I started getting really bad cystic acne at age 18, which is frustrating as a lot of you can imagine/relate; I'm supposed to be an adult now, why am I just getting embarrassing teenager skin problems now? While my skin was definitely not perfect in high school, it was normal - I don't even remember what it was like to have smooth, clear cheeks. And even if Accutane works (my confidence in it wavers, the more I read about people's success/horror stories), I likely won't have smooth cheeks for quite some time since my cystic acne has left a lot of scarring.
In the past two years or so (I will be 20 soon), I've spent a lot of time trying to fix my skin, trying everything from antibiotics, topical retinoids, natural remedies, as, again, I'm sure a lot of you can relate to, and nothing has ever worked. So this is my last resort, I honestly don't know what I am going to do if Accutane doesn't work, I really don't want to accept that I may have to live with acne for the rest of my life. I've literally spent the last two years of my life hiding at home for as much as humanly possible, and every minute I spend out of my house, I feel super self-conscious and feel every pair of eyes in the room on my skin (even though I know that absolutely no one cares about how I look as much as I do), and I'm really sick and tired of it.
So. Here's hoping this stuff works, with minimal side effects. I decided to start keeping a log, for myself and possibly for others who are also on this drug, so we can compare notes and whatnot.
As mentioned in the title, I am a 94 lbs. (42.6 kg) 19-year-old girl, on 40 mg/day. To deal with the IB, my derm also prescribed me with 5mg Prednisone tablets, which I am instructed to take two tablets a day for two weeks, then one tablet a day for another two weeks, then stop entirely with it after that.
I'm starting this log a little late - at the moment I am already on my 17th day of treatment, so I will lump the previous two weeks or so into one, but subsequent entries will be more frequent:
Days 1-16
These two weeks have mainly been about getting used to the side effects for me - I don't feel like my acne has changed drastically or anything, nor did I expect it to just yet. There's been a bit of ups and downs, but I think that's just me; my acne is usually like that, sometimes I'll feel like it's totally clearing up, then boom, three new cysts the next day.
So for the most part, it's just side effects. Compared to what I've heard, nothing too bad has happened yet, which I am grateful for, but the month is still young and who knows what else will crop up.
Side effects I've been having:
- Dry skin: There's a little bit of peeling, but nothing too major. When I have to go out, I do wear makeup, and using Cetaphil under my foundation, the flaking is not extremely noticeable. Skin everywhere else feels normal - no eczema spots or rashes on my body. In the first few days I noticed a bit of dandruff, which is unusual for me, but after a few more days it seems to have went away. May have to stop shampooing daily if dandruff returns, or my scalp gets really dry.
- Dry lips: Slightly uncomfortable, but also bearable. It mainly just feels like the skin on my lips is pulled/stretched really tight. I have a bad habit of peeling and biting my lips when there are extra flaky bits, so that makes it worse than it really is. When it gets particularly uncomfortable, I use Aquaphor.
- Headaches: I've been getting like a headache a week since I've been on Accutane (so, like two), I hope it isn't forming a pattern. The first headache was quite unbearable. I slept for several hours, hoping it would go away, but still woke up to a throbbing pain, and in the end I took a Tylenol, even though I hear it's bad to take it on Accutane. For my second headache, I bought some Ibuprofen because I heard it's slightly gentler on the liver compared to Tylenol, so I got that to brace myself for future Accutane headaches.
- Body aches: When I get up from lying on my tummy, my rib area kind of hurts, which is something that only started since I've been on Accutane.
Day 17
Acne still has not changed, I'm getting new cysts as usual on my cheeks and along my jawline. The main thing I noticed about today that is different is that my skin is not oily at all. I mentioned dry skin and flaking in the first 16 days, but that was different - my skin still produced oil, but there was flaking. But all of today, there hasn't been a trace of oil on my skin, even my nose, which is usually very oily. I hope this is a good sign that the drug is working, because I hear Accutane works by stopping oil production.
I had a slight headache this morning when I woke up, but thankfully it went away after I ate breakfast, so painkillers were not necessary today.
Thanks, Mandy, good luck to you as well! I know exactly what you mean, and I'm glad I joined this site - reading lots of similar experiences here, and it makes me feel like less of a freak knowing I'm not going through this alone.
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Technically 6 minutes into Day 20
Adding a little more to the last entry, because I just washed my face and examined it - I think I'm having my IB? I can't tell if I'm just having an exceptionally bad week or what, but there are more zits than I can count (okay, I can probably count them, it's just depressing to do so). I'm putting tea tree oil on them, just because I don't want to do nothing - is that bad? When I had normal acne, tea tree oil killed pimples so damn fast, but it just seems to irritate and make cysts very angry.
Day 25
I'm kind of torn about this treatment. On one hand, my t-zone is doing just great. My nose hasn't been this blackhead-free since I was like, ten years old.
On the other hand, I have the biggest, most painful, red and incredibly sore cysts on both my cheeks right now. Jesus Christ, they hurt.
So yeah, my face is just like in strips of really good and really bad. Mostly bad though.
Side effects have not escalated much. Got another headache on Tuesday, skin is still super dry and itchy. No nosebleeds, thank god, lips are dry but not too uncomfortably so. My cuticles are also kind of dry and ragged.
I am still loving this no oily skin/hair thing so much, I think I'll miss it when Accutane is over.
Day 27
Okay, this is very weird and seems like one of the less common side effects, but for the past few days, I have been experiencing spells of dizziness. They are incredibly short and not very frequent, like for a few seconds each time, and it happens maybe once a day. They just come out of nowhere, nothing I do triggers it. I haven't been out by myself so it's not dangerous, I just hope it does not happen when I am driving.
I hope it's not a huge deal - it would really suck if I have to stop Accutane.
About the acne, I feel like it's a bit better today but it's too early to say - usually it looks fine when I wake up and looks a lot worse after my morning shower (red and stuff). I just had a dizzy spell as I was sitting in bed shortly after I woke up and wanted to write that down before I forgot.
Day 30
Feelin' pretty shit, as it's been a whole month, and while I did not expect a miracle drug that worked right away, I'm pretty pissed that my skin looks and feels no better (if anything, a little worse) than when I started.
There is a monster cyst on my right cheekbone the size of a dollar coin, and one emerging on my left cheekbone as well. Then, scattered all over my cheeks and jawline are a bunch of junior cysts. My cheeks are incredibly red, and everything itches. Wonderful.
If I so much as touch my hairline, dandruff snows from my head. I'm not even showering daily anymore, but it still happens.
Also my back hurts.
Sorry about the negativity and rant, but like I said, I'm feeling pretty awful and I literally have nothing positive to say today. My skin makes me want to simultaneously cry and vomit, it's that disgusting. And the giant cysts hurt even if I don't touch it, there's just random, sharp pains coming from them even as I'm just sitting here. Uugh.
Day 37
Holy crap, is my skin oily. I'm not sure what is going on at this point, but I've been told the skin may continue to fluctuate for the first few months, so.. this kinda sucks. It's like I have all the initial breakouts, all the bad side effects, and the one thing that was good about being on Accutane is gone now - I'm back to being super oily but everything else has gone to shit. Aaaa.
Time go faster pls.
I'm sorry to hear you're having such a rough time of it---I'm into my 3rd month and am having a bit of a horrorshow too, as my log will show you. Having said that, some of my symptoms have gone---I had a terrible breakout in the first 2 weeks that made me feel monstrous and a rash all over my hands up to the top of my shoulders---but they're often replaced by another one...I recently had a terrible pain in my side for 5 days straight that made sleep all but impossible, not to mention 'other activities', it felt like my liver was twice the size it should be...Thankfully this has nearly gone completely but I'm living in constant fear that it'll return at some point. I didn't mean to hijack your thread but the point I'm trying to make it that Accutane is pretty powerful stuff and I think it takes a while for your body to adjust to having a regular dose of it...
I'm 65 days in yet my nose is still incredibly oily (always been my greasiest part and I think so much rubbish collects around it, that's where most of my acne stems from) but the rest of me is super dry and feels lovely and smooth. That said, my skin still looks really red and blotchy, very uneven skin tone---imagine someone with a pale forehead, super red cheeks and huge grey patches under the eyes and that's me at the moment...
I wish I could guarantee you that it will get easier, and hopefully it will but don't be surprised if this bizarre medicine throws a few more twists and turns at you. I too have brief moments of dizziness/lightheadness, almost an 'out of body' feeling but until they get worse, I'm just ignoring them...
I'd also suggest keeping it simple in terms of moisturising and what helped massively through my outbreak was a mix of bactroban/nesoporin/tea tree oil (the strong stuff) left on overnight.
Also remember Accutane keeps working after you've stopped taking it.
Best of luck...
Hey Karen, You may want to try putting some cortizone cream on the cyst this is what I usually do when one shows its ugly self. It'll will shrink them some but after 4 nights of using it on them, you can discontinue because thats about as small as it will shrink them. I wish there was quicker way. I've had these few current cysts forever it seems and after getting a shot in one it reemerged 
so I'm not paying for something that isn't going to work. Just playing the ever so annoying waiting game.
Day 51
Thank you both for the kind words of encouragement and advice! I've actually been doing a lot better since my last update (which is kind of why I haven't been updating - my acne hasn't even been on my mind that much!) - I haven't had any cysts for at least a week or two, and the pimples I do have are drying up and going away. I hope I don't jinx it, but things are looking up.
The dryness did come back - the week I updated was the week I got my period, so I think that may have caused the extreme oiliness at the time. After my period my skin dried right up again. I guess there's no way around the breakouts during that time of the month for me, even on Accutane. My skin feels smooth now save for the occasional bump here or there, but nowhere near as bad as it was a week or two ago. Still lots of scarring, of course, and like ZOSO, my skin is really blotchy when I'm not wearing makeup. Red patches on cheeks and all.
Other side effects, I experienced another headache yesterday, first in a while. I don't know if I'm just really used to the side effects now, but I'm not really feeling it. I'm aware my lips are dry, but it doesn't really bother me, and I don't really seem to be feeling the aches. My skin isn't even flaking so much now, if I put makeup on I look pretty normal in "good" lighting. Again, hope I'm not jinxing anything.
All is well so far. I still expect some surprises from Accutane, but it's been a fairly good to me lately.
Day 68
Into my 3rd month! Things are still kinda see-sawing. For the most part, my skin is pretty smooth now, but I still break out quite a bit during my time of the month, and my skin gets very oily.
I got a really bad nosebleed yesterday, don't know if it's the Accutane or the weather, or both. And maybe lack of water too, I had been moving the past few days and tried to get so many things done in a short amount of time I neglected to hydrate properly.
So yeah, I can feel some cysts and bumps under the skin (jawline, mostly) when it's almost my time of the month, but usually my skin is dry and smooth, not counting the awful scars. Gonna see my derm in a few days, maybe I need some hormonal medication too, if I'm gonna break out every time I get my period.