Im seriously considering accutane. Im 31 and experienceing the worst breakout of my life. I have zits all over my forehead, temples, and covering my lower jaw area. I work at a luxury hotel at the front desk. I am the face of the hotel and it is extremely stressful having to check in people with a face full of acne. My confidence and self esteem are very low and Im suppose to be this cheery happy person for the guests when all I feel like doing is hiding my head in a dark hole. I just want to get rid of this acne and never have to feel this way again. Im thinking of taking a leave of absense from work if I go on accutane. Especially the IB that most people experience I really dont think it will good for my productivity at work. Does anyone have any experience taking time off of work or school to deal with accutane/acne??
That is hard, I can definitely relate. It wasn't for a luxury hotel, but I had to work at the front desk and was the "face of the office".
Thing is, I endured it to find my own solution rather than jumping on accutane. I understand that accutane is probably the quickest solution, but I honestly think it's temporary, even if that's years. I know it's frustrating, and it definitely hits your self-esteem when you know that people will be looking at your face, trying to maintain eye contact.. BUT.. You need to ask yourself if you truly want to jump on accutane right away.
I'm not sure if you already have your mind set on accutane, but I'd like to ask you to first reflect on your lifestyle such as, do you exercise, how is your diet, how is your day to day life in general? What products do you use if any?
I have not taken off work or school because of my then-severe acne. I sucked it up and dealt with it if I were to be blunt because during those times, it is what it is. I didn't want to go on accutane, I was looking for my own solution because I firmly believed that having such bad acne on my face must've meant that I must be doing something either irregular or "bad" that my body cannot cope with.
These are more words of advice rather than answering your question, but consider what I've said first.
Have you considered bandages? It may sound silly, but my husband just had some cancerous legions removed from his face and has had to wear 3 large bandages for 3 weeks.
If anyone you dont know, asks, you could just be general and say you had some procedures.
To the people you see everyday, just tell them what's going on and they'll understand.
I dont know about you but I'd rather people look at me funny because of large bandages than to look at my acne.
There's too much shame in it for me.
I've had friends come back from nose jobs and they had to wear splints and bandages.
I know someone who got severe burns from a chemical peel who wore bandages for a couple of weeks. She was a waitress.
People have all kinds of reasons, but it might make you feel less exposed.
Hang in there! It will be over soon!!
I feel your pain
and I would def consider tane fi you have tried all other options
BUT I dont think staying home and not working is a BAD idea
Its a long process on tane and not everyone has an IB....I think it would be good for you to continue to work and be around people and TRY t take your mind off things
I know how hard it is...I, like another poster, actually preferred to wear a bandage on my face when i had a horrible breakout
and no one even asked!
I really think we are most critical of ourselves and no one really cares!!!
GOOD LUCK
I know how hard it can be though when u are feeling good about your skin to push yourself to continue to get out and be around friends/co-workers
KIm
Thanks for the reply guys. Im still considering it. Well my diet is very clean as of the last month. Im on antibiotics and a topical. Im not sure if its working but I may just be purging still. I stopped excercising becasue im so deppressed right now. i really need to get back into the gym.
I contemplated doing this for my 3rd course but then my insurance would have been cut. On top of that, accutane made me very depressed and God knows what the isolation would have done to me. You have to do whats best for you but from personal experience, when you're on accutane, having the support of other people and some normalacy/routine does help.
Oh! I thought you were already ON Accutane and were suffering the Initial Breakout.
Definitely try Accutane. If it's affecting you deeply, and making you feel badly about yourself, you need to treat this seriously!
Accutane is a wonder drug for 90% of chronic acne sufferers.
It changed my life! I'm back for another course of Accutane, 15 years later due to a relapse of severe oil and sebum production and clogged pores.
Basically, non-inflammitory acne....but the Derm and I think it was headed toward inflammatory acne.
Im on a low dose, so there was no initial breakout this time.
The first time I took it, the IB wasn't that obvious. I still socialized and worked.
Pursue the only treatment that can permanently cure acne!
For 15 years I never even thought about pimples, oilyness, dryness and othet side effects from stinky medicine......it was night and day!
Do it!
this is my thoughts exactly. I mean my face looks pretty bad right and im not even on accutane. So why not just get on accutane and cure the acne while my face gets like this. Instead of waiting for the topicals and antibiotics to get rid of my acne but wont cure it. I know accutane isnt a cure for ever. People say it only for a some years. But that is still amazing to me. I figure my face is bad right now it proabaly wont be comepletely healed for some months. I could be on accutane for those months.
Geez this is a hard decision. On one hand I want to cure the acne. On the other hand accutane is a serious drug that can put me out for 6+ months with side effects. Ive only been on proactiv for 1 & 1/2 months / antibiotics for a month. Maybe im not giving these treatments a fair chance. Help!
But antibiotics aren't a long term solution
u would have to get off of them eventually...than what?
Have u scene any improvement on proactive
I would think in 6-8 weeks u should see def improve ment
im not saying tane isn't a very serious drug but think it gets a bad wrap...not everyone has an ib and serious side effects
im about 50 days in....cant complain
lips little dry...skin little tight
ot actually peeled for the first time yesterday when bumped to 60 mg
thats it
Nothing else neg to report and hopefully 2-3x more mnths to go
Good luck
I'm in my 7th month of accutane and in MY experiences the symptoms were not that bad. I didn't even get dry lips, dry skin, or anything really but dry eyes. I had slight joint soreness when they bumped me to 80 mg, but I went back down to 60 and they went away. If you have acne, have tried everything, and it's still happening just go for it. I regret not doing it earlier because I now have some scarring from those breakouts.
Accutane was a godsend for me and I was also terrified to start. I think the horror stores online scare people out of taking the one step that will really help them.
Right before I started my first round of Accutane I actually quit my job because I couldn't stand another second of working in customer service with bad acne. I was severely depressed and it really took a toll on me. I had a month break between quitting work and starting school again, and I thought the IB would be over by then. My skin did clear up during that month but in my 3rd and 4th month I had terrible breakouts, but I still had to attend my classes to avoid failing.
So, my point being, you never really know how long your IB will last or if you will even get one. I encourage you to get on Accutane ASAP and see how things go. You can always call in sick for a day or two.
Seriously, Accutane is not that big of a deal for most people. The dose can be adjusted if you have major side effects.
The derm who first prescribed Accutane to me, described it as a fantasic drug with fantasic results for 98% of people who use it, and the only side effects, if used correctly, are a bit of dryness and some chapped lips.
I think you have been reading a lot of horror stories and the 2% with bad side effects are the ones who complain the loudest.
The huge majority of users take it, love it, get clear and lose interest in these boards.
So you don't hear from them.
I had way worse side effects from Topicals. The smells, the irritation, the dry and red patches that made my makeup look horrible..... Accutane didn't even make my face that dry. Just my lips and using EOS every night has made it manageable both rounds.
I forget I'm on it most of the time!
Seriously, Accutane is not that big of a deal for most people. The dose can be adjusted if you have major side effects.
The derm who first prescribed Accutane to me, described it as a fantasic drug with fantasic results for 98% of people who use it, and the only side effects, if used correctly, are a bit of dryness and some chapped lips.
I think you have been reading a lot of horror stories and the 2% with bad side effects are the ones who complain the loudest.
The huge majority of users take it, love it, get clear and lose interest in these boards.
So you don't hear from them.
I had way worse side effects from Topicals. The smells, the irritation, the dry and red patches that made my makeup look horrible..... Accutane didn't even make my face that dry. Just my lips and using EOS every night has made it manageable both rounds.
I forget I'm on it most of the time!
I totally agree topical Retin A was way worse on my skin than accutane has been!
Seriously, Accutane is not that big of a deal for most people. The dose can be adjusted if you have major side effects.
The derm who first prescribed Accutane to me, described it as a fantasic drug with fantasic results for 98% of people who use it, and the only side effects, if used correctly, are a bit of dryness and some chapped lips.
I think you have been reading a lot of horror stories and the 2% with bad side effects are the ones who complain the loudest.
The huge majority of users take it, love it, get clear and lose interest in these boards.
So you don't hear from them.
I had way worse side effects from Topicals. The smells, the irritation, the dry and red patches that made my makeup look horrible..... Accutane didn't even make my face that dry. Just my lips and using EOS every night has made it manageable both rounds.
I forget I'm on it most of the time!
I totally agree topical Retin A was way worse on my skin than accutane has been!
I used retin-a cream for 10yrs...so obvously it didnt help with the breakouts but I didt have any redness or peeling
I stopped several times to see if it could be causing my breakouts but it never made a difference
Ive tried acanya, aczone, finacea...and the BEST topical for me was 2.5% BP..I had to use it all over daily as preventative not spot treatment
BUT after time that turned my skin into leather
If proactive worked in the past give it another 2 weeks if it makes u feel 100percent more comfy with tryib g tane
we all made sure to exhaust all options
but..for me...almost2 mnths in not as bad as I expected
crap..hope I didnt just screw myself
wake up tomorrow like a war zone
shouldnt have to take time off for accutane i didnt get an IB for my moderate acne when i started and i was on a pretty high dose, then again everyones different. If you plan to start it i noticed i would get acne if i didnt moistrize daily especially post accutane. Only cons i had while taking it was it made me pretty tired all the time but went away after finishing accutane