Hi everybody,

I have been a member here for quite some time.. tried out basically everything to get rid of my acne but to no avail. My acne got worse beginning March 2013 and from then on it was mostly a painful face everyday. It would clear up for maybe 2 weeks at times but came back with a vengeance every time. I would also have a sh**load of oil on my nose everyday, and it was being produced at a tremendous rate; only an hour after washing my face in the morning and it would already be oily. I was noticing the acne was also getting worse in terms of size and their scarring capability.

My derm has now started me out on a low dose of isotretinoin, 20mg once daily, about which I am still unsure. It has been 15 days today on this dose. The first week I noticed absolutely nothing. Then I read its leaflet and came to know that a high fat diet would greatly increase its absorption. Since then I have been taking it with around 350ml milk and immediately I noticed the oil production has been greatly reduced. Only my nose remains a bit oily, but still way better than before.

I got a few new acne the first week and they are the ones to be seen in the pictures below, they are no longer painful but are yet to go away. There were a few which had combined into one big zit :/ but they have mostly healed now. I could not take photographs at the start of my treatment.

Progress- I still haven't gotten those painful spots on my cheeks/nose signalling the beginning of a new zit so far this second week.. but I guess another breakout will occur eventually given the low dose that I am on.

Side effects- Very dry lips the first week and a red sunburnt look today which went away after applying a moisturizer with spf15.

I am creating this thread to serve as my own record as well for anyone else who is on a low dose therapy.

PS I am a bit hopeful because of this study http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16546586. However, they haven't mentioned what a 'good' result is.