Today is day 12. I have a humongous underground, hard, painful, marble size mass on my chin. It's not even visible yet, but i can feel it. Is this what the intitial breakout is all about?? How long does this last? Is my whole face going to get these things? How long does one of these take to resolve??
It could be, the initial breakout is different for everyone. I think only 25% of people actually get the IB too, it doesnt always have to happen. I'm on Day 15 and I had the initial breakout right around Day 7, thankfully I believe my acne's starting to get better now. Just hang in there if it is indeed the IB, it'll pass in no time!!
It's perfectly normal if things get worse before better, but as far as I can tell with my experience the IB shouldn't last longer than a week to two weeks. You may still break out afterwards of course, but nothing too crazy.
I still had breakouts on my 3rd and 4th week. It's different for everybody. I got most of my breakouts on my jaw and forehead and nose. I started to see most of the improvement at the end of my 5th week. But as I said, it is really different for everybody. And it would also depend on the severity of your acne.
Hi everyone. I first went on roaccutane at the age of 15, I am now 24 and on my second course now on week 8. I started on 40mg and month 2 was upped to 60mg. The initial breakout is probably the worst stage to deal with as knowing how frustrating having acne is and for it to get even worse before it gets better is extremely difficult! but don't let it get you down. My initial breakout lead to giant under the skin boils, which were extremely painful and it was very upsetting- but trust me you do NOT want to mess with these as they will take even longer to heal. My suggestion is a simple antiseptic cream/ointment such as TCP or germolene. When I first started treatment I had a bit of my duac gel left and a clearasil face wash, using them seemed to really irritate my skin, so I decided to drop everything (apart from the antiseptic) and I have noticed a huge improvement.
I'll now tell you about some of the side effects I have been experiencing As I said I am now coming to the end of month 2 side effects so far are dryness of the face, and the lips have now started to develop small blisters which are very sore, I am going to speak to my derm about this on Friday as it is quite uncomfortable I am using a nivea lip balm on them which seems to be helping in the meantime. I am still getting some breakouts, but nothing like the initial breakout, I have learnt not to mess with the bigger ones as they really will make a mess of your face, as the skin healing process is so quick you're just left with giant scabs on your face- not attractive! if you haven't been able to help yourself I found that putting some baby oil on the dry area at night helps it heal quicker.
I have also noticed I have been getting some quite bad lower back pain but it could be due to a number of reasons. Firstly I am writing my dissertation at the moment so it could be that I'm sat in front of a laptop all day, Secondly I exercise between 3/4 times per week, although I do think the roaccutane has something to do with it. I have also noticed my legs seem to ache a lot more than usual but if I don't over exert myself they are OK.
There is another side effect which seems to have developed since my does was increased from 40mg to 60mg which is bad wind and bloating and I haven't changed my diet so I am putting it down to the roaccutane and this is something else I have read on many other forums, so will be mentioning it to my derm.
I can post updates on my treatment if anyone would like. Or id anyone has questions please ask and I'll try and get back to you!
I thought I've been reading these posts for so many years and probably have some useful information that may help other acne sufferers!
