I'll start this blog/forum/"New Topic" by saying I don't usually participate in the melting pot of information that is the internet. I don't blog, I don't comment, I don't tweet, and aside from the occasional "Happy Birthday!!" I don't post on facebook. If my bafflement at what to even call...whatever this is isn't proof enough, then it would suffice to say I'm pretty out of my element. I'm starting this blog/forum/post, however, because I think it's important. To survive the cracking-dry skin-chapped lips-sore joints that is a full course of accutane I think I'll need a place to vent. I'm going on accutane because I finally want to stand makeup-less under the most unflattering of fluorescent lights and feel confident, but rumor has it it's not a fun process. I've decided to write here so I have somewhere I can log my thoughts and keep perspective. Somewhere to remind me that at the end of the tunnel is that shame-free fluorescent lighting.

My Skin History:

I would say I've been getting pimples since the beginnings of puberty- mostly on my forehead/upper cheeks- and I've always had oily skin. About a year ago, however, my skin got even more oily and I started breaking out on my chin, getting A LOT of whiteheads on my cheeks, and blackheads on my nose/forehead. Within the past 6 months (for reasons explained below) this morphed into full blown cystic acne. It was terrifying. It is terrifying (hence the accutane). While my skin has never been great, until this point it hasn't caused any permanent damage either. Recently however, I've been noticing a bit of depressed scarring.

I have tried Proactive, "The Regiment," Minocylin (antibiotic), Retin-A, and Ortho Tri Cyclen (birth control). I'm not sure if anyone else has had this same problem, but Ortho Tri Cyclen destroyed my skin. Like I mentioned above, my skin had issues before, but the birth control gave me cystic acne along with causing major anxiety (which I'm blaming on the birth control because within days of going off of it I was feeling infinitely better, thank gouda).

The Plan (according to the good'ol derm):

20mg/day roaccutane - taken in the morning with something fatty (like toast and peanut butter) for 6 weeks

30mg/day Prednisolone (a steroid) - 15mg in the morning and 15mg at lunch. This dose will decrease by 5mg/week until I'm no longer on the steroid by the end of 6 weeks

The Why (feel free to skip over):

For me, it's always important to understand why I'm doing something a certain way, so for my likewise curious readers (if they exist lolz) I'll be giving a bit of an explanation of what I'm taking, why, and some other interesting things I learned from my derm.

Roaccutane- I'm starting with such a small dose to gradually ease out the acne-nasty in my skin instead of quickly pumping it out like like a factory in china. Think a trickling brook vs Niagara Falls...which one is gonna get through your shrinking pores (thank you accutane) the easiest? Back in the good'ol days of accutane, patients would start off with heavy hitting doses of the stuff and break out like crazy for the first couple of months. Obviously there's still an initial breakout period, but nothing quite so bad as what those poor, brave pioneers had to deal with. After this first 6 week period, I'll meet up with my derm again to reevaluate. I was told to keep track of when my lips get to that infamous accutane-induced level of dryness. Apparently, if it starts within the first 2 weeks of taking the drug then you're sensitive to accutane, meaning you'll likely experience a greater degree of side affects later on than the person who experiences dry lips after 2 weeks. Suffice to say I would love to pass that 2 week benchmark.

Prednisolone- This is a steroid that I was prescribed in hopes that it would further ease that initial break out period. It should work to keep inflammation at a minimum. It's important to note that, like accutane, prednisolone is a potentially nasty drug. Definitely don't go self-prescribing this one.

Fun Facts (don't quote me on this)!- Did you know that in the past 5-10 years, the accutane molecule has been chemically tweaked and engineered to the point that it completely bypasses the liver? Ya, me neither. At this point, the regular blood tests required by the EU and in the US are only around for two reason. The first of which is the obvious: blood tests prove and disprove pregnancy, and pregnancy with accutane is NOT good. The other reason a misinformed and outdated one. Back in the 60s, the original drug given in high doses had some pretty scary side affects (like Hepatitis). Situation-appropriate measures were taken by the governing bodies and their alphabet soups of committees (FDA, PRAC, CHMP, etc) to prevent any further liver destruction or Hepatitis cases. At the time, it was a good move. Now, however, many doctors (or at least my derm) are questioning the necessity of such expensive blood work. What does this mean for me? ALCOHOL. And no liver damage. Basically, I was informed it is okay to drink in moderation aka no hard liquor and no getting wasted. But, you say, won't my liver be totally fine?? Welllll yes, but as you probably know alcohol dehydrates you. On accutane you're already very dry on the outside, no need to be very dry on the inside as well. And in my personal opinion, it's better to be safe than sorry.

More Fun Facts!- What has always bothered me about trying to research accutane on the internet is there are no gosh dang numbers!! You'll hear a lot of qualitative information, but that should be taken with a grain of salt. Like anything reviewed on the internet, the majority of the people actually bothering to comment on a product online are at one end of the spectrum or the other. So is accutane a miracle drug or will it ruin my life for forever and always? I finally got some (admittedly ball-parked) data from my derm. Apparently, of the 4000-5000 people his clinic has percsribed accutane they've only been forced to take 13 people off the drug. Of those 13 people, 4 had pre-existing liver conditions and the rest were for depression (mainly in 16-18 males, I was interested to hear). For someone who just dealt with my first ever and hopefully only bout of depression/anxiety, this was reassuring. Also, for anyone equally nervous about possible depression, I was told a good way to keep accutane from blocking your serotonin receptors is to eat lots and lots of leafy green things, which I will be doing. NOTE: Take the exact science of this with a grain of salt, I'm going off of what I remember my dermatologist saying. Much as I wish I did, I don't have perfect verbatim memory recall.

Alrighty, I'll leave this alone for now. I'm starting accutane tomorrow so I'll be back to update soon and in a decidedly shorter manner.