I may be in the minority but upon starting accutane tomorrow the main emotions I feel are excitement, anticipation and slight nervousness. Ths is the most confident I have ever been that I can acheive clear skin which is something I haven't been able to expierience in nearly 3 years. With scarring starting to appear on my face it's come to the point where it's get clear skin at all costs as I have a lot planned for the coming years and I want to be able to do this with an air of confidence about me.
I know everyone say don't let acne control your life but I have allowed just that to happen. I wouldn't say i'm a weak person but when you receive comments reguarly about your appearance it slowly but surely drains your confidence away to a point where you constantly feel self pity and self doubt. It's never a nice feeling not starting conversations just because you don't feel worthy of the right to talk to people and because it's a world where appearance is judged whether we like it or not. I want to feel in control again; I want to start going to more parties, I want to be back doing activities I enjoy and I want my real self back, not the shadow which I have become.
It's not quite all doom and gloom as I may have just made out. I have a number of close friends and a close family that will support me through this journey and I have got things going for me in terms of education, gym work, cooking etc it's just my social life I need to reclaim. There are probably people out their who have had acne for 10 years who will say accept it as part of you and grow stronger from it, but right at this point I'm not equipped to do that.
Anyway enough emotional crap, as some of you may have seen I have been taking antibotics for two months and for the most part it has been alright- no real side effects, acne better than before (a lot of red marks / scarring but less actives) but far from perfect and anyway I want my best chance for the long term so in that respect I'm grateful for the chance to take accutane. I am definetly slightly apprehensive about the IB, currently with not much acne I'm worried that it could turn into a car crash pretty quick but i'm keeping my eye on the goal which is to hopefully see improvements by early June. If by then it's not working I will worry a little more.
I may put pictures up, haven't decided yet, but if I do don't give me too much about it being mild or anything because it was worse before antibotics. Thanks for reading and good luck on your tane journeys
Well I thought I was starting accutane anyway but it turns out you don't receive your prescription on the day despite having completed blood tests. Hope this is due to protocol rather than an incompetent dermatologist. Will update this whenever I actually start taking the pills obviously jumped the gun yesterday
Day 1
Yeah buddy..... here we go
I'm just really relieved that i'm starting this treatment, everything has taken a lot longer than expected and I'm glad that from now on it's progress not stagnation. Anyways my acne at the moment looks pretty bad at the moment a lot of redness so god know whats it's going to be like after the IB.
I've been give two months supply of a four month course with 60mg for the first month and 80mg for the remaining three months.
I weigh 75kg so can someone confirm this is an adequate amount although i'm sure it is!
Here are some pics with Ipod quality (aka terrible)
Just wanted to say good luck. And you're definitely not a weak person for being so down about your acne. Most people who say that stuff haven't dealt with persistent acne. Although you have a lot of red marks, you don't seem to have any cysts or scarring. It's a good thing you're starting accutane before scarring begins. You are almost guaranteed to see great results from accutane. Being on antibiotics for a couple of months before should help with the IB.
The recommended cumulative dose is 125 mg/kg-150 mg/kg. By your weight, you should be getting 125 mg/kg x 75 kg to 150 mg/kg x 75 kg or
9375 mg to 11250 mg total
You were given: 60 mg x 30 days = 1800 mg plus
80 mg x 30 days x 3 months = 7200 mg
for a total of 9000 mg
It's a little below the recommended dose, but only a little bit. I'm sure your doctor knows what he/she is doing. In all honesty, your acne is mild. It's probably enough for long term remission.
Thanks for that, my dermatologist has given me the option of a fifth month if I want it so I could always do that. July would be a bit of an awkward month to be taking accutane though because my exams finish in June so I can imagine I'm going to be wanting to go out a lot more than I care about at the moment. I think if I cope with the course fine I would be tempted to just do the four months and do a second course if it comes back but if I really struggle with the side effects I would do a fifth month to ensure my best chance of putting acne into remission and not needing a second course if that makes sense.
Regarding my acne and scarring- it's a really strange one due to fact the antibiotics my skin has looked better than it has ever looked since having acne. Before antibotics I had usually on average three cystic lumps on my forehead and more on my chest. I also had at least four actives at any point in time so as you can see it may be seen as an unusual time to start accutane but i'm definetly glad i'm taking it. I do actually have some scarring on the side of my cheeks but nothing I don't think accutane can deal with
Day 4
Wow time goes so much quicker now i'm on the drug!
Obviously at this stage not much is happening, have got tons of exams to prepare for in the next few months so fortunately my acne is on my mind less than it usually is. In terms of side effects my lips are getting slightly drier quicker than usual unless i'm just being paranoid so i've stocked up on a large tub of vaseline. I'm interested to see how long that will last Mentally I feel exactly the same, no more stressed than usual but I don't think anyone notices that at this stage.
Finally as i'm one for milestones yesterday was my first accutane breakout and a pathetic one at that- a whitehead that has already dissapeared- lets hope that pattern continues. Anyways I will post again when I have something of real note to say, feel like i'm just rambling at the minute
I'm in a similar situation as you...completed a course of antibiotics with some improvement on my face, no improvement in body acne and decided to go the Accutane route. Being female, I had to wait a month before I could get my prescription (2 pregnancy tests a month apart) and in that time my face actually cleared up significantly. Seems odd to be starting this medication when my face looks better than it has in a year. Although, I'm 30 and have had persistent, moderate acne for 10 years. Anywho, this is my eighth day so we're at about the same place. Good luck to you, fingers crossed we'll avoid the dreaded IB and be clear in no time!
I'm in a similar situation as you...completed a course of antibiotics with some improvement on my face, no improvement in body acne and decided to go the Accutane route. Being female, I had to wait a month before I could get my prescription (2 pregnancy tests a month apart) and in that time my face actually cleared up significantly. Seems odd to be starting this medication when my face looks better than it has in a year. Although, I'm 30 and have had persistent, moderate acne for 10 years. Anywho, this is my eighth day so we're at about the same place. Good luck to you, fingers crossed we'll avoid the dreaded IB and be clear in no time!
Thank you for your post. I occasionally feel guilty when there are people with acne worse off than me that have to go through endless antibiotics courses to be prescribed the drug but then again I've really suffered and everyone should be entitled to a cure for good. I'm actually kind of optimistic in regards to the IB because I haven't had many breakouts in the last few weeks. I think I let all the bad stuff out during my antiobiotics IB which wasn't very pretty at all! Good luck to you on your course- although we feel fairly clear right now, i'm sure at the end of our accutane course we will look at our mild acne and think it looked terrible
Hey waddles, good luck! I am on accutane as well. Did you ever take antibiotics prior to your most recent course of antibiotics?
Also, how bad is your body acne?
Tetracycline was the first course of antibiotics I had used for my skin. I pretty much decided straight away though that I wanted to take accutane after reading loads about about antibiotics and accutane (this site is amazing) and went back to a different doctor just two weeks later. Suprisingly when I mentioned accutane in my appointment he said he thought it was the best possible treatment for my skin despite not really using any other treatments. At the time I had mixed emotions cause although I was delighted I was allowed it, I was also thinking "Wow my skin must look really crap if i'm getting precribed accutane so quickly". He did mention my scarring was a reason behind giving me accutane too though.
My body acne isn't as consistent as my face acne as it sometimes clears up especially in the summer when I go to the beach- for some reason salt water did my body acne wonders. My body usually has more cystic acne especially around my chest but for the time being it's not too bad although i've currently got a massive zit on my shoulder.
Thanks for your post, will be following your log and hoping for the best for the both of us!
Day 8
Had one of those moments earlier. Was just looking through all of my families albums from the past year and it's horrible seeing how many of these pictures have been ruined by my acne. It's the only thing that my eyes zoom into focus on and it annoys me so much. Mind you I looked at the pictures a second time and in almost every one of them I have a smile on my face and you know what, during the tough times having a laugh can make all the difference and anyone reading this should remember that. It's time to remember the past but live in the present and move on...
In regards to my side effects I had my first nose bleed yesterday- it was kinda strange usually I only get one if I take a big hit in rugby or something like that but this time I only noticed when wiping my nose. Also my skin feels slightly more tight so i'm moisturising a bit more and lips are dry but not insanely so (yet). I just take these things as showing me that accutane is working so bring it on haha.
Day 17
I feel like a kid about to confess my sins to a teacher here... May have had a bit too much to drink on friday and although it was a good night you'll be glad to know I will be trying to not make it a regular occurence- my day long hangover has also made that decision pretty easy. I've seen quite a few logs where people go out drinking every night towards the end of the course but I'm gonna respect my liver and treat it to that stress only in moderation!
About the IB there hasn't been one (touch wood) or if there has it's consisted of a few whiteheads that just come and go on a daily basis which is what I love to see. I really think the antibiotics did help a lot with active acne. I saw a couple of mates that I haven't seen since the new year and one of the first things they said was "your spots are gone". So overall i'm feeling pretty good but at the same time the red marks are almost as bad as the acne itself and I got called a pizza face by an autistic guy the other day- how do you respond to that? I didn't have one
Hoping for improvements by day 60 but patience is the key i've survived with acne for so long whats another month going to hurt
The only thing thats making me feeling empty today was the rugby yesterday, need to stay away from my Welsh friends for about a month or so now haha
Day 22
So this is going to get harder to update the longer I go on...
The reason I say this is because most people are having their massive IB at the moment yet the only problem I'm having is red marks which are the second most irritating thing in the world after the acne itself. In terms of side effects it's been plain sailing to be honest- dryness of skin and lips is still the worst of them but even they are easily manageable with my best friend vaseline (it doesn't leave my side).
It's hard to estimate when i'm going to be completely clear I've read up on red marks quite a lot and it seems they stay between 4-12 weeks. Well my initial breakout on antibiotics was about 12 weeks ago and the breakouts since have been mild so in theory i'm gonna be clear in 2 weeks. If only life was so easy.
I guess the only question I have is will red marks fade at all on accutane or will it likely be only at the end of the course.
Day 34
Going through that incredibly annoying "waiting for improvements" stage...
Was a good and bad day in a way. Good because it was sunny and that just doesn't happen where I am but bad because when I went to the gym all my red marks and scarring was highlighted x10 which was pretty depressing. I guess the only good thing about seeing bad skin at this stage is the knowledge that I should see great improvements soon I hope.
Still really happy I'm taking accutane though- side effects have been easy to cope with, they are more irritating than painful or anything else. Hope everyone else is the same on that respect!
Also broke out for the first time in a while with two large cysts appearing one on my cheek and one on my forehead which are going to leave nice red marks for me to deal with. Acne tests patience like nothing else. Was probably due to my increase in dosage from 60 to 80mg but was still kinda strange as I didn't get a breakout when starting on 60mg
Day 51
Decent progress red marks slowly fading and have had no actives for a couple of weeks
It's no longer a massive event looking in the mirror in the morning and I'm not micro-analysing my skin every day which definetly is less stressful.
Side effects are still pretty non existent although I need more sleep than usual which can make early mornings awkward.
Day 53
Ahh my worst habit has come back to haunt me yet again. That being putting things off until I believe it to be an absolute neccesity to do. This has been the case with booking my blood test- I called today hoping for an appointment tommorow or Wednesday but it turns out that the first appointment available is on Friday which is an absolute bummer as that is the day i'm hoping to receive my next two months supply. I decided not to book it for the time being and will go to the dermatology unit tommorow in the hope that I can arrange the test on Wednesday instead and at the very least rearrange Friday's appointment to a date where blood tests have been processed. I congratulate anyone that has been able to follow all of that
In other news, my chest and back acne is starting to clear up without leaving red marks like my face. It looks like I have blotches of permanent sun burn yet my skin feels smoother than it has ever done.
I'm just hoping that if I do miss a week on accutane it won't have any impact on my skin clearing!
Day 63
It seems only yesterday when I was taking my first pill wondering how long this expierience would feel like. I was worried everything would feel painfully slow and that I would be begging to go off by the end. Although this was the case for the first week time seems to be flying now and despite progress being very slow I'm glad that i may only be a couple of months away from clear skin.
I'm officially half way through now collecting my next two months supply today. I was kinda worried about my blood tests because i've been eating a lot of dairy products as well as mayo in almost every sandwich I have 
I've also been having more alcohol than most- don't know how anyone can go without a beer during sport. However, my bloods came out "perfect" in the words of my nurse which is reassuring and we went through the side effects aka mainly dry lips which she said was very common.
Day ummm 96
Crazy to think that four months ago I was bawling my eyes out as my parents nearly refused me getting this drug. All I can say is thank god I got my way as although i'm still in a battle with acne / red marks it finally feels like i'm winning it rather than epically losing these days. I mean I subconciously look for every fault I can possibly find in my skin if I look close in the mirror but the days where I was constantly wasting hours thinking about the impact my skin had on my life and avoiding all contact with others are long gone.
I don't even really think about the drug at all. I just have my routine of having the pills with my evening meal and that's it really. I say I have it with my evening meal but often it's actually just before I go to bed as it absolutely knackers me, within half an hour of taking the bleeding thing my revision productivity drops to zero which is more than slightly incovenient with all my exams I have crammed in this period
Anyway this will probably be my last update before finishing. My skins not perfect, not by any means but it's slowly getting better. I'm just hoping I get 100% clear once I come off as I'm having my doubts right now.