Day 7:

Alright, so I took my seventh pill today marking the end of week one for me! Unfortunately, what the end of week 1 also seems to have brought me is the beginning of my initial breakout. When I woke up this morning the small pimples on my neck (an area where i rarely breakout) have gotten big and red and slightly painful. Three massive whiteheads on my right cheek and a bunch of little red bumps on my left cheek. My skin felt so bumpy while i was washing it and is definitely the worst it has been for quite some time. I do seem to be breaking out more on my chest as well but it is not much of an area of concern for me. I know accutane will clear everything up but what i care about most is a acne free face and i'm sure most people feel the same. I really do hope this is my initial breakout though. Anyone else have time frames of when they experienced their IBs? Day 7 seems like it may be a little early for an initial breakout. I've read other logs where others really feel their IB at the beginning of the 2nd month.

As far as side effects go, I have noticed that my lips get pretty dry but nothing crazy yet on that front.

My skin almost feels more oily then usual. But I read that your skin tries to produce more oils to combat the TANE causing your skin to feel more oily until the accutane catches up. Hopefully i'll start experiencing extremely dry skin soon lol

Also i have been getting very minor headaches that go away when I drink water and also and itchy/flaky scalp that also seems to be a side effect of the accutane.

btw: does anyone here know an easy way to upload pictures from an iphone on to these forums??

Quick question for everyone who's taken accutane: anyone experience pretty clear skin within a month of treatment?? I've been reading a lot of logs and it seems like everybody's skin become horrible near the end of the first month and well into the second. It's quite frightening lol...

Day 9 update:

I have not taken my 9th pill yet as I have been taking them in the afternoon with my lunch but I thought I'd give a quick update. I'm finally starting to see dryness on my cheeks which is exciting! Lips are chapped and I'm experiencing what I would describe as muscle tenderness. Other then that, there seems to be no other side effects.

I have 4 actives on the right side off face and 1 on the left side but one on the right side is f'ing gigantic!! Lol I'm just hoping it'll be gone tomorrow! But we will see! Ill update again when there has been another change

Day 10 update:

I finished my first package of accutane today!! Woo! So the face hasn't gotten any better. Good news is that the huge zit popped naturally (okay, maybe there was some aggressive face washing involved lol) but I can feel a bunch more coming . The left side of my face looks especially bad. It's so red for some reason.

Ahh I just want to get past the IB and onto the healing process already!

Day 14 update:

I've officially hit the 2 week mark! Woo! Unfortunately my face hasn't made any kind of miraculous improvement. I'm still getting the same amount of pimples as usual. Even worse there is a fucking gigantic pimple brewing on my nose which is somewhere I rarely get pimples. This is going to be fun...

Side effects haven't changed one bit since my last update. I want to hurry and get this month over with and hopefully have my derm put me on 80mg a day. The side effects really haven't been bad at all so far. I don't even moisturize my skin because it doesn't get that dry yet. I think my skin has been so used to getting dry that it is pretty resistant to the tane. Well ill update you guys again if something else changes.

Day 16 update:

So it's day 16 and my skin has actually gotten a lot better then last week for sure! I only have one active on my cheek and it seems like the tane is starting to fade my PIH because its not so red anymore!

That being said I am slightly breaking out on my forehead especially near my eyebrows. But things are finally improving!

Glad you're seeing some improvements in your skin! Hopefully it will continue to get better from here on out. I am almost finished with my second month and thankfully never really experienced an initial breakout. My face was fairly clear from a round of antibiotics previously (had no effect on my body acne unfortunately and had to stop taking due to a reaction) but I started clearing pretty early on. I've had a couple of mild breakouts but nothing worse than usual and I think they were probably related to experimenting with new moisturizers and not so much the Accutane. Good luck!

Thank you! Yea I'm glad it seems like things are starting to improve finally (fingers crossed)! I also was on duac and oral antibiotics until the day before I started accutane which might be why I'm seeing results quick? I'm not sure haha and it is too early to tell. I could still have a horrible breakout at the end of the month. Good luck to you on the rest

Thank you! Yea I'm glad it seems like things are starting to improve finally (fingers crossed)! I also was on duac and oral antibiotics until the day before I started accutane which might be why I'm seeing results quick? I'm not sure haha and it is too early to tell. I could still have a horrible breakout at the end of the month. Good luck to you on the rest of your course!!

Day 28 update:

So it's been a while since I've updated! Sorry about that! but nothing has changed drastically. My skin is about the same as it was before. I was clear on my left cheek up until about two days ago, but I got two huge ones that just formed up. My right cheek is dying down from a mild breakout and this morning I popped a huge one on my forehead (bad, I know). But it does seem like my old marks are continuing to fade at a decent rate.

Side effects are exactly the same. Very dry lips and slightly dry skin (some days more then others). No nose bleeds or anything like that yet.

One thing that is annoying me is that these new zits that I am developing are taking FOREVER to go away! And the marks they leave after are also taking so long to fade! It's very stressful to see this.

But I'm going to go get my blood drawn today in preparation for my appointment Friday. One thing I am worried about is that I'm actually leaving earlier then expected for the states. I leave near the end of July sometime which means ill only have about four months total to be on accutane so I was going to ask my derm to put me on a higher dose to help me reach my cumulative dose. Has anyone ever been on accutane for only four months and stayed clear?? I'm transferring to a stateside university this fall and I want to be (and stay) clear by then! (I live in Japan on a military base)

Any input would be great. Also how much do you think I should ask to be put on? I weight about 65kg and am 6'1. I'm very tall and lanky lol but my first month consisted of 40mg/day so how much would I need for the next 3 months to receive a cumulative does that I need??

hey Lukatoll, for your cummulative dosage go to this link: and download the file in the first post. easy calculator that shows you what you should aim for on the low/high end

Hi thanks!! So I went ahead and calculated it and it turns out for the lower end cumulative does (120mg/kg) I will need 73 mg/day for the next 90 days and for the higher end (150mg/kg) I will need 95mg/kg for the next 90 days. Now I don't think I could do 100mg a day for the next three months so I'm hoping to be put on 80mg a day after my next appt. hopefully that is enough to keep me clear!!

And thank you tyrean!

So tomorrows my derm appt so I will give an update after that. But quick question for anyone reading. Is it okay to be using retin-a while on accutane. I've been wanting to use it on some of these damn red spots from old acne!

Alright so done with the derm! Blood tests were perfect and she put me on 80mg a day! so all around good news. Skin is calming down again except for one annoying pimple near my lip that hurts gah!

But I start my first 80mg session today. The side effects haven't been bad at all up to this point so I'm hoping the increase in dosage doesn't change that. But it seems like I jump to 80mg seems like a pretty decent sized jump especially considering my body weight. I didn't even have to suggest the 80mg like I was planning on she just said lets try 80! Haha

But my main concern is another breakout once I start on 80mg. I know it happens to a lot of people. Lets just hope I'm one of the lucky few!

Day 32: (second day of 80mg)

Just took my second dose of 80mg! Nothing new to report in terms of changes between the dose change. But I assume it's too early to tell. I expect Ill be breaking out within the next few days but I'm just hoping its not too bad.

What I'm really hoping is that the dosage change will speed up my progress! I want to see some major results by the end of the month!!

I did pop a big one by my lip that definitely was not ready to be popped. But I'm going drinking tonight after work and know if I didn't pop that little bitch it would've been a giant whitehead. The bar we go to has a black light so I didn't need some glowing whitehead on my lip tonight lol

Ill update when something has changed... Hopefully for the better!

Day 34:

Today was the fourth day of 80mg and am happy to report that there seems to be no sign of a second IB (yet)! My skin is actually looking pretty good today! No actives on the right cheek and left cheek has 1 active. The rest of my face is completely clear! Also my PIH seems to be fading as well. My face actually seems like it's been getting drier since switching to 80mg and I also have these tiny bumps on both cheeks and near my lip, but they are barely noticeable. Overall things are looking pretty good! I know there will be more pimples to come, so I'm trying my best to enjoy this moment lol!

Keep it up, it took me until about my 6th month to stop breaking out. I've had 1 tiny pimple in 3 weeks. I'm currently in the early stages of month 7, 40mg/day

Thanks for the comment Paul! Really appreciate it! I hope things keep going smooth as well!

Day 35:

Just a quick update mainly on side effects. One thing I never mentioned was that I work at an auto shop. I think one reason why I had been breaking out these past couple of years is because of this. Especially when turning rotors all the rust and brake dust just flys in your face and clogs your pores lol. That being said I do a lot of belts and stuff and when squeezing my hands into tight places it seems like my skin gets cut a lot easier then usual. I also have this weird rash type thing on the underside of my forearm which may have been caused by that.

My skin is drying up on the back of my neck like crazy as well! I also seem to be getting minor headaches more often but probably only because I haven't been drinking enough water.

But my face hasn't changed much these past few days. Clear on my right side except for these tiny ass bumps and my left side has one active and a few small bumps. I do feel it is still possible that I could have another breakout but I really hope not since the spots from my last one are just now starting to fade. But the best thing for me would be to have all the red marks fade! If I ha an even skin tone with the amount of pimples I have now I would look sooo much better and be sooo happy with my progress. But these damn red marks just make everything look worse. I guess ill just have to be patient! Looking forward to the months to come!

My acne stopped on day 34 and I have been clear since then. On about day 100 right now.

Hey Tracy! It's nice to hear that someone had so much success early on in the course! It give me hope! Lol thanks

Day 37:

Well, they say all good things come to an end. I am having a breakout on my left cheek with about 5 actives. My right cheek is still clear though! It seems like my acne has always been like this. One cheek is always much better then the other and when one side heals the other breaks out. :/ it's a never ending battle. I'm really hoping that all these will turn into whiteheads and be gone by tomorrow. So frustrating to go from clear to pimples again but hopefully it just passes by quick!

Hey I started 40mg roaccutane. Im starting my 3rd week today. Side effects: week 1 - was a little drying, joint pain in my hips (I run and do exercises most days), week 2: constipation and drying. My skin is actually much worse than a few weeks ago. I'm hoping this is a normal reaction to the treatment. Week 3: Dry eyes, dry face (around mouth and cheeks, hard to smile) and worse constipation. I'm a vegetarian so I've just bumped my entire diet in fibre to reduce constipation. I have started to break out around jaw line and cheeks. My acne was mild but is quite severe at the moment. I'm off to France the end of June to meet my current/ex boyfriend so really hope my skin can clear by then. It should be about 2 months on roaccutane. It's good to find someone who's on the treatment this year and so close to the time I started mine too! Once I figure out how to work this site, I will start tracking my journey too! Keep posting and keep persevering! This is going to be worth it in the near future

Day 41:

So it seems like my mini breakout is calming down. Still have a few actives on each side but better then a few days ago. But there are so many red marks left especially on my left cheek! God it's so annoying! That being said idk if my skin is like super thin or what but im getting cuts and scrapes on my arm so easily. Very strange.

Just a quick update. Not much has changed for the most part. Ill update again when something miraculous and/or horrendous happens lol.

Hi Iexp!

Thanks for the kind message! It's very motivating during a time where accutane seems to be doing more harm then good! But I hope the best for you and your accutane journey! Hopefully you can clear up before you see your boyfriend! Let me know when you start a log of your own! I would like to track your progress as well! Best of luck to you! Lets defeat this acne once and for all

picture update!

Alright, so I figured out how to post pics from an iPhone! Much easier then I thought lol. But my skin at the moment looks much like it did pre-accutane so I thought it'd be a good time to start keeping progress with pictures from here on out. So I attached my first set here. Ahhhhhh my skin looks soooo bad right now. Not only that but I can feel some of those guys brewing under the flat red spots... This is going to be great.

I'm going to try to post pictures weekly or bi-weekly so stay tuned!

Day 46:

I'm back for another update. So I had a terrible cold the past couple of days. During that cold my skin and lips got super dried out for some reason and a lot of the big zits turned into these weird reddish dead layers of skin. (Not quite scabs but very scab like). When I took a shower a lot of them just fell off naturally. They were bleeding though and leaking that weird clear crap that I still have no clue what it is. So yesterday I was dealing with the after math of that and had all these weird looking scabs on my face which wasn't very cool. Yet it was bitter sweet I suppose because that hopefully was a sign of the ending of this breakout. The redness has kind of toned down once more and I'm left with one active (and many red spots) on the right side of my face and a few actives on the left side.

On another note my cheeks are my ONLY problem area right now. I used to breakout on my chin, near my lips, and on my forehead from time to time but now those areas are completely clear and feel very smooth when washing my face, it's awesome!

Also my chest is 100% clear at the moment and my back is getting there.

It seems like all the area where my acne was fairly mild have totally healed up. It's just this stubborn cheek area that has always given me trouble that is still hanging in there. But I know that soon accutane will catch up to it and just whoop it's ass! Lol that moment just can't come soon enough! Ill update with another progress picture in the coming week. I'm hoping for big improvements by then!