I started out on this forum almost 10 years ago it seems. I'm now 26, almost 27, Asian male and I was 17 when I first went on Accutane. My acne was your typical teenage acne, nothing crazy, but I just never had a month of clear skin. I started weightlifting and began taking whey protein, and all of a sudden, I had crazy cystic acne. Now, I had gotten cysts before, but now it was probably 6-9 huge cysts and I was really beginning to feel depressed. So I went to see a derm and was prescribed Accutane. I was about 150lbs and did a 5 month course of 40, 60, 60, 80, 80. Even to this day, no matter what type of protein product I take, I'll have a bit of a breakout a week after taking it. I've tried all types of protein powders, and I guess I just have to accept that I cannot have any sort of protein powder.
I got a bit of an initial breakout, but my acne was so bad it really didn't bother me. I think about month 3-4 it really started to clear up and I stopped getting acne altogether. My side effects were dry lips and dry skin, but I also had extreme facial flushing. My skin was red along my cheeks only and it was very noticable. After about a year or so of dealing with it, I had to get it taken care of. Went to another derm and was suggested Vbeam laser, and after 5-6 sessions, my face was back to its normal skin tone. I also got fraxel to try and get rid of some of the deeper scars.
But...my acne began to come back. After about a year after Accutane, I would get small pimples, and then I would get the occasional cyst. The past 8 years or so, my acne has been manageable, but lately every few months, I would get a breakout with a cyst or two. It's starting to be a real nuissance and I'm hoping this next round will help clear my acne totally, although I know I have a high chance of relapse.
I got my prescription yesterday with my doctor recommending 60mg right off the bat. I think I may do 30mg for a week or two before jumping to 60mg to give my body some time to adjust. I know I should listen to the doc, but it'd be really nice to avoid the initial breakout.
As of right now, I have 3 active spots on my cheecks, a lot of small bumps on my oily forehead, and a bunch of old dark/red marks from past acne. I'll try and update this thread as much as possible to keep you guys up to date.
Hello! I am in a similar situation! 20yr / man. I was on accutane 10 months ago. My course was 8 months. During accutane my acne was much more than before accutane! Breakouts were to 6th month. After stopping accutane , acne slowly came back.
Considering the second course with accutane , whether it is dangerous for my health? Will this put an end to my acne caused by oily skin? thanks!
That's a question only your doctor can answer. What is your acne like now?
Hello! I am in a similar situation! 20yr / man. I was on accutane 10 months ago. My course was 8 months. During accutane my acne was much more than before accutane! Breakouts were to 6th month. After stopping accutane , acne slowly came back.
Considering the second course with accutane , whether it is dangerous for my health? Will this put an end to my acne caused by oily skin? thanks!
So took my first pill last night. I'm not sure if my lips were already dry, but they are noticeably drier than usual. I'm gonna say they were already dry. Anyways, filled up a huge thing of water at work, goal is to drink 3 of them while I'm at work today and then 2 more at home.
Products I'm using:
Cetaphil gentle cleanser
Aquafor
Cetaphil SPF50 UVA/UVB facial moisturizer
Jergens moisturizer with Aloe for my skin
So it's been 4 days of popping pills. I didn't see any results til month 2 or so the last time, but already I can tell there is less oil on my forehead. I'm sitting at work and I went to touch my forehead, which normally by this time would need a gentle dab from a napkin. It's completely dry. I haven't gotten a new pimple since I've started, but the area around my nose (not the nose itself) is still as oily as it normally is.
In other news, I totally told this girl I've had a crush on her forever and asked her on a date...and she said yes. I'm pondering whether to stick with Accutane and up my dosage next week. Really not looking forward to the initial breakout even though my acne isn't severe at all. One big pimple will force me to go into hiding.
Update
2 weeks on 30mg. My lips pretty much peeled off over the weekend. Constantly having to use aquafor and chapstick. Skin around my nose is sloughing off at an incredible rate. A few small pimples came up but skin seems to be calming down now. May have been a mini initial breakout. Forehead is still much less oily than normal.
Hey buddy,
I'm almost on the same train as you, 28 yr old asian male, but I'm doing my 3rd round of accutane and our courses are quite in sync (i'm just past my 2nd week too). The drug has been the only thing that ever worked for me. Due to some intense supplement intake, I've been breaking out horribly this past month so I don't know if all of my cysts are due to an initial breakout on accutane.
Just a tip of advice for you, make sure you take the full course, and don't cut yourself short like I did on my second course! I was so clear towards the end of my second course that I figure what's the harm of stopping a few weeks early, and the effects only lasted 6 months 
. Also, you might want to look into some maintenance therapy after your course to retain long term remission. Best of luck to you bro.
PS. Congrats on the date! 
Thanks for the support fellas.
Update
About a month and a few days on Accutane. Had my initial breakout about a week and a half ago. My last post was 8/20 and pretty much right after that my face exploded. 1 cyst and like 10-15 smaller pimples. They're all gone now and my skin is pretty darn smooth, just have a bunch of redmarks leftover. Lips and nose are dry as hell. I'm thinking since my skin is so smooth now, maybe getting some makeup to hide my redmarks? Weird? Bleh. My birthday is coming up, going to be 27 and I hate the fact that I can't drink because I know all my friends are going to want me to get wasted. Arggg...nobody knows I'm on Accutane because I'm too embarrassed to tell them.
I know yall said not to shortchange myself on my dosage, which is exactly what I did for the first month. I did about 4 weeks of 30mg, a week of 45mg, and now I'm at 60mg. I'll do 60mg for the rest of the month until my next refill which will probably be upped to 80mg. I should probably talk to my Dr. about the course of action for the future.
Update!
I know I've been terrible about updating this. As far as my skin goes, I'm clear as day. Some redness and flushing and some red marks/hyperpigmentation, but nothing too bad. Haven't had a pimple since my initial breakout so really haven't had anything to update in the past 6 months.
So I've been on 60/60/80/80/80/80 and am in my last month, month 6. I've calculated by my leftover pills that I've taken about 10,400mg of Claravis, which puts me right at 150mg/kg (I weigh about 70kg). I still have a bunch of leftover meds, about 2800mg left which is about a month's worth of 80mg due to 20 days left of this month and the leftover 30mg I had when I was taking only 30mg a day when I was supposed to be taking 60mg. In hindsight, I still got the initial breakout so I probably should have just taken the full 60mg.
So...in my personal life, got a new girlfriend who is awesome. Been together for a little over a month. I have noticed though, that my libido and my sex drive has been severely reduced lately. Not sure when it started, but I can get it up, but it's not as hard and I can't hold my erections for that long. It's never happened before, and only recently did I think that it could be Accutane related. Did some research, and apparently a few guys have had a similar problem. Some got it back after quitting, some didn't.
With that in mind, I have decided to stop taking Accutane. I've essentially taken a full course and I'm scared that this might become a permanent side effect. I'll talk to my doctor at my next appointment about this problem if it still persists in 3 weeks.