it had in years, I got deep pimples all across my face, it was horrible. Broke off with a girl I was getting serious with because I couldn't handle the frustration I felt every time I looked in the mirror, I wanted to have a clear face for her. Just another clip of acne ruining my life. I digress. So yeah the first few weeks were very rough, pun intended, and the lips got real sad. Other than that the face got drier as well as the eyes. I didn't drink very much the first month.

 

MONTH 2 (The Frustration Month)

The second month on Accutane was better and worse than the first for a couple reasons. First of all, I did not have any results except for a red face with healing acne marks from the torturing first month, and it can be frustrating not to see results. My lips were still chapped, and my joints started to hurt, something that has never happened to me before. I was still getting pimples in certain areas, but they had definitely decreased in size and number from before I started Accutane.

 

MONTH 3 (The Turnaround)

I entered month three with a defeated attitude, the Accutane was not working as well as I had hoped and I was started to get down. The so-so results continued, and I did have less pimples although a rougher face. Then, in the middle of month 3, everything seemed to take a fantastic turn for the better! I would wake up some days and be amazed at how much better my skin looked even from the night before! It was an amazing feeling to finally wake up in the morning and not dread going to the mirror. Also worth noting, (obviously not related to my getting better) I did drink a lot in the third month. For all the commentors out there I know it's bad yadayadayada liver, I know. But yes, I would say that I drank about 3x a week, about 10-15 drinks per session. Liver tests came out perfectly normal. Also worth noting is that I used cocaine about 1x a week (fridays...) usually about a half-gram for a month or two, also never affected my liver or treatment. Not that I condone its use.turtle.gif Don't use drugs kids!

 

MONTH 4 (Better than Expected)

Wow! After an uplifting second half of month 3, month 4 was the best clearing I've ever seen of my face! I never got one single pimple in month 4, and every day I woke up was so much better than the last because my skin was healing at such a fast rate I couldn't keep up. My scars started diminishing, the red marks started to fade, and my skin was getting clearer. Most of the improvement happened in this month, and besides old marks my face was totally clear by the end of month 4. I started getting more positive comments about my face from my peers, and I started to feel more confident again. Lips were still severely chapped and joints hurt to a good extent, either way those minor pains were never going to stop me from finishing this miracle cure.

 

MONTH 5 (Tying loose ends)

Month 5 is probably the most boring month haha. Every side effect you have up to that point is established and your game plan has been set for a while, so nothing new comes up. My skin continued the healing process that started in month 4 and I am only staying on it for this month to hopefully ensure permanent clearing. My skin looks better than ever, my face is not too red for being on accutane month 5, and my scars continue to fade. While writing this, I have one week left to take. Keep in mind, I had BAD scarring going into this treatment, and accutane has already cleared so much of it up! The dermatologist said its very possible my remaining scars will fade naturally over the next year because I am still young, and hopefully I will be scar free! That would be a dream come true. I continue to drink, although not it's only about 1x a week, maybe 2 but I still have about 7-15 drinks per session.

 

All in all, I can say that taking Accutane has been one of the greatest decisions I have my in my life thus far, and as I said before my only regret is not taking it sooner!! I am going to follow this post up in a month or two when I have been off for a while and can give updated results. Hopefully you have not judged me too harshly by now, and I only hoped that this helped to provide a source of knowledge for the people that want it.

 

Good luck in the journey! Remember, Aquaphor!

 

 

Thank you SO much for this post! I am in month two and I can relate to everything you said about month one and month two. I'm so ready for my skin to clear up & stop breaking out!

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MemberMember
2
(@darling_)

Posted : 05/03/2012 11:23 am

I appreciate this post more than you can believe

I've had a really frustrating month 3 (my derm saying it would start clearing up dramatically, yadda yadda), and my skin still looks probably only slightly better than when I started!

But I'm on Week 13 now, in a few days the start of month 4! I hope this is where the magic happens. I've been seeing some slightly clearing already over the past week. I'm ready for good skin! Thank you for your post!

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36
(@accutaneinmybrain)

Posted : 05/09/2012 4:00 pm

kaydon - I know how frustrating it is, everyday seems to go by in slow motion at the beginning of the course. Just take it one day at a time and odds are it will work amazingly for you. Good luck! By the way you're already a pretty girl don't let acne get you down.

 

darling - This should be the point where you wake up one day and say "holy shit" lol (in a good way). It will get a lot better soon, and I'm glad you appreciate the post, when I was writing it I just hoped that it would help at least 1 or 2 people out. I can say I'm satisfied with it now.

 

UPDATE -- Finally finished, and when I thought my skin couldn't get any better, it did! Its amazing it looks like I've never had acne before, and I probably had one of the worst cases I've ever seen. I cannot describe the weight lifted off my shoulders, I used to think about acne 24/7, it consumed my life. Now I never think about it, and I only think about it when I realize how much I DONT think about it haha.

 

If anybody has any questions AT ALL please do not hesitate to post, I'm happy to answer.

SoleStage, Grossygross, Juls21 and 1 people liked
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36
(@accutaneinmybrain)

Posted : 05/18/2012 1:27 am

So...

To EVERYBODY who hasn't seen an improvement yet, keep waiting... I know you don't want to hear this, but other (most) people have amazing success with this product.

As a VERY IMPORTANT side note...I should have mentioned this earlier but I took Accutane in March of 2010 for a little over 90 days, and I started experiencing very severe stomach pain.

I immediately thought it was the accutane, surprise surprise it wasn't! It turns out that I was so stressed and preoccupied with the accutane that I literally drove my stomach into retaliation and it produced so much hydrochloric acid that I developed a duodenal ulcer (and an unrelated hiatal hernia) which I thought was related to the accutane for over a year. I also took many supplements including 3 probiotics per DAY (VERY BAD)which ended up wreaking havoc on my intestinal tract!! Do NOT overdo the supplements. I ended up quitting accutane at that time after 1 1/2 months.

In the end I realized that I overdid the supplements as a result of thinking I knew everything and thought I could reverse the effects of accutane.

The truth is that accutane has a very interesting and unknownmechanism of action and as so you should not ingest many adverse of unusual things (supplements) into your body.
Many people read 5 articles on the internet and consider themselves a scholar on accutane. Do notbe like this!!Above ALL LISTEN TO YOUR DOCTOR, he/she is there for a reason. IF you have any questions directly related to your health and accutane, do not ask this message board, ask a doctor. They know what they are doing and have likely seen it all before.

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(@auguriesofinnocence)

Posted : 05/18/2012 10:31 am

Thanks for your honesty.

We shall see how it goes for me with the natural methods but if not...there is always this to be considered.

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(@tommurray64)

Posted : 05/18/2012 7:09 pm

I'm now into my 3rd month and a lot of my scars have reduced. Did you see progressive improvement or did your scars suddenly start diminishing? thanks

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(@awesomenesssquared)

Posted : 05/19/2012 12:19 am

When you discuss scars. you are talking about shallow indents right? I have gotten a alot in the past few months (some are slowly filling in but slowly) and you have me so optimistic that accutane will help them further.

 

P.S. about to start a course! thanks for this.

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36
(@accutaneinmybrain)

Posted : 05/21/2012 12:21 pm

I'm now into my 3rd month and a lot of my scars have reduced. Did you see progressive improvement or did your scars suddenly start diminishing? thanks

 

 

Hey Tom, I would say that it was a progressive improvement from the 3rd month on. They started slowly diminishing from then, and now that I am off Accutane for a little over a week now the remaining scars have actually made the most improvement. It's amazing because I went from having terrible scarring and now it almost looks like I never had acne in my life.

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(@Anonymous)

Posted : 05/21/2012 12:25 pm

 

I'm now into my 3rd month and a lot of my scars have reduced. Did you see progressive improvement or did your scars suddenly start diminishing? thanks

 

 

Hey Tom, I would say that it was a progressive improvement from the 3rd month on. They started slowly diminishing from then, and now that I am off Accutane for a little over a week now the remaining scars have actually made the most improvement. It's amazing because I went from having terrible scarring and now it almost looks like I never had acne in my life.

 

 

That is awesome to hear. I am a week into my 3 rd month and I haven't seen a huge amount of progress. It's nice to hear that you had improvement from month 3 and beyond. I was starting to lose hope. Even better news to hear that your scarring looks so much better after your course! Congratulations!

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MemberMember
36
(@accutaneinmybrain)

Posted : 05/23/2012 1:46 pm

 

 

I'm now into my 3rd month and a lot of my scars have reduced. Did you see progressive improvement or did your scars suddenly start diminishing? thanks

 

 

Hey Tom, I would say that it was a progressive improvement from the 3rd month on. They started slowly diminishing from then, and now that I am off Accutane for a little over a week now the remaining scars have actually made the most improvement. It's amazing because I went from having terrible scarring and now it almost looks like I never had acne in my life.

 

 

That is awesome to hear. I am a week into my 3 rd month and I haven't seen a huge amount of progress. It's nice to hear that you had improvement from month 3 and beyond. I was starting to lose hope. Even better news to hear that your scarring looks so much better after your course! Congratulations!

 

 

Hey beautifuldisasters, don't worry about not seeing results very soon. It was toward the middle to end of the 3rd month that I started seeing drastic jumps in improvement, and the 4th month was really where all the clearing and scar reduction started. Either way some people see the best improvement after they stop taking it so don't get discouraged!

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(@tommurray64)

Posted : 05/31/2012 8:17 pm

Thanks for the reply. I'm just about to start month 4 and i've seen massive improvement in my rolling and indented scars but not much in my boxcar scars yet. What sort of scarring did you have? Thank you

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36
(@accutaneinmybrain)

Posted : 06/03/2012 1:46 pm

Thanks for the reply. I'm just about to start month 4 and i've seen massive improvement in my rolling and indented scars but not much in my boxcar scars yet. What sort of scarring did you have? Thank you

 

 

I would say I had mostly indented and a small amount of boxcar scars. The boxcars are of course going to take longer just because they tend to be deeper but have patience because most of the boxcar scars started to fade about a week or two AFTER I finished the treatment. And they're still fading almost a month later now too. Don't get discouraged scars tend to heal after accutane for up to a year later.

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(@neo16)

Posted : 06/04/2012 11:39 pm

Your mentioning about not seeing improvements till half way through the 3rd month is giving me hope. I just saw my derm last week and she is keeping me at 60mg a day for the 3rd straight month. For about the last week and a half my skin was pretty stable, at least in the way of not having any new pimples or bumps come up. Then today, I have 4 or 5 bumps showing up on my forehead.

 

Is it normal to go through spells like this where your skin is stable for a short time and then a bunch of bumps/pimples pop up out of nowhere? I can see it happening if I had my dosage increased, but I am still at the same amount and I was kind of hoping that since I am just about to start month 3 that I was far enough into the program where I wouldn't have cases like this.

 

Can anyone relate to something like this or know that this could be common?

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(@Anonymous)

Posted : 06/05/2012 9:08 am

Your mentioning about not seeing improvements till half way through the 3rd month is giving me hope. I just saw my derm last week and she is keeping me at 60mg a day for the 3rd straight month. For about the last week and a half my skin was pretty stable, at least in the way of not having any new pimples or bumps come up. Then today, I have 4 or 5 bumps showing up on my forehead.

 

Is it normal to go through spells like this where your skin is stable for a short time and then a bunch of bumps/pimples pop up out of nowhere? I can see it happening if I had my dosage increased, but I am still at the same amount and I was kind of hoping that since I am just about to start month 3 that I was far enough into the program where I wouldn't have cases like this.

 

Can anyone relate to something like this or know that this could be common?

 

 

I start month 4 next week and I can't say that I am getting much improvement either. I was on 40 MG first 2 months and now I am on 60 MG for my 3rd month and I am pretty sure she plans on keeping me at 60 MG. Hope I start to see improvement soon, I am starting to lose hope.

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(@accutaneinmybrain)

Posted : 06/11/2012 1:40 pm

Your mentioning about not seeing improvements till half way through the 3rd month is giving me hope. I just saw my derm last week and she is keeping me at 60mg a day for the 3rd straight month. For about the last week and a half my skin was pretty stable, at least in the way of not having any new pimples or bumps come up. Then today, I have 4 or 5 bumps showing up on my forehead.

 

Is it normal to go through spells like this where your skin is stable for a short time and then a bunch of bumps/pimples pop up out of nowhere? I can see it happening if I had my dosage increased, but I am still at the same amount and I was kind of hoping that since I am just about to start month 3 that I was far enough into the program where I wouldn't have cases like this.

 

Can anyone relate to something like this or know that this could be common?

 

 

I would have small setbacks all the way up to about the end of month 3. But even when I did break out it would be only 1 or 2 small surface pimples. Just make sure not to pick them because the accutane will make them dry up within a day or two, and if you pick on acne while on accutane you're really just asking for scars. Its a long process, but stay positive and take care of yourself and I'm sure you will be satisfied by the end. Take every day as it comes.

 

And to beautiful disasters, I'm sorry you haven't seen massive improvement yet. Accutane is a weird drug and works at different times for different people, stay positive! Make sure to update me on your process I want to hear how it goes in month 4.

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(@Anonymous)

Posted : 06/11/2012 1:54 pm

 

And to beautiful disasters, I'm sorry you haven't seen massive improvement yet. Accutane is a weird drug and works at different times for different people, stay positive! Make sure to update me on your process I want to hear how it goes in month 4.

 

 

Hey! I have had a turn around in my progress! For the best. All of a sudden last week things started to heal up. I have a lot of red marks that are left behind but I know that they will heal! Any tips besides time on fading those up? I can't wait to see my progress by the end of month 4!

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(@shadylee)

Posted : 06/11/2012 1:58 pm

brain..what a great post..and ty for the honesty! im seriously thinking about accutane, and your information is helpful! i wish i had done it 25 years ago...lol

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(@accutaneinmybrain)

Posted : 06/11/2012 7:49 pm

 

And to beautiful disasters, I'm sorry you haven't seen massive improvement yet. Accutane is a weird drug and works at different times for different people, stay positive! Make sure to update me on your process I want to hear how it goes in month 4.

 

 

Hey! I have had a turn around in my progress! For the best. All of a sudden last week things started to heal up. I have a lot of red marks that are left behind but I know that they will heal! Any tips besides time on fading those up? I can't wait to see my progress by the end of month 4!

 

 

Haha you sound exactly like how I felt about this exact time in the course. The red marks will slowly fade; I'm sorry but I didn't try anything to expedite the healing process, I still have a few slight marks but I would say a fair timeline for 95% of the marks to clear from now would be about 2-6 months based on experience and advice from my dermatologist. Obviously it can vary a lot. But that's great to hear that it's finally working for you! If your course goes anything like mine, you'll probably start waking up to dramatically better skin virtually every morning. It's a truly amazing feeling.

 

And to shadylee, I love to hear that. The whole reason I created this post is for people like you, and I'm very glad that it helped. If you have any questions feel free to message me.

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(@neo16)

Posted : 06/11/2012 8:25 pm

Brain...I know I am not supposed to pick at the pimples and I normally do a decent job, at least in my opinion. Just when it comes to huge white heads, I cannot be around people without thinking that they are staring at me and the actual white heads I have. So when it comes to that, I do pop them, but I don't really force them, I just push/pop them with q-tip ends hard enough to relieve the pressure or get some of the pus out. I know it is bad and I should just leave them alone, but sometimes I just cannot help it.

 

I am 67 days into my course and I have just noticed that a lot of the marks on my forehead where pimples used to be is now red. Does the redness ever calm down or go away, it seems like it is bright red? I am hoping at the end of month 3 that I start seeing improvements, if not earlier.

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(@accutaneinmybrain)

Posted : 06/11/2012 8:31 pm

Brain...I know I am not supposed to pick at the pimples and I normally do a decent job, at least in my opinion. Just when it comes to huge white heads, I cannot be around people without thinking that they are staring at me and the actual white heads I have. So when it comes to that, I do pop them, but I don't really force them, I just push/pop them with q-tip ends hard enough to relieve the pressure or get some of the pus out. I know it is bad and I should just leave them alone, but sometimes I just cannot help it.

 

I am 67 days into my course and I have just noticed that a lot of the marks on my forehead where pimples used to be is now red. Does the redness ever calm down or go away, it seems like it is bright red?I am hoping at the end of month 3 that I start seeing improvements, if not earlier.

 

 

Based on my own and other friends' experiences, unfortunately no, the redness does not really go away until a few weeks after you are finished with the course. I do understand about the bright red marks, I had them as well and although they cleared slightly during the course, the real improvement happened once I was off for a while. Patience is probably the best remedy for now, but it will more than pay off.

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(@accutaneinmybrain)

Posted : 07/03/2012 12:31 am

UPDATE: 50 days post-accutane...

 

Well I went back to my dermatologist and I shouldn't be needing any microdermabrasion or any scar treatments, as there are virtually no scars! Still can't believe it worked this well, it is truly only getting better even 2 months after I took my last pill. Any scars I had left just kept fading, and my oil levels have returned to normal at this point; but still not a single pimple since I've finished my course. My skin looks radiant and healthy and clear! Still pinching myself, I can't believe this is real. I hope this lasts and it's not just a temporary thing.

 

All side effects have gradually faded, including:

 

-Hair loss

-Dry skin

-Dry nose

-Moderate joint pain (especially knees and elbows)

-Constant fatigue

-Dry eyes

-Nose bleeds

-Muscle loss

-Weight loss

 

Although I do still have slightly dry lips, but hopefully that will be gone soon.

 

Till next time.

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