Day 2
Woke up with a zit above my brow. Had a bit of a breakout last week which I believe is from stopping spiro. It wasn't anything big though. Got one on my chest, two small ones on my forehead and another on my temple, and couple more little bumps on my chin.
The bump above my right brow, and a few more tiny bumps on my chin are the only new things in the past two days.
A little about me
I've struggled with facial, chest and back acne since I was 11. I'm now 23. My acne hasn't been severe since I cut out dairy sugar and oil from my diet but it's still there. Anything that works doesn't work for long and most topicals irritate my skin more than they help.
The acne on my chest and back right now seem to come an go for months at a time. But I'm still prone to breaking out there.
My acne is mild to moderate depending on the meds I'm using but it's not going away after 12 years of treatment and I'm covered in dark marks from all the pimples. Every little bump on my skin leaves a mark even if it never comes to head, and I haven't been a picker since I was about 14.
I'm female, weight dwindles between 45 - 48 kg depending on the time of year. I'm on 20mg roaccutane (Roche) for the next 6 months. My doctor doesn't want to put me on a high dose because of my low weight, the fact that I'm active about 7hours a day (might get muscle/joint pain) and because he believes that a low dose should protect me from the other side effects too.
Day 4
Two new small zits on my back. Nothing new anywhere else. My skin doesn't seem any different.
My eyes were hurting earlier. They were really dry. Bought some visine on my way home today. Eyes are better.
I've been reading through lots of accutane logs on acne.org I always read about the side effects first. Very scary.
Day 5
One new pimple on my left forehead.
The one I had above my right brow is healing weirdly. It looks like I spot treated with something very irritating, or got sunburned right on that spot, or both! It looks weird.
The one on my left temple looks like it might leave a raised scar, which is weird because I don't scar. But it might not.
One of the pimples I discovered on my back yesterday is gone. Or at least too flat to feel it. The other is still there, smaller and not hurting anymore.
Chin feels rough. No pimples, just the skin feels weird.
Nothing new on my chest. My forehead looks exceptionally flat right now. There are still bumps there but not huge ones.
Overall my skin is clearer than last week but it's probably more likely due to the fact that I've been using just lotion on my face for a few days. It always clears for a little while at first when I do that, then all he'll breaks lose.
I don't think it's from the accutane.
Side effects
I don't know if this is a side effect but I'm really tired. More than usual. Yesterday I was really tired. Last night I went to bed 8:15pm. Woke up at 5am today. Was sooo drowsy I decided to sleep until 6. Couldn't get out of bed until 6:15am and I feel just as drowsy as I did earlier as I do now at 4.
I'm going to catch some sleep and see if it goes away.
Day 7
One new pimple on my chin.. A big whitehead. I popped it because it was just huge and staring at me. Anyway, it might be karma but I feel like there's a little one popping up right beside it.
Got really bad back pain today.
My lips have started cracking. I expected that since my lips were dry before accutane. Terrified to think of what they'll look like a few more months into treatment.
Didn't need any visine today. My eyes felt a little gritty after being the the air conditioning for a few hours but after I got out they were fine.
Not as tired as before but I'm really really tired.
Day 10
No new pimples between yesterday and today although I'm feeling a little bump on my forehead and one on my chin. The one of my forehead hurts 
Nothing new anywhere else.
My skin didn't get greasy all day 
I was a little shiny but that's it, nothing much.
My lips are starting to crack which isn't surprising since I've always had dry lips. The blistex isn't cutting it so I'm planning on getting some coconut oil. It's mostly because I feel strange everytime I swallow anything.
Yesterday I woke up with my elbows hurting. The left more than the right. The right stopped before the end of the day but the left hurt until a few hours ago today. It wasn't excruciating pain or anything, but it was very persistent.
Day 11
The bump on my forehead turned into a whitehead... And I popped it this morning since it's in the centre of my forehead in a place where it greets people before I do . I know that's not a good excuse but it's my excuse. There was actually a big deal of swelling, like a penny size this morning. I spot treated throughout the day and it went down a bit. I know I'm not supposed to use anything on my skin but it's huge and in the middle of my face. So I'm gonna spot treat until it's small.
The bump on my chin is still a bump. Got two small whiteheads on my chin. I didn't poke at them or anything.
The rest of my face is surprisingly smooth. It feels nice. Not like normal skin but like... Slightly oily skin. I didn't get oily all day which is great. My face seemed a little red when I came home but it went away after about an hour so I think it was from my walk home.
Soooo about those side effects
Got a bad pain in my arm left arm today. A not as bad pain in my right. The pain in my right is still there.
Also have some dull achy back pain.
My lips are not cracking but they feel like they will soon... Started using the coconut oil about 2 mins ago. Hopefully it works better.
I had a feeling I'd get lots of aches and pains because strenuous exercise at least 3 hours a day is just my lifestyle, plus a few more hours of moderate exercise. I also spend a lot of hours standing so that would explain the back pain. I'll have to live with it since I also hate painkillers.
If I have to chose between clear skin and joints that don't hurt.. I will chose the clear skin.
Day 12
Woke up this morning and the spot treated bump was soooo much smaller. It was unbelievable. Usually spot treatments work over the course of a couple days for me but this worked overnight. When I woke up I could feel a bump there, and now if can barely feel anything.
I may actually consider spot treating again on accutane. You know, instead of popping because popping is worse in my mind. For now I'm done though because it's smaller.
The bump on my chin is still just a bump. The whiteheads on my shin are just there...hanging out. I actually stared in the mirror for a while this morning looking for new bumps but nothing new so yayyy! I know it's too early to get excited. But I am.
NO ACHES AND PAINS TODAY!!! However, today wasn't all that stressful. Maybe about an hour of walking, and two hours of standing total.
Made gulab jamun for my 'in-laws' (deep fried balls of milk that are then soaked in syrup... The most delicious sweet in the world)! And I ate quite a few. I took them with my pill. I figure all the fat would help absorption.
I drank a teaspoon of coconut oil. Which wasn't terrible like I thought it would be.
Then I just had a cup of chai. So lots of dairy today.
One of my greatest desires is to be able to eat an entire cheesecake and not breakout. But I will settle for a slice. Very afraid of what will happen for the rest of the week.
Day 14
So yesterday a zit popped up on my chest. I take it as a sign that I should still stay away from dairy.
Was gone by this morning when I woke up, though, I did wake up with a new active pimple on my chin. It's not a mean angry red bulgy looking active pimple it's calm looking.
The pimple between my brows seems to have left a raised scar
The rest of my face is clear (in just 2 weeks) although some parts feel a little rough.
I thought my skin would be dryer by now but it's really very 'normal' looking.
Anyway, my lips are in pain... Constantly... Since yesterday they began to crack. Nothing I'm using seems to work and all the recommendations I'm finding are for products I can't find here.
I hope I can find something to work for my lips
Day 17
Seems I started breaking out over the weekend. Two pimples on my chin, two on my forehead, one on my cheek and four on my jawline. The one on my cheek and one on my forehead are a little smaller than yesterday. One on the big ones on my jawline is all pussy looking
No help for my lips.
More back pain today although I didn't have any for the weekend, so that's good.
Hello! I'm on 20 mg roaccutane too,it's day 10 for me. My derm prescribed me IsoKeilit lipcream, definitely get your hands on it! It's the best lip product I have ever used. I usually have very dry lips but this baby keeps my lips super duper soft
Thanks, I'll see if I can find it. It's very hard to find anything other than Chapstick where I live though. But I will look for it.
Day 20
Two active pimple on my jawline. Very small and a painful little bump on my hairline.
The rest of my skin is clear. Except I have some dry patches at the corners of my lips on right below my chin.
My lips are still cracking. It hurtssssss! Also got back pain again. Worse than usual, especially yesterday and last night was awful. I drank painkillers and went to bed. Woke up with less pain. Got worse during the day but not as bad as yesterday.
Blood tests soon
Day 25
So recently I started developing lots of clogged pores and blackheads all over my skin. Started off as rough skin then little white things started poking out all over my face around Monday. yesterday I bought a blackhead extractor and spent like half an hour extracting gunk from my chin. This morning I spent another half hour or so on my nose and cheeks.
My entire chin is also dry. On Monday I looked at the mirror and saw skin peeling off and white stuff poking out... Very gross. So I'm switching to ponds dry skin lotion, just because I can find it and it's the only moisturiser I can find that isn't formulated to do anything. I used it for the first time last night and it felt like I put oil on my skin but my chin looked better today than it ever did using the cetaphil. Plus I like the texture more than cetaphil.. It's easier to spread.
Right now I have 2 active pimples on my chin, and 2 going away. There're two bumps on my forehead but I doubt whether they'll turn into anything. That's it.
Getting back pain every day. That sucks. Some days it's worse than others. Saturday it was really bad even though I didn't have as much strenuous work, but I did do a lot of work on Friday so maybe that's why.
Day 26
Booked my doctor's appointment. I'm really hoping my test results come out good... Great. Identical to my baseline test results.
One active pimple on my chin. The rest that were going away are still in the process of leaving just taking long, which is strange since I've started accutane.
Was out today from 6:30 to 12:45 and didn't need to blot my face once. Came home and my skin looked so normal. I didn't even look sweaty. I looked normal!
I've used the ponds dry skin cream two nights now and the following morning woke up with very soft feeling skin. I'm a little afraid of continuing though because it really feels like I'm just rubbing oil on my face and it's really shiny after. My neck soaks the stuff up though.
No back pain today, but I did have a very light day. Maybe about an hour and a half of walking all day, and I have the rest if the day off.
Day 28
One new active pimple on my cheek from yesterday. The one on my chin went away. At least now I only have one active one at a time...hopefully on my next pack I have no more active ones it looks like it will go away tomorrow. I thinking it takes about three days for pimples to come and go on accutane which is quick.
Anyway, very very flushed today. I've had some facial flushing since I started but today was bad. It's usually nothing much. I rather have flushing than pimples. Today was very very hot though so that may be it.
A little back pain. Not as much as usual. Had quite a bit yesterday though.
Day 29
No Active Pimples!!!
Got a nasty looking bump from the one yesterday but mostly because it grew in a spot that was already hyperpigmented.
I scrubbed from neck to toe today. I don't scrub my face since my cleanser has an exfoliant in it (0.5% salicylic acid). I now feel like I've had a chemical peel all over. I feel so soft and smooth. My face has been feeling smoother this past week too. The white heads I had are all gone
Still some back pain. But my face back and chest are clear... flushed... but not pimply. So, my back can keep on hurting.
My test results came back today (took them yesterday) and I was able to pick up my prescription and my meds for this month before the long weekend. Roaccutane is expensive! Insurance covers most of the cost of my liver function tests and some of the accutane. It does not pay a cent for pregnancy tests or birth control pills (so stupid).
Aanddd I realised that Ive been getting another side effect from the accutane. I'm tired all the time. I thought it was just extra pressure at school that was wearing me down since he never mentioned that being a side effect until i told him about it. Still not completely convinced. I'm going to wait until stuff eases at school and see if i'm still tired.
Day 31
More back pain none yesterday so I've confirmed it's really due to the amount of physical activity I have.
Got a pimple on my shoulder yesterday..it came and went in 2 days total. It's totally flat now which is amazing.
My belly button is all dry and flaky inside like I have psoriasis or something. Gonna rubs some lotion in there and see what happens.
My face doesn't look as smooth as two days ago but it feels smoother. It feels so nice when I'm washing it and the rest of me is still soft from my scrub.
Month 1 highlights
Thought I'd do this for the sake of anyone who actually reads my log.
Face : currently clear, some tiny whiteheads that can be felt as rough skin but they can only be seen right after washing.
Chest : no pimples in weeks (yayyyy!!!) my skin kinda goes from rough to smooth though
Back: few pimples since I started but not gone completely.
Overall any pimple I get seems so come and go completely in about three days. They're smaller now than when I started. They heal nastily. They look bad when they go away. I'm prone to hyperpigmentation butt this is different like flat scars or something. I hope they're not scars.
Side effects
My lips dried out very quickly, cracked, didn't bleed but pained like crazy.
Skin dried out, got a little flaky but not more than two days
BACK PAIN EVERYDAY - which I will never tell my doctor about because the low dose is supposed to be to avoid side effects
*Tiredness - although I'm not completely sure this is the accutane or because I've been extremely busy since I started taking it
Dry mouth but nothing serious. Im drinking 3L of water a day so it's not that I'm not drinking enough. My mouth might even feel dry right after drinking water
how I use it
I take one 20mg pill every day between 4 and 7 am after breakfast. If I'm not sure that I had enough fat in my meal I'll drink a teaspoon of coconut oil. I wash it all down with a 12oz bottle of water.
Glad to see it's going well so far for you
Thanks a lot
Watching your journey.. good luck!
I was interested in the side effects of being tired so thanks for writing about that. Keep us informed if you keep on feeling tired!
I just wish I could be better informing you though, like I said I spend a lot of hours at work and school so I'm not convinced it's all accutane. I think my lifestyle has a lot to do with it, but I'll keep posting on it, especially after things ease up at school.
Thanks for reading.
I'm still tired btw
Day 37
Two small pimples on my forehead today. One small one on my chest. It's about as wide as a pinhead but it's really sticking out there. I was really starting to think I wasn't gonna get any more zits. My face is a little oiler right now. My nose is shiny and I'm worried that I'm adjusting too much to this low dose. These are the only ones since my last post btw.
The colour of my face is strange. When I'm not flushed I'm blotchy soo... That sucks. But it's still better. My face feels incredibly smooth though. Chest feels like the rest if my skin which feels dry and my back feels a little rough but nothing serious.
Side effects
Back pain! Still everyday. Some days worse than others depending on my much work I did that day. Had some calf pain on Thursday which was new, but I did a lot of walking.
Still tired all the time, even though I'm getting more sleep. I'm not going out and I haven't been studying as much as I should but i still don't feel rested.
Lips are dry but not cracked or anything.
I'm hoping this small dose is enough to make/keep me clear because I don't think I can handle my back pain getting worse.
Day 38
The two bumps on my forehead are flat! Yayyy! Well not completely. I can still feel them but they're actually hard to see.
Someone told me today that my skin looks smooth so I guess that's not bad although I still feel weird anytime anyone comments on my skin. I don't think it looks smooth.. But it looks a million times less bumpy and rough than before I started accutane so I guess that's what she meant.
Side effects
My back hurts really badly. Last time I went to my doc he asked me how bad the pain usually is on a scale of 1-10, I told him like a 2-5 but it actually goes up to about an 8 on some days.
I would much rather have an achy back and nice skin than horrible skin and no pain. I know it sounds bad but I can handle physical pain. I can't handle people telling me I eat too much sugar and that's why I have pimples when I don't eat any at all I'm very touchy about comments about my skin, any comment.
Back pain today: 8/10
My lips are cracking again. I think maybe I have a problem with lip balms that have petrolatum in them because that's the only thing they all have in common even that aquaphor that everyone recommends that I had a friend bring for me from the US.
So for the next few days I'm going to try some coconut oil and see how that works out.
A little tired today. Not a lot but I think I was awoken by my new sexy teacher.
Since my lips started peeling off I've been staring at everyone's lips and I'm surrounded by men all day which is not good.
. . . I would much rather have an achy back and nice skin than horrible skin and no pain. I know it sounds bad but I can handle physical pain. I can't handle people telling me I eat too much sugar and that's why I have pimples when I don't eat any at all I'm very touchy about comments about my skin, any comment.
I've mostly been lurking, following your log and several others, since I'm about to start my second course of isotretinoin end this month (first was 25 years ago). But I just had to comment on this.
I so hear you on this score! WTF does everyone with great skin think they are an expert on acne? "If you only went vegan," or "I think you're working out too much," or "You really need to take this supplement and, while you're at it, do this little dance under a full moon on every second month of an even numbered year and pray to the goddess of whatever, and then you'll be cured."
It's insulting. I've been battling this disease since I was 13 years old. I know the score, I've tried it all. And even if I haven't, it's not up to non acne suffers and non professionals to insist they have the answers.
Okay little rant over. I'll go back to keeping up with your progress and silently cheering you on. It sounds like you are making great progress. Hang in there!