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First Accutane: Start 40Mg/day. [Severe/cystic] [Pics Included]

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(@slytherin)

Posted : 08/29/2014 11:31 pm

Alright hi hello, this is my second post here. My first nearly 3 weeks ago; that included my backstory and what was then my current regime. I didn't get around to replying to the replies to that but uhh, here's your update at any rate.

TL;DR of the above link; I'm a transgender female-to-male currently experiecning what I can only describe as "testoserone acne" around my jaw and lower face fml. And my back...and chest...yuck.

I started on Accutane 25/8/14. A lower dose, 40mg/day or 20mg 2x a day, as prescribed my GP because they are allowed to do that in my country. A dosage which may/may not be raised by the dermatologist I see in a few days. Side note: "Stop your hormone replacement" isn't a viable or safe option so pls do not go ahead and say that route. Also I can't shave properly due to the painful acne ;; please excuse the rancid facial hair.

Before Pics >> (Link) << [[HELLA GROSS!! I warned you]]

Since then it's been 5 days. I've had to stop picking ;; And other than my lips feeling like they're hella drying out and my shoulders and back feeling like they're recovering from sunburn (wtf??) I haven't seen any progress. I didn't expect to obviously. I know how long this stuff takes to work. Im holding out until my 5 months are done B). What I have seen however is my (sorry gross) leaky cysts scabbing over finally and becoming less of an issue to sleep on (I can sleep on my side again! for the most part). And the start of my IB.

Day 5 Pics: >> (Link) << [[AGAIN HELLA GROSS!!]

I'll be updating probs every 4-5 days. Unless I suddenly wake up and this stuff has worked a miracle job on my skin. If anybody has any tips they want to impart on a first time Accutane user, or on how to heal these really gross scabs fast, please feel free!

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(@joy4ever)

Posted : 08/30/2014 5:45 am

Hello Slytherin,

I wish you good luck en your course. Finished my course 3½ months ago with great results.

Be aware of that it might get worse the first 3-4 months (like my acne) .. and then the last months yu will clear up. What I'm saying to you is; dont lose your hope! It'll definetely be worth it in the end

How are you shaving? Using razor og electric? :)

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(@sankofa1)

Posted : 08/30/2014 8:50 am

the good news is that your acne on your face doesn't look that bad....it looks like u probably have some kind of folliculitis...I wish u well on your journey. its not easy

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(@slytherin)

Posted : 08/30/2014 6:47 pm

Hello Slytherin,

I wish you good luck en your course. Finished my course 3 months ago with great results.

Be aware of that it might get worse the first 3-4 months (like my acne) .. and then the last months yu will clear up. What I'm saying to you is; dont lose your hope! It'll definetely be worth it in the end

How are you shaving? Using razor og electric?

I'm hoping my IB doesn't last several months ugh thats so long. Hoping it starts to work a month in *^* definitely not losing hope.

I originally shaved with a razor, then I started to break out, so I moved to using an electric on days where it isn't too painful or inflammed to shave. And I don't shave close to the skin anymore. I just trim it back so it looks slighly less rancid.

the good news is that your acne on your face doesn't look that bad....it looks like u probably have some kind of folliculitis...I wish u well on your journey. its not easy

yea I'm glad the acne never really swelled up onto my face. i'm seeing a Derm on Monday, I think I might have folliculitis too; it only occured after I started to shave my neck/jaw. But no amount of me telling my GP that will change her mind on the "it's defs just hormonal acne" route she's taking to solve it. I got a real fear it might even be a fungal type thing??? Idk. :I doctors are strange. Thank you!

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(@sankofa1)

Posted : 08/30/2014 7:05 pm

no that is not hormonal acne in my opinion..its either like a staph infection or folliculitis

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(@like-moonlight)

Posted : 08/30/2014 8:01 pm

no that is not hormonal acne in my opinion..its either like a staph infection or folliculitis

I agree it looks like a staph infection

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(@slytherin)

Posted : 08/30/2014 9:14 pm

no that is not hormonal acne in my opinion..its either like a staph infection or folliculitis

I agree it looks like a staph infection

thats what i said it was. and we did rounds of antibiotic after my GP refused to do a bacterial culture. so im hoping the derm is just like "yea okay lets do a culture and some hardcore antibiotics" im remaining on accutane either way for my back and chest acne. but i think i really need to go back on antibiotics.

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(@mitchell1995)

Posted : 08/30/2014 9:17 pm

Try to get prescribed 60mg or 80mg of Accutane instead of just 40mg. If you they won't prescribe you anything more than 40mg per day, I suggest going on Accutane for 6-8 months instead of just 5 months. Just to make sure your acne won't come back, since it is kinda severe.

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(@like-moonlight)

Posted : 08/30/2014 9:32 pm

thats what i said it was. and we did rounds of antibiotic after my GP refused to do a bacterial culture. so im hoping the derm is just like "yea okay lets do a culture and some hardcore antibiotics" im remaining on accutane either way for my back and chest acne. but i think i really need to go back on antibiotics.

If your GP won't do a bacterial culture for some reason, a dermatologist definitely would. I would agree that another round of antibiotics would be a good idea. I would continue your Accutane round regardless of how the the culture turns out. Is your face painful at all?

Also I am sorry I didn't see anywhere in your posts that you mentioned a staph infection.

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(@slytherin)

Posted : 08/30/2014 9:33 pm

If your GP won't do a bacterial culture for some reason, a dermatologist definitely would. I would agree that another round of antibiotics would be a good idea. I would continue your Accutane round round regardless of how the the culture turns out. Is your face painful at all?

Eh it's pretty painful. It's very tender and painful to the touch but I can still move my head left and right for the most part. But yea it is painful and got this burning sensation??? it's the only way I can describe the pretty constant mild dull pain that comes with it.

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(@sankofa1)

Posted : 08/30/2014 10:05 pm

honestly I don't think antibiotics would completely get rid of the staph since its spread so much...u could try to put some muciderm inside your nostrils for five days and see if that helps...but Accutane will kill staph and folliculitis..atleast that is what I read. I believe I had some form of acne like that brought on by a bad facial..ofcourse it was not as severe... yet still severe...but most acne that is pustular and spreads rapidly is either staph or folliculitis. A lot of doctors are lazy and wont explain things or make efforts unless u demand it. Good luck..it does look like its drying up tho so that's good

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(@like-moonlight)

Posted : 08/30/2014 10:24 pm

Eh it's pretty painful. It's very tender and painful to the touch but I can still move my head left and right for the most part. But yea it is painful and got this burning sensation??? it's the only way I can describe the pretty constant mild dull pain that comes with it.

It does look like it is drying out so that is a big positive! It doesn't look as angry in the Day 5 photos. If you do end up getting an inital breakout and your skin starts purging I would ask your doctor for some prednisone. Some of the acne on your neck and jaw looks like it is cystic so if it is painful to let's say sleep on the side of your face or it hurts to smile or open your mouth to eat or something, I would for sure place a call to the doctor and ask for some prednisone pills to get rid of the inflammation, that helps a lot of people.

I'm looking forward to watching your updates and seeing how your course goes.

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(@senorscarber)

Posted : 08/31/2014 2:14 am

Something that helped me out a bit at first was Neosporin. I'd rub it on before bed and it helped with pain and swelling!

 

Drink a ton of water as well, water is what was my lifesaver I believe.

 

Good luck on your course man!

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(@like-moonlight)

Posted : 08/31/2014 12:07 pm

Something that helped me out a bit at first was Neosporin. I'd rub it on before bed and it helped with pain and swelling!

Drink a ton of water as well, water is what was my lifesaver I believe.

Good luck on your course man!

I used Neosporin too durning my course and active I got I would dap some on there I used the cream during the day so I wasn't shiny and then used the ointment at night. Really did help with the pain and swelling, I agree. Water was my life saver too!

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(@slytherin)

Posted : 09/04/2014 12:24 am

okay okay i'm slightly late with this lmao.

DAY 11 UPDATE || WEEK 1 DONE AND DUSTED!

I'm not really sure how to go about doing these updates. So over the last 5ish days since my last update a lot has changed. My god. My face looks so much better than it did 5 days ago. I literally can't comprehend it. I'm ecstatic in many ways I suppose. My skin has dried out a lot, especially my lips, I was prepared for this thank god but still a little annoying. I got weird crusty formations of dried skin no amount of lotion helps. They'll go away I'm sure.

I got my first nosebleed as well. While I was asleep. It woke me up. And my better half up; who couldn't stop laughing as I shoved more and more tissue beneath my nose.

I've definitely hit my IB too. On my face. It's kinda creeped up onto the cheeks and around the mouth a bit, but it's not very bad. And I got some really horrible swelling around my lymph nodes, hurt a lot, basically thrive of ibuprofen. I'm getting less active breakouts around my neck though, which I guess is a good sign.

Many of my "leaky cysts" have dried up and don't require a constant on-hand tissue to deal with. 1 or 2 still sometimes weep, but they're easily dealt with. And I've found if I do any strenous activity my face bleeds??? like will just randomly start bleeding from a spot. Profusely. It's yuck.

Day 11 Pics >> (Link) << [[iphone quality im sorry]]

Also I visited a dermatologist, who was a little turd to deal with. He got very antsy my GP (legally) prescribed me accutane instead of him and that's all he focused on. Real hassle to deal with. Will not deal with again. 0/10.

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(@slytherin)

Posted : 09/19/2014 1:27 am

 

shitshithsithsithi

Sorry all! I haven't had much time to sit down and upload these photos and write about stuff. And by time I mean I haven't had the self esteem to do much other than mope around my house and eat.

So I'm now on day...26! Nearly a whole month. Nearly. Not quite. Still in the IB stage I think. Getting new nodules every day ;A; also getting hell dry skin in places other than my face. Is this normal??? I presume it is. My arms are hell flaky, like I got sunburn or something but I haven't been outside w/out sunscreen on so I doubt it's that.

My lips are SO dry now. Ugh. I'm slathering them with chapstick and before bed I'm using this ointment called Bepanthen. It's for babies. But oh my god, cracked lips?? healed overnight. I love this stuff. Might try it eventually on acne healing wounds themselves. It's an antisceptic which is a plus.

I think I really fudged up lately though. I ran out of my basic facial cleansing stuff, Cetaphil or whatever and so for the last probably 5 days I tried 3 days of Neutrogena Salicylic wash I had leftover and this "removes excess oil acne foam wash" Cetaphil stuff I had leftover. BAD IDEA. My skin is really really red. Not flakey yet. But red and kinda burny. This was probably a really stupid move on my part and I regret it a lot. Makes my skin look so much worse. Bought my old stuff again today so going to get back to using that. God help my poor skin lmao.

My chest is slowy clearing up and so is my back. The very large cystic nodules have gone down! Yay.

Okay so photo time! I got 2 lots because I haven't posted.

 

Firstly. 10th of September. Which would be...uhh...Day...1...7???

Day 17 >> (Link) << [[images not pretty as you could imagine]]

Secondly there's todays! 19th of September. The redness is really gross ;A; anybody got tips?

Day 26 >> (Link) << [[images again not pretty as you could imagine. Haven't shaved either its been too tender. SORRY.]]

Thanks all for reading!

Hopefully will update in 5ish days again like I said I would be :I

OH! And there was an idea going around I may have had a staph infection, the Dermatologist came back negative for that. So thats a plus.

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