Hi everyone!
I'm a 19 year old female who started 10mg of roaccutane a day on the 4th of March. I'm only 5'0 and weigh 41kgs (90lbs) so I didn't ask for a higher dosage just yet. I started getting pimples when I was around 12 and I've never had cystic acne but it was persistent, ranging from mild to not so mild for years. I tried everything blah blah blah and the only thing I found worked was benzoyl peroxide but I used it on my skin for over a year and even when I upped the percentage, my skin showed no signs of improvement. So, in an attempt to get rid of my pimples and excessively (disgustingly) oily skin for once and for all (fingers crossed!), I started a course of roaccutane.
For the first two weeks, I literally had no side effects. My skin was still oily as ever and pimples and whiteheads were ever present. I already experienced some of the side effects roaccutane's supposed to give you before starting the course like dry lips (it's because I love lipsticks, I wore lip balm 24/7 when I wasn't wearing lipstick though), fatigue, and back pain but I have not noticed an increase in these since starting roaccutane. I never wear lipstick anymore, just lip balm but my lips are never chapped or anything - I guess 10mg is a pretty low dosage so side effects would be minimal anyway.
The only thing to note so far, day 16, is that the skin around my nose is peeling just a little bit - but it's still oily throughout the day so I don't know what's up with that. I've had a pretty bad break out along my jaw line and hard pimples popping up on parts of my cheeks (like below the delicate eye area) that used to be relatively clear. There's a cluster of pimples on my chin and generally a lot more breakouts than usual (even if it's that time of the month) along my forehead/hairline/eyebrows but I'm keeping my hopes up. This is the worst my skin has looked ever.
Anyway, I thought I'd start a log for when the changes really started happening. Hopefully, it'll be soon! I've been taking weekly pictures but I don't feel comfortable posting anything just yet.
skk3 - thank you! we have a long journey ahead of us haha.
day 17 - got upped to 20mg and did a blood test
it's day 22 today and I still have no side effects. my lips aren't peeling and dry (which is a good thing, i suppose) and my face is only just a little bit less oilier which means it is still an oily mess. i don't know if it's the bare minerals matte foundation that's keeping my face matte during the day (it's amazing) or roaccutane but during the day i don't have as much oil on my face. going to bed and waking up is a whole another story though. wtf am i doing in my sleep to produce so much oil i have no idea haha.
no joint pains or anything - i guess 20mg is too low for massive side effects? i've probably scared myself shitless reading up on all the side effects. but then again, i feel like the drug isn't working until i get some side effects 
i've had some nasty breakouts within the last three days, i don't know if it's because i'm on my periods or if it's the dreaded ~initial breakout~ i would upload some pics but i can't be bothered using a third party image hosting site and having pictures of my breakouts floating around the internet haha.
day 25 - i'm still breaking out i don't think it's the IB, my skin is just constantly breaking out. i have like ten pustules on my forehead and about eight more around my mouth and i don't even want to count the ones around my hairline? hopefully they'll go away as quickly as they've come. still no side effects. woke up with my right leg dead but it wasn't much cause for concern. i'm going to stop counting my pimples, it just makes me unnecessarily anxious :'(
lilypad89 - thanks for that!! i've just decided to try my best and ignore my face and the state of my skin like I was able too before it got too bad. It's a work in progress 
day 28 - my chin seems to be peeling? breakouts around forehead have finally cleared!! skin feels smoother. still breaking out around mouth and chin quite heavily. they're not taking that long to go away though.
one side effect that's bugging me big time - itchy ass scalp!! it's driving me insane. my hair's not as oily so i can go for four days without washing it but holy shit it's so itchy and trying not to itch it is slowly driving me up the wall. any suggestions on how to deal with this?? i had oily but an itchy scalp before accutane but now it just seems so much worse because it's dry.
day 29 - i had a breakout in between my eyebrows, about four pimples filled with pus (pustules?) but they've calmed down. breakouts along my mouth have gone down in size but still ever present. around three new pimples - that's just around my mouth and chin. had a nice smooth forehead for two days, can feel impending break out oh the joy.
there's a great sale on elizabeth arden products where i live at the mo'. anyone have any suggestions? i heard people using the 8 hour cream on dry patches and lips to combat side effects of the 'tane but they have some good moisturisers too. i don't have any dryness in my skin yet so cetaphil has been more than enough. has anyone found any of those products that worked for them?
maxwell8988 - i've read the dreaded IB might be a myth and only happens in rare cases? i don't know, just had a look at my skin and my chin is looking so horrible i'm very upset about it ((( thanks anyway and good luck on your journey!!
day 30 - pimples between eyes clearing up, huge pimple developing underneath eye, another one on my hairline, and literally a gajillion around my mouth and chin. yay. my skin is horrible. this is the worst of it. it's just steadily getting worse.
Day 32- breaking out along my hairline, three huge cystic pimples forming on right temple. This is the worst my skin has looked ever. I know it gets worse before it gets better but I'm only on 20mg I didn't think it'd get this bad. I'm scared. Should I make an appointment and try to get a higher dosage? I'm trying to be patient but this is very upsettingz
Hey, I think you should. The higher dosage will clear your previous breakout. That happened to mine. And then I got cLear skin for a week before little whiteheads and old bumps that never went away start to appear again...
Go back to your derm, that will make you feel better chin up!
Lilypad89 - I've decided to just keep trucking on with 20mgs now and patiently wait for results. I don't think I can afford taking two 20mg pills a day thanks though, I saw you're on day 50 already!! Woo hoo!!
Day 35 - worst skin day ever. Felt completely miserable when I was putting my make up on in the morning, a lot of flaking and pus filled pimples. Didn't think I was going to leave the house but pulled myself together and off I went to uni. I was a bit down all day because I cannot ever remember having this many painful actives before but I cheered myself up. I just need to be patient. It gets worse before it gets better! Who cares if people see me and only see my pimples? Why would I want to associate with people who can't look past that in the first place? Mini rant over.
I didn't moisturise yesterday to see if it would make a difference but it just made me extra flaky and gross.
I've got about four clusters of painful inflamed pus filled acne, around the corner of my mouth, chin, temple and forehead. About 4-6 pimples in each cluster. PATIENCE!!!!!
Around Day 35 I was at my worst too, but it definitely got better!
You don't have to sit and wait patiently for your IB to pass, however. There are a few things you can do to lessen the IB's severity while it runs its course (and to save your skin from scarring risks). When I had my initial flare-up, my dermatologist recommended a Z-pack (5 day course of azythromicen (sp?)) and cortisone shots for the very inflamed cysts. The azythromicen will help calm the inflammation and reduce the risk secondary infections, and the cortisone shots will immediately flatten out and numb the painful cysts. I passed on the antibiotics (I am terrified of yeast infections) but the cortisone shots helped tremendously by dramatically speeding up the time it would have taken for my IB to heal.
I don't think the antibiotics carry any risk as it is a very short course meant only to reduce infection while accutane does it's thing, but the cortisone shots do carry the risk of skin atrophy. It sounds scary, and you will find lots of horror stories out there on the interwebs (just like accutane), but most of these bad outcomes are due in large part to getting the injections from an inexperienced healthcare provider. As long as your dermatologist has experience and is comfortable with administering the injections, the risk of atrophy is rare and minor. If atrophy does occur, it is almost always temporary (scarring, however, is not) . I have received around 10 injections for very inflammed cysts in the past year. I did have atrophy on one severely inflamed cyst around February of last year. The atrophy looked like a barely noticeable dimple on my cheek, and it filled in after a month or so. I believe that had I not received that shot, the cyst would most certainly have scarred.
You can also ask your derm about reducing your dosage for a few weeks.
bordercol71 - thank you!! i know i have a very long way to go, i've barely finished my first month after all. i'm just going to persevere and wait for the results to come. i've found no relief for my itchy scalp but i realised it only gets really bad if i've worked up a sweat, i haven't been scratching at all and that's helped immensely. i haven't tried any dandruff shampoos yet but if it gets any worse i'm going to get on that. i
have blonde hair at the moment and idk if i can go get my regrowth done without irritating my scalp? i have a feeling i'm going to get told off at work about it sooner or later
megtree - thanks i just didn't expect such intense breakouts when i was only on 20mgs but it's definitely accumulating. also omg when i first started antibiotics when i was 16 or smth i used to get thrush like every month or couple of weeks and it was absolutely horrifying and just MORTIFYING. i had no one to ask what the hell was going on and i was just so embarrassed. i know better now haha but i'd still prefer not to be on antibiotics anymore either. also the pimples i'm getting aren't cystic, they're just huge and pus-filled, not really under the skin at all so idk if i can get shots for them i was told not to use any topical treatments while on roaccutane as my skin's really sensitive so i have no idea how else to calm these pimples down besides asking for a lower dosage and at this point i just want to keep trucking on so the day my clear skin arrives will be sooner :'(
day 37 - i still wake up with a slightly oily face but it's not as oily as pre-roaccutane. i am still breaking out, have about five pimples on my lovely smooth clear forehead (lack of whiteheads and other nasties make them stand out so much more, the texture of my skin around my nose and forehead, besides the pimples, are lovely tho!!). still breaking out around mouth, temple, on my cheek where i used to very rarely get pimples. these pimples are big but not cysts and they disappear in a matter of days but they are painful! huge and filled with pus, not a good look.
ALSO - side effects, it's all catching up to me. i don't know if it's the change in season (autumn in australia), or the change in lip balms (doubt it, burt bee's beeswax to burt bee's kokum butter lip balm) or if roaccutane is finally catching up to me - but my lips are hella dry. they're peeling and flaking and a goddamn nuisance. we can't get aquaphor in australia (i think we get like eucerin wool alcohols or smth but i don't think it's exactly the same thing), so i've been trying to find a solution. i'll give the paw paw ointment a go
and besides skin peeling on my chin and the breakouts that dry out before dying, t-zone still oily as all hell.
day 38 - forgot to mention the inside of my nose has been very dry and just a little bit painful. i've been putting on paw paw ointment on the inside whenever i'm home and remember. i'm still breaking out a lot but i'm just..used to it. going to wait it out. i've taken some new pics, excuse the orangey lighting, daylight savings means by the time i get home and wash my face it's dark and i get no natural lighting the fuck is up with the pimple near my eyebrow???? i've been getting more like that, just huge and pus-filled ehhhh
day 39 - a guy at work asked me if i had measles today. i wasn't super bummed about it, i have surprisingly thick skin when it comes to my shit skin (badum tss) but i kept looking in the mirror like "is it that bad???" big pustules are starting to dry out but every time one goes away, leaving flakey gross skin all around that area, like two other ones pop up. it's hard a lot of what i have to do relies on my face and how put together i look, i can't be thinking about my face all the time. i've got shit to do!
anyway, wondering if i should ask my derm to up my dose to 40mg again because my skin is nowhere near clearing up - but it's not supposed to asap anyway. i'm just done with these massive pustules!!!!!!!!!!!
stick with it. just think how good it will look in 4 months time! (excellent) also i'm realy suprised your on such a low dose. i'm 14 with a average weight with mild acne and i got started at 40mg... weird. anyway you're nearly at 2 months which i've heard is when skin slowly starts to get better. good luck! (pardon my grammar)
Ew, people suck. I've been getting these kind of comments too (mostly from my brother, ah, brotherly love) and I was thinking about starting to walk around with a spray bottle filled with water. Every time someone spits a nasty comment, spray them! Just like you do with cats! It might not be as satisfying as a kick in their ~special place~ but at least you won't get charged with assault...
It's gonna get worse before it gets better, so obviously you're halfway through!
Hey there, I think we've started around the same time. I started with 20mg of roaccutane on the 7th March. That didn't effect me that much, was just a little dry and tired. So after 3 weeks I was put on 30mg and that made more of a difference it wasn't making me extremely dry just normal, and wasn't breaking out as much I only had like 2 or 3 active. But then I was put on 20mg again and now I'm breaking out and it's so painful! I'll be put on 40mg on Wednesday so I'll let you know how that goes. Fingers crossed it makes more of a difference.
day 45 - i went to the hairdressers today to get my roots done and i thought i was going to die. bits of dye got onto my skin and i was freaking out and they were all just looking at me like i was deranged. my oversensitised scalp screamed in agony (AND THEY TURNED OUT MORE ORANGEY I WAS SUPER BUMMED) and my face got super red, tight and dry when they were blow drying it. i don't think i can go back to get the regrowth done in six weeks time. just noooooope. everyone's just gonna deal with my orange ass roots.
my skin seems to be clearing up? knock on wood - nay - an entire fucking tree. it could just be that i'm not getting a lot of pus filled huge pimple at once in clusters like i was getting a couple of weeks ago. my skin still looks worse than it did when i started accutane though. i was looking through old pictures of my skin going WHYYY but i'm sure the end result will all be worth it. lots and LOTS of scarring is happening though, my entire cheek area looks like a war zone. my nose is no man's land, pretty much the only thing void of dark pigmentation or actives right now. prayer hand emoji.
my nose is still super dry and when i blow my nose in the mornings it's full of dried up bogies! fun!!! been putting on pawpaw ointment into the nostrils with a q tip before bed though and that seems to be keeping any nasty bleeding and the like away. also, started using pawpaw ointment on the lips when they started to get red and constantly sore - a life saver. if you're in australia, you must try it - so cheap and you get a shit ton.
i went to ask for a higher dose today but he said my hemo..goblin?? (smth like that lol i just finished rereading harry potter & tdh all i can think about is goblins apparently) levels were still a bit too low for his liking and he wanted me to stay on 20mg. i'm supposed to come back for another blood test soon but he said everything's fine so far.
megtree - i'll be practising my roundhouse kicks for the next time he asks. THE WORST PART IS WHEN THEY'RE NOT DOING IT TO BE SPITEFUL BUT BECAUSE THEY'RE CONCERNED. then i look like an asshole if i get super defensive "are you okay? what's happening with your -" -NINJA KICK KARATE CHOP TO THE BALLS COMBO-
maxwell8988 - thanks!! that's what a lot of people who've finished their course have been telling me, just two more months until the breakouts start receding. also is it weird everyone, their mum and cat know someone who's done a course of roaccutane? maybe it's a lot more common here.
crimson storm - that'd be brill. if only i had the power to give people a pimple. all those people with flawless skin who try to advise me on washing my face, just -zap- pimple. And yes!! gotta stick it out, it'll be worth it in the end.
deedeedilz - yeah, the first couple of weeks on 20mg did nothing for me either in regards to drying skin but i started getting loads of breakouts. good luck going onto 40mg, hope the side effects aren't too severe!! i wish my doctor would up my dosage :'(
day 49 - a couple of days ago, the girls at work were telling me my skin was looking much better the lighting was very good though haha, i'm still thrilled to FINALLY be seeing some kind of results that aren't multiple pus filled monsters growing on my face. i've got a pus filled one right underneath by lip and a few sore spots around my jaw that speaks of an impending break out but other than that i think my skin's improved a bit. i hate how i keep getting acne in the same places tho, the scarring is atrocious.
as for side effects: nothing much. i've been using pawpaw ointment religiously, thinking of using lush's ointment w/ jojoba oil next. i haven't had any nose bleeds but there's a small amount of blood whenever i blow my nose. lips are sore and dry and i can't go three minutes without having pawpaw ointment on my lips because it is so uncomfortable. i've given up on trying to put anything else on my lips (IT'S AUTUMN! I WANT TO WEAR VAMPY LIPSTICK!!!). the corner of my mouth is super sore today but i'm going to slather on some pawpaw ointment before bed and hope that does the trick.
also the skin on my hands are super ...fragile? thin? prone to being scratched and tearing ahhhhh, so annoying, and it'll take forever to heal.
i think my skin's about to break out but i'll upload some more pictures next time.
day 56 - i don't have any pictures because i keep forgetting to take them i have no new photos but i will try to take some asap. i've just been so busy with work and uni, i guess it's good because i don't have time to obsess over my acne. BUT the initial break out has all but cleared up and all i'm left is a lot of scarring and two or three actives whoo! it was horrifying have a face FULL OF PUS FILLED ACNE but now it's finally gone. scarring is a tad worrying, my whole chin and right cheek is just red marks, it looks like there's no skin coloured bits at all however it is a lot easier to conceal when the texture is smooth so i couldn't be happier about that haha 'conceal, don't feel, don't let them know ... LET IT GOOOOO' - basically me getting ready every morning
i've got that angular chellitis thing tho and it won't heal! i know i should use something other than paw paw ointment but i don't have time to run out and a prescription. uni is killing me atm, i should actually be studying right this moment ahhhhh. anyway, i have a tiny mouth and i can't do anything without ripping it open again. ya girl just wants to eat a burger in peace
i will definitely take some pics when i have the time tho
day 57 - not much difference, getting some new breakouts along my jaw. weird since i just finished my periods? otherwise, still very happy with the progress of my skin. i got a new beeswax based lip balm, the one that comes in a tin, from burt's bees that i'm keen to try out. i've included pics. breakouts might still look terrible but it's almost all scarring i'm pretty chuffed.
