I just started tane as well....I'm on day five...best of luck bro.

I just started tane as well....I'm on day five...best of luck bro.

Thanks ! Good Luck to you as well !

DAY 4

Well, my IB has started early. I broke out a bit day 2, but i thought it may have been unrelated, but now I am positive. It got a lot worse yesterday, and slightly worse today. Lots of small whiteheads around left cheek. However, so far, no dryness anywhere whatsoever.

DAY 5 & 6

Yesterday, day 5, I continued to break out pretty bad. I went shopping at outlets, so I looked like a fool with tons of small whiteheads on my face. For some reason, I was fairly itchy throughout the day. Mostly on my face, but also at random places like my arms/legs/scalp etc. I also had a pretty bad headache last night, but that could be unrelated, as I really haven't had a headache in a while. As for today, day 6, I got a few new whiteheads, but not as much as the days prior. The itch has also settled down for the most part, still a little itchy on face, but very bearable. If I'm occupied with something, I don't even feel it.

I also have yet to experience any dryness anywhere, so not sure what that means. Tomorrow marks the first week completed, so I'm excited about that.

Anyways, Happy Thanksgiving to all!

DAY 7 + WEEK 1

Well, I had a pleasant surprise on the chin when I woke up this morning, with a huge zit (looks like several whiteheads have been forced together, lol). Other than that, still breaking out with small whiteheads all around my face, which REALLY SUCKS! It looks horrible. But yeah, this has been the worst week acne wise I've had in a LONG LONG time, as in several years. I really hope this was the worst week, and it won't get much worse than this, because I just can't imagine that. Hopefully things calm down by Monday, when I return to school.

As for side effects, I really have not had any yet. I had a bad headache on day 5, have had some on and off itching since day 5 also. My face may be starting to get slightly dry, but that's about it. Lips haven't been dry at all. Hoping Week 2 will be better!

DAY 8-9

Yesterday morning it appeared to be getting better, but little did I know throughout the day I would start developing 2 LARGE pimples, one near my nose!?! & another right on my cheek. Still breaking out with small whiteheads all over the place too.

Today, those 2 big spots got bigger , so yeah. However, a lot of the whiteheads from week 1 are slowly but surely starting to dry up & some came off themselves while water splashed my face in the shower. I can also definitely start to feel dryness on my lips/face already, but nothing major. Tomorrow I go back to school, so HOPEFULLY it gets a bit better? We shall see.

DAY 10

I was happy to find out it didn't get that much worse this morning. Still breaking out, but at a much smaller scale than the first week, and a lot of the small whiteheads from week 1 are drying up and slowly going away. I don't want to jinx anything, but could my IB be finally over? I don't mind breakouts, I know I probably won't start clearing up till at least 2 months, but this last week has just been too much for me to handle.

Lips/face still slightly dry, but nothing too bad. I have had some weird chest tightness this morning, but nothing painful.

DAY 14 + WEEK 2

Today is my 14th day on Accutane, can't believe it has only been 2 weeks, it has felt like a LONG TIME. Anyways, here is a quick summary of what has been going on. Week 1 was by far the worse of the two, with my IB kicking in really early. The beginning of week 2 looked promising, with the first 2-3 days with just 1-2 small new whiteheads per day, but it has been downhill since then. Breaking out pretty bad right now, still not as bad as week 1, but fairly close. I guess I just have a ton of acne in my system that stayed under my skin over the years.

As for side effects, here is the full breakdown of my first 2 weeks.

Itchy Skin was the first side effect which went away after 3-4 days. After that was headaches, which I've gotten 2 so far since starting. Then I started feeling some weird chest tightness, but that only lasted about 3 days. Right now, my only current side effects are dry lips(finally starting to feel it), dry face+ skin althroughout, and lastly back pains, however nothing too serious.

Hopefully week 3 things start to turn around!

DAY 17

It's been tough. It really sucks having to go to school with my face looking like this. It was bad enough BEFORE I started accutane, that's why I took it. Now that my face is WAY WORSE, it really does suck and really does take a lot out of you, especially when you see no signs of any progress or any improvements. Thankfully this is the last week of class, then I get a month off before next semester starts. It's the morning right now, really going to have to force myself out of my house in a few minutes. Side effects still the same, some dryness but nothing major along with the very minor back pains. That's about it for now.

WEEK 3 (DAY 21)

Can't believe it has already been 3 weeks on accutane! Tomorrow I am going for my blood test & then wednesday I have my dermatologist appointment.

As for my acne, it is still WAY WORSE than from what I started. I do have to say the breakouts have somewhat improved in terms of the scale of the breakouts. But it would be an understatement to say it is getting better. I am still breaking out daily. I still look ridiculously bad, but still trying to hang in there.

As for side effects it really has not been too bad. Lips have been really dry, face slightly dry, and skin otherwise not too dry. Could be because I'm being cautious and moisturizing every day after shower, but haven't felt dry at all. Still have consistent back pains, but very very minor. As for the headaches, itching, chest pain etc. has all went away. I really hope week 4 will be better!!

MONTH 1 (DAY 30)

Finally happy to say I'm done with my first month on accutane. So far, the only good news is that.... the first month is done, because it has been HORRIBLE. Especially this last week, the breakouts just continue and it seems like there is no end! It has almost gotten to the point where I want to cry when I wake up in the morning and look at myself in the mirror. I've never had acne this bad in my life before. As it stands right now, my face is basically as bad as it has been. Week 1 & Week 4 has been the worst, it is like my initial breakout all over again. It definitely helps that I got my theater class final tomorrow to present in front of everyone.

I have these two spots like right at the end of each eyebrow, that is just huge. It's a cyst I believe? that has been around for like 3 weeks now & every 2-4 days releases like 4-5 small whiteheads. These usually pop while I'm sleeping, leaving blood on my pillow almost daily. The breakouts on my jaw have been pretty severe too, very sensitive to touch. Not to mention, a lot of blackheads are starting to come to the surface, making my face look every worse!

The only thing keeping my sane right now, is I only have 2 finals left, then I'm off from school for a WHOLE MONTH, so I don't have to show myself to anyone for a long period of time, and I truly expect to be looking better by that time.

Lastly, as for side effects, I've luckily avoided most. Man, if I was going through severe side effects while my acne exploded like this, I'd probably be really close to just stopping accutane. I've had the dry lips (aquaphor every 3 hours of so is sufficient), and some very minor back pains. Face seems like it is more oily than when it was in Week 2 or so. I do a full body moisturize after every shower so my skin has been good. All other side effects I've had early in the treatment have subdued.

Oh, and I visited my derm. last Wednesday. He basically just told me I need to be patient, and it is all part of the process, and decided to keep me on 40mg every day as I've been breaking out a lot. Like I say every week, hopefully Week 5 will be better!! Sigh.

Your story sounds quite like mine, I've just started month 4 and my skin has literally got sooooo good since my last photo on here last week.

Just keep going, I know it sounds horrible but just don't look in mirrors... There not the kindest things in the world even to acne free people, that's the only advice I can give, easy said than done I know but don't get down, it's doing it's job, the first 2 weeks are the slowest but time will now whizz past and you'll be clear

^^^yeah I def agree. Even before accutane I avoided mirrors. Especially when I have a bad breakout I try my best to avoid them, because what's the point agonizing over it and causing stress and causing MORE breakouts?

And that's great that you have a month off from school. At least you have time to recover and won't have to deal with the stress of school.

Your story sounds quite like mine, I've just started month 4 and my skin has literally got sooooo good since my last photo on here last week.

Just keep going, I know it sounds horrible but just don't look in mirrors... There not the kindest things in the world even to acne free people, that's the only advice I can give, easy said than done I know but don't get down, it's doing it's job, the first 2 weeks are the slowest but time will now whizz past and you'll be clear

When did your skin start to calm down in terms of the massive breakouts? I expect to break out for a long time, but I really hope they slim down to a few small whiteheads per week rather than the cystic ones.

^^^yeah I def agree. Even before accutane I avoided mirrors. Especially when I have a bad breakout I try my best to avoid them, because what's the point agonizing over it and causing stress and causing MORE breakouts?

 

And that's great that you have a month off from school. At least you have time to recover and won't have to deal with the stress of school.

Thanks, I really hope that after that month I will look better, at least a bit!

As you know everyone's journey is different but my experience has been horrible, I counted atleast 12 cystic spots on my jaw line there isn't one now , I've never overcome the IB I don't think as my acne area was always my jawline and cheeks but once those cleared my acne started to rise up my face with really sore pulsating spots they were like boils but they went as fast as they came.

It will work I promise, if my stubborn acne can be cured so can yours

DAY 40

Happy New Years everyone! My new year's resolution is to be able to enjoy the holidays next year with confidence and clear skin, and maybe take some pictures

Anyways, back to accutane. Days 32-36 were probably the WORST days I've had to date. The breakout on my jaw spread to my chin and it was REALLY BAD. I don't even know how to classify it, it was sort of like a patch of like 10 BIG, VERY HIGHLY INFLAMED whiteheads. Luckily, that has improved. It scabbed up pretty bad, I've never really had bad acne scabbing, but it looked ridiculously bad during that time. Right now, the inflammation is down significantly and most of the scabbing has went away. Still a bit left, but it has left a lot of marks, which I really hope go away.

Besides that, I'm still breaking out a lot everywhere else. I have been unusually oily on my face, not sure if that's a good or bad sign. But I can definitely say I look better now than a week ago. I have also started breaking out on my back / chest, but nothing too serious, maybe 3-4 whiteheads on each.

Side effects wise, I'm still fine. No more headaches, no more itchy skin, chest pain is gone, everything is good. Lips are still very dry, but other than that, I'm completely fine.

I have exactly 4 weeks (28 days) till school starts, so I NEED some more improvement by then. I have literally not left my house since school ended, besides to church, but even there I was resentful. It's just not pleasant to look at me currently to be frank, lol. I see my pictures I uploaded when I started, and at the time I thought I looked horrible. I WISH I looked like that right now haha. Hopefully I keep improving, even if it is so painfully slow progress.

Hope everyone's accutane is working well. Feel free to ask me any questions.

Hey damian96r,

Was reading your posts and as weird as this sounds I am so thankful I wasn't the only one that was getting the random skin itches! I thought I was going insane because I really couldn't find a lot of other people saying they were experiencing skin itching. Glad it has stopped for you though - how frustrating was it.

I feel your pain with needing improvement before a certain date- you can do it though! Stay strong, drink lots of water, I felt like that helped. I hope your breakouts stop. You can look at my posts - I have only put up two sets of photos, one from the beginning and one from umm one, two months in? I felt really great and then my skin went soooo bad. I was trying to hide behind my hair and was so embarrassed, even in front of my parents! Didn't leave the house.

Good luck though - just keep believing it will work because it eventually will. Just a really long shitty process. I just hit 4 months. Never. Ending. Ugh.

Good luck!!!

Hey damian96r,

Was reading your posts and as weird as this sounds I am so thankful I wasn't the only one that was getting the random skin itches! I thought I was going insane because I really couldn't find a lot of other people saying they were experiencing skin itching. Glad it has stopped for you though - how frustrating was it.

I feel your pain with needing improvement before a certain date- you can do it though! Stay strong, drink lots of water, I felt like that helped. I hope your breakouts stop. You can look at my posts - I have only put up two sets of photos, one from the beginning and one from umm one, two months in? I felt really great and then my skin went soooo bad. I was trying to hide behind my hair and was so embarrassed, even in front of my parents! Didn't leave the house.

Good luck though - just keep believing it will work because it eventually will. Just a really long shitty process. I just hit 4 months. Never. Ending. Ugh.

Good luck!!!

Yes haha, those itches are very frustrating because you just need to deal with it and there's nothing you can do. I haven't had them for a while now so I'm happy about that? Do you still experience them? Mine were very mild, nothing severe, but severe enough to make me uncomfortable. About a year ago I took minocycline, which resulted in SEVERE itching, I mean like I couldn't fall asleep type of itching so they put me off it and told me I had an allergic reaction, Lol. I hope you're doing fine

DAY 50

Maybe 5 or 6 days ago I had maybe the scariest side effect. I woke up in the morning and put on my glasses and immediately noticed quite a significant change in my vision. I really thought it was my glasses so I put on my contacts, but it was the same. After some testing, I figured out it was my only my left eye that was changed because when I covered it, I saw perfectly. With my right eye, it was almost like very slight double vision. My vision was very angled and was hard to see little things. Got a massive headache. It didn't go after the whole day and I was extremely worried. Decided to go to the eye doc the next day if it didn't improve. I woke up the next day and my vision was completely normal, and is still right now. I don't have perfect vision, but I can tell the difference if I still can't see with my glasses or contacts on. This might have not been due to accutane, but considering I've never experience this before, I assume it was that? Really woke me up though about how we take our vision for granted

Anyways, it has been now 50 days on accutane, wow. To be completely honest, prior to starting, I really did expect to be clear by day 50, at least in terms of active acne, I knew the scars would last a lot longer. Compared to the last update, there have definitely been some improvements. Like always, I'm STILL breaking out a ton, but a lot of spots are starting to go away as well. I STILL look horrible, but I'm at least happy to see SOME improvements. I really really hope I'm over the hump now that it will continue to improve and improve, even if it is at this incredibly slow pace. My face is still a lot worse than it was when I started, but also a lot better than when it was in day 32-36 when it was at its worse. At the moment, I have TOOONN of red marks on my face aka acne scars. However, all of my scars are just discoloration, none are like indented into my skin or anything, and from what I know these type of scars go away in due time. I'm from New York, and it's freezing right now, so when I go outside the cold wind really makes them look way worse, sort of turning purple temporarily from the cold. Not like I've been going out much at the moment, Lol. I return to college the 28th so I really hope we can make some more improvements by then!

I really didn't expect to break out THIS BAD, or in fact, anything close to this. But I did expect to go through a lot of the side effects. I'm pleasantly surprised that I really haven't. Lots of weird one's like itching, headaches, chest pains, back pains in the first month. But that's all gone. My skin is barely dry, I do moisturize every day after showering though. Even my lips are not super dry, aquaphor every 3-4 hours is more than sufficient. So as bad as my face has gotten, it's nice to not have to deal with horrific side effects with it. Got my blood test done saturday, and visiting my derm. this Wednesday, so I'll post an update then on what happened. Hope all is going well for everyone, sorry for the long post. Any questions, please ask !

Just wanted to chime in and say best of luck, and I'm looking forward to seeing the progress! (:

Hi damian96r

Just wanted to let you know I can really relate to both your frustration and the vision-thing.

I am currently on my second course of Accutane, and especially during my first course (last year) my vision got noticeably more blurred. I talked to my derm about it and she said it was only temporary. But after finishing the course last spring I had my vision tested which resulted in having to get glasses (my vision was perfect before)

I was obviously apprehensive about taking Accutane a second time, but decided that clear skin is worth having to wear glasses. And yes, I am desperate at this point..

That is also how I can relate to your frustration - Accutane is such a pain that I think we just really need all the trouble to be worth something. All I can tell you is to be patient (I know that sucks), because at some point, your skin will improve!

 

Hey damian96r,

Was reading your posts and as weird as this sounds I am so thankful I wasn't the only one that was getting the random skin itches! I thought I was going insane because I really couldn't find a lot of other people saying they were experiencing skin itching. Glad it has stopped for you though - how frustrating was it.

I feel your pain with needing improvement before a certain date- you can do it though! Stay strong, drink lots of water, I felt like that helped. I hope your breakouts stop. You can look at my posts - I have only put up two sets of photos, one from the beginning and one from umm one, two months in? I felt really great and then my skin went soooo bad. I was trying to hide behind my hair and was so embarrassed, even in front of my parents! Didn't leave the house.

Good luck though - just keep believing it will work because it eventually will. Just a really long shitty process. I just hit 4 months. Never. Ending. Ugh.

Good luck!!!

Yes haha, those itches are very frustrating because you just need to deal with it and there's nothing you can do. I haven't had them for a while now so I'm happy about that? Do you still experience them? Mine were very mild, nothing severe, but severe enough to make me uncomfortable. About a year ago I took minocycline, which resulted in SEVERE itching, I mean like I couldn't fall asleep type of itching so they put me off it and told me I had an allergic reaction, Lol. I hope you're doing fine

Sorry for the delayed response!

I also took minocycline (or at least something related to that drug) but I didn't experience the itching thank god! No I havent had any itches again thankfully. You still hanging in there? It's funny how we think it's going to go away so quick, and then it just.. doesn't...

I guess in a sense I was lucky that I started my journey nearly on the last day of (Australian) winter so I didn't have the weather making the dry lips/skin symptoms worse. Good idea on hibernating, NY would be freezing! I nearly died when I was there in April one time! Perhaps it was just, um, unusually cold that year haha! Are you doing any updated pics? I wish I had of done some each month to really see my progress

Hopefully...no it will continue to get better stay strong! I noticed you had chest pains? Was it really bad? I had a really bad chest pain last week where I couldn't do anything, if I laid down it hurt, if I got up it hurt anything I did I was in excuriating pain! It was scary but it went away...I was just wondering how bad your chest pain was?

Just wanted to chime in and say best of luck, and I'm looking forward to seeing the progress! (:

Thank you Garrettryan, it really means a lot (:

Hi damian96r

Just wanted to let you know I can really relate to both your frustration and the vision-thing.

I am currently on my second course of Accutane, and especially during my first course (last year) my vision got noticeably more blurred. I talked to my derm about it and she said it was only temporary. But after finishing the course last spring I had my vision tested which resulted in having to get glasses (my vision was perfect before)

I was obviously apprehensive about taking Accutane a second time, but decided that clear skin is worth having to wear glasses. And yes, I am desperate at this point..

That is also how I can relate to your frustration - Accutane is such a pain that I think we just really need all the trouble to be worth something. All I can tell you is to be patient (I know that sucks), because at some point, your skin will improve!

Thank you GreatDane! I don't mind wearing glasses or contacts, my vision has been bad for some times now (too much time on computer haha). But what occured to me was something completely strange, it was a significant change overnight. I'm glad that is gone though, hopefully does not occur again.

 

Hey damian96r,

Was reading your posts and as weird as this sounds I am so thankful I wasn't the only one that was getting the random skin itches! I thought I was going insane because I really couldn't find a lot of other people saying they were experiencing skin itching. Glad it has stopped for you though - how frustrating was it.

I feel your pain with needing improvement before a certain date- you can do it though! Stay strong, drink lots of water, I felt like that helped. I hope your breakouts stop. You can look at my posts - I have only put up two sets of photos, one from the beginning and one from umm one, two months in? I felt really great and then my skin went soooo bad. I was trying to hide behind my hair and was so embarrassed, even in front of my parents! Didn't leave the house.

Good luck though - just keep believing it will work because it eventually will. Just a really long shitty process. I just hit 4 months. Never. Ending. Ugh.

Good luck!!!

Yes haha, those itches are very frustrating because you just need to deal with it and there's nothing you can do. I haven't had them for a while now so I'm happy about that? Do you still experience them? Mine were very mild, nothing severe, but severe enough to make me uncomfortable. About a year ago I took minocycline, which resulted in SEVERE itching, I mean like I couldn't fall asleep type of itching so they put me off it and told me I had an allergic reaction, Lol. I hope you're doing fine

Sorry for the delayed response!

I also took minocycline (or at least something related to that drug) but I didn't experience the itching thank god! No I havent had any itches again thankfully. You still hanging in there? It's funny how we think it's going to go away so quick, and then it just.. doesn't...

I guess in a sense I was lucky that I started my journey nearly on the last day of (Australian) winter so I didn't have the weather making the dry lips/skin symptoms worse. Good idea on hibernating, NY would be freezing! I nearly died when I was there in April one time! Perhaps it was just, um, unusually cold that year haha! Are you doing any updated pics? I wish I had of done some each month to really see my progress

Thanks eliselouise, and YES, I will make sure to post some tomorrow! Both from right NOW and from how it was around day 30 or so

Hopefully...no it will continue to get better stay strong! I noticed you had chest pains? Was it really bad? I had a really bad chest pain last week where I couldn't do anything, if I laid down it hurt, if I got up it hurt anything I did I was in excuriating pain! It was scary but it went away...I was just wondering how bad your chest pain was?

Hello Jen90, my chest pains did not last very long, only in the beginning of treatment. I wouldn't say it was really bad, but it was painful. It usually hurt sometimes if I tried to breath deeply or sometimes right when I woke up and bent over to brush my teeth I felt it. It is hard to explain, but it was not too bad. I'm glad it went away for you as well, and hopefully does not return. Good Luck

DAY 70 (really 72, but 70 sounds better)

It has been 20 days since I last updated so I apologize for missing Day 60. Anyways, lets get right into the updates! First off, I am now on 80mg per day, 40mg in the morning and then 40mg at night.
I am happy to say that there have finally been improvements! Almost all of my posts are me complaining about constant breakouts and no improvement. Since day 50, my face has cleared up a lot. My face is A LOT smoother. I have not had a BIG breakout in about 3 weeks, besides one REALLY big one right by my nose. I do still break out basically every day though. But, it is only maybe 2-3 very small whiteheads which only last for about 2 days anyways. As I have broke out SO MUCH throughout my course (I'm not joking, I couldn't even recognize myself in the starter pictures I posted, that's how bad it was), I have A LOTTT of scarring. All my scars are however just skin discoloration, which from what I know, goes away within time. By this I mean, if you touched my face, you can't feel the scar. As soon as I stopped getting big breakouts, I noticed my skin has started to get A LOT more dry. Increasing my dosage could have contributed to this also. For about the first 2 months, my face was not dry at all, if anything was more oily than normal. My theory, basically because I was breaking out so much, the accutane was releasing all my excess oils + bacteria to the surface. Now that I'm breaking out at smaller scales, and my initial breakout is coming to a close, my face is feeling more dry because no more oils are being produced. I could be wrong though. Also, lips have been been a lot more dry as well, I use aquaphor usually every 2 hours and I'm fine. Other than that, no extra side effects from increasing my dosage so far, luckily.

I will try to post a few pictures from how my face looks below, hopefully this works.

These 3 images were taking Day 64 or 65, but there have not been any major differences between one REALLY BIG one right by my nose, but it is slowly going away. I must also say, the lighting does somewhat make the scars look better than they actually do. They still look really bad and are, obviously super noticeable, especially in bright white lighting such as at stores, or even school. But I'm just so happy to not have a million bumps on my face I sort of ignore it for now, Lol.

Here is how my face looked at, I'm not exactly sure, I believe around day 35 or so.

View My Video

DAY 70 (really 72, but 70 sounds better)

It has been 20 days since I last updated so I apologize for missing Day 60. Anyways, lets get right into the updates! First off, I am now on 80mg per day, 40mg in the morning and then 40mg at night.
I am happy to say that there have finally been improvements! Almost all of my posts are me complaining about constant breakouts and no improvement. Since day 50, my face has cleared up a lot. My face is A LOT smoother. I have not had a BIG breakout in about 3 weeks, besides one REALLY big one right by my nose. I do still break out basically every day though. But, it is only maybe 2-3 very small whiteheads which only last for about 2 days anyways. As I have broke out SO MUCH throughout my course (I'm not joking, I couldn't even recognize myself in the starter pictures I posted, that's how bad it was), I have A LOTTT of scarring. All my scars are however just skin discoloration, which from what I know, goes away within time. By this I mean, if you touched my face, you can't feel the scar. As soon as I stopped getting big breakouts, I noticed my skin has started to get A LOT more dry. Increasing my dosage could have contributed to this also. For about the first 2 months, my face was not dry at all, if anything was more oily than normal. My theory, basically because I was breaking out so much, the accutane was releasing all my excess oils + bacteria to the surface. Now that I'm breaking out at smaller scales, and my initial breakout is coming to a close, my face is feeling more dry because no more oils are being produced. I could be wrong though. Also, lips have been been a lot more dry as well, I use aquaphor usually every 2 hours and I'm fine. Other than that, no extra side effects from increasing my dosage so far, luckily.

I will try to post a few pictures from how my face looks below, hopefully this works.

These 3 images were taking Day 64 or 65, but there have not been any major differences between one REALLY BIG one right by my nose, but it is slowly going away. I must also say, the lighting does somewhat make the scars look better than they actually do. They still look really bad and are, obviously super noticeable, especially in bright white lighting such as at stores, or even school. But I'm just so happy to not have a million bumps on my face I sort of ignore it for now, Lol.

Here is how my face looked at, I'm not exactly sure, I believe around day 35 or so.

View My Video

Please click the 'View my Video' if you really want to see how it was, a little graphic warning though haha. The video came out a bit stretched, not sure why, but you can still see the severity of the situation.

Feel free to ask me any questions, would be happy to answer !