I'm a 21 year old girl, 115 pounds, trying accutane (Amnesteem) 40 mg a day for the first time. I'm on my third month. I started Accutane because I have ridiculously oily skin as well as painful cystic acne.

I wanted to share a few products that got me through my first two miserable months of accutane. Now that I am in my third month I'm finally seeing some of the benefits of Accutane....up until this point I was convinced Accutane wasn't going to work for me.

Makeup:

I was advised to not even try to wear make up while on Accutane but I wasn't comfortable with that. So I finally found a few products that worked with my new completely non oily skin...bare minerals prime time skin primer (has what seems like a lighter, oily feel to it, which was necessary for my make up to go on evenly and not splotchy)....bare minerals complexion rescue (tinted moisturizer that can be layered for more coverage, I wanted something that gave me atleast a little bit of a dewy look and this worked perfectly). I still found it necessary to exfoliate every once and awhile.

Lips:

Just don't use typical Chapstick brand Chapstick. I really like burts bees and eos. Apply constantly!...that's the only way around it. Also, if you're experiencing bloody painful lips like I did, I layered on neosporin at night, just don't get it in your mouth as it doesn't taste the best. My derm also recommended dr dans cortibalm but I have yet to try it. Supposedly it was created specifically for Accutane users.

Redness:

Those first two months I was constantly red, whether it was my face or my eyes. I lived off of redness relief eye drops because I got tired of it looking like I was always on drugs. As for my face, showering or any irritation made my skin red, for this I really liked "Formula 10.0.6 Keep Your Cool Face Mask". It's a skin calming gel mask with coconut and licorice extract that helped my skin relax a bit. I used it everytime I got out of the shower (gentle enough for daily use). It can be found at Ulta beauty and is normally 6 dollars a bottle.

Hair:

Before Accutane I had to shower twice a day because I was so oily, now my hair is dry as can be (scabs on my scalp and all). Since normal shampoo became too drying, I started using Renpure Conditioning Cleanser. It definitely doesn't strip your hair. And it cleanses your hair with coconut oil. It has been a true lifesaver for me and it can be found at Target and Walgreens.

Body Pain:

Body and joint pain is something I have yet to figure out. The back of my heels hurt constantly which can make walking uncomfortable. The only thing that seems to help is good fitting tennis shoes. Aside from heel pain, my first two weeks it felt like someone had punched me in the face. It felt as if even my eyebrows were bruised, thankfully that went away.