Hi everyone! I am a 21 year old girl with medium-beige skin (East-Indian) and wanted to share my accutane story.
firstly --> sorry that I did not take pics every month, i really didn't have the self-esteem to look at them again and again...but now i am grateful..
I had clear skin throughout my teens, but developed little pimples on my forehead the summer of 2011. I tried minocycline, it worked for a few months, then the acne came back, and it was worse. I was then put on erythromycin tablets. A few months later, that stopped working. Then, I was put on a regular birth-control...didn't help. Switched to Diane35...didn't help.
A short while after Diane35, I couldn't take it anymore. The cysts were causing a weird, prickly feeling at night, almost like stinging. Hurt to watch my face. Makeup wouldn't cover anything. Self-esteem was negative 1000.
Anyhow, I am 128 lbs, so I was started on Accutane (Clarus is the Canadian version) 40 mg every day.
Initial breakout: YES!!!!! Horrible. You can see it in the second picture I posted from the left.
The initital breakout subsided after one month...yep, one month of horrible acne, but all the cysts and nasty stuff was coming out.
By month 2, I was on 60mg.
To be honest, the first 2 and a half months were a roller coaster...but by month 3 I saw improvements. Suddenly when month 4 started everything just started to vanish. Now I am at the end of month 4 and will be getting off it very soon. I am very pleased. I have minor, minor pitting but mostly just red scars on my cheeks.
My acne was primarily on my cheeks and jawline, and during my initial breakout, I had pimples in places I never used to get them (chest/forehead/back).
Side effects I experienced/conclusion: i lucked out, they weren't severe:
1. dry lips (eucerin saved my life...a day without it was hell)
2. peeling skin in the first 2 months, then this subsided and skin was just mildly dry. had to use thick moisturizer (cetaphil) before makeup esp. in winter
3. experienced back pain twice during treatment
4. experiences headaches twice during the first month, doc kept an eye on me...
5. month 4 --> dry, itchy eyes at night time for a little while and dry nose with some blood, but NOT severe, just mildly annoying. I'm almost done anyways.
Products I used while on accutane:
Clean & Clear benzogel 5% on huge pimples only once in a while
Makeup removing facewash by clean & clear
nothing else
month 4 my skin was less sensitive, so I used a gentle toner and a gentle acne wash if i felt greasy...which was like...never
LOTS AND LOTS OF WATER
anyways! feel free to ask questions guys! accutane saved my confidence!
Hi I know this post is really old.
But I also suffer from acne. During my teens it was much easier to keep it under control with topical creams like clindaymycin and benzoyl peroxide.
However when I turned 21, it has been getting progressively worse.
I was prescribed Diantette but stopped the medicine after 2 months and was put on isotane 20 instead.
Ive been isotane for about a month now and I have been breaking out consistently. And they're horrible huge cysts. I am so depressed because I thought it would get better and reduce the acne. I started on a low dose of 20mg. so I dont know if that's making it worsee or not helping.. But I am really worried about my skin now and obsess over any blemish.
Are you still clear? or did the acne come back? And does accutane help with even hormonal acne?
@Anaita according to my derm most people don't get acne after Accutane, as I remember she said 70% of the people wont get it back while the other 30% will take a second dose ...
at first u will get the worse breakouts ever, so when u do just concentrate onthe better coming days because things will get much much better