Hello all! I am super excited to share that I have officially begun my Accutane journey!
History: I've suffered from acne since I was 13, which makes a total of about 8 years! I started getting bad breakouts when I first got my period and my breakouts come all at once depending on the week so I definitely think that it is hormonal acne. I was sure that it would just go away on its own once I got older, but I'm still in the same boat as I was in middle school! I get deep, painful cysts that leave scarring. The scarring is the worst on my cheeks but my whole face is usually blotchy and red. I am super hopeful that my Accutane treatment will be able to cure my persistent acne! Also, my hair is the greasiest thing I have ever experienced!! I shower at night, and I will literally wake up with dirty, greasy feeling hair... By the end of the day it will be all stringy! I literally don't understand how it's possible...Haha! I am hoping that the Accutane dries it up and give me a normal scalp! I've tried all the over the counter products with no luck. I went to the dermatologist once in high school and they prescribed me some form of antibiotic. I was super forgetful and barely remembered to take the pill! A few months ago was the first time I returned to a derm, and she prescribed me Minocyclin. This medicine literally made me feel horrible! I was spacey, emotional, and felt like I was in some weird dream-like state... I don't want to say it made me depressed (which I've never been before) but if I were to guess what depression feels like, I would say that it would feel like that week that I was on that medicine! My derm suggested Accutane after the antibiotics failed and after I told her I wasn't interested in birth control.
Treatment Plan: My dermatologist has prescribed me 60MG a day for the next 5 months. I will take 2 capsules of Zenatane every night after dinner.
My Hopes: My acne has never really caused me to have low self esteem- I am surrounded my so many people that truly love me, so I've never paid much attention to my physical appearance. I mostly see acne as an annoyance and an inconvenience. I just want to have skin that properly functions! My acne does make me feel juvenile in a certain way as well, I just want healthy young adult skin! My boyfriend just proposed last weekend (YAAAAYYYYY!!!) and I am praying that this treatment does the trick and helps me have a nice complexion for our big wedding day!
I've been searching through these forums the past few months as I went through the iPledge screening process and all that fun stuff, so I'm going to try posting as many pictures as possible because I know that's what I was always looking for, haha! I hope that my journey helps some of you guys!!
P.S. Totally no idea why the pictures uploaded sideways...Sorry! 
Day 2: So I just took my second dose tonight after dinner! I've been religiously applying sunscreen and Chapstick to try to and prepare for the crazy dryness that's gonna follow soon! A couple pimples are coming to a head, but I think I was just on the verge of a breakout before I started taking the pills anyways. I'm sure that all of the nasty stuff is gonna be pushed out of my face soon, so that should be interesting! My greasy hair is literally driving me insane so I am hoping that my scalp dries out ASAP!! Welp, that's all for now!
YAY I'M SO EXCITED FOR YOU!!! I hope Accutane works for you! 
And look forward to saying goodbye to your greasy hair in the next couple of weeks! 
Congrats on the engagement! I hope by your wedding day, your skin will be clear enough that you don't have to worry about it. Very excited to keep up with your log and see your progress 
YAY I'M SO EXCITED FOR YOU!!! I hope Accutane works for you!
Congrats on the engagement!
Thanks so much!! And that's what I'm praying for!!! 
Week One:
So today makes one week from when I took my first treatment! I'm definitely feeling the dryness! It's not a deep dryness though, just thin layers of dry skin peeling off the surface. I've been moisturizing like crazy with the Equate brand of Cetafil moisturizer! I've been dousing my lips in Aquaphor since the first day I took a pill, so I think I've prevented my lips from becoming the dry mess they should be, haha! It's hard to explain, but even though my lips feels smooth and soft, they also feel thin and fragile... Not sure if any of you have had the same experience! Many cysts have been coming and going, and my face is madddd red throughout the day! Other than the dryness, I sometimes forget that I'm even on Accutane, haha. I was expecting joint pain and fatigue but I feel completely normal thank God! What's odd is that my bones crack a lot now no matter how I move! It doesn't hurt, it's just odd, haha.
First 2 pictures: Thursday 8/30
Last 3 pictures: Saturday 9/1
YAY I'M SO EXCITED FOR YOU!!! I hope Accutane works for you!
Congrats on the engagement!
Thanks so much!! And that's what I'm praying for!!!
I like your upbeat attitude! Do you wear make up or go bare faced?
YAY I'M SO EXCITED FOR YOU!!! I hope Accutane works for you!
Congrats on the engagement!
Thanks so much!! And that's what I'm praying for!!!
I like your upbeat attitude! Do you wear make up or go bare faced?
Thanks, I'm trying to stay positive through this process! I go bare faced! I've never been into putting makeup on my skin. I felt like I had so much going wrong with it that adding a layer of product to it would just worsen things! I've also always felt that people should see the true me from the get-go! People that cared about my acne wouldn't be people I wanted in my life anyways. So I've only ever worn eye makeup!
Week Two:
So I now have completed week two! I spent this past week as a counselor at a camp with my youth group! I had a great time but my face was totally abused this past week... Haha! I think it's safe to say that I had my initial breakout- I had like 10 huge, swollen, prominent white heads on my face. They were crusty and dry and it took so much will power to leave them alone! We spent hours outside in the sun so I was caking on sunblock like it was my job! My team also won team spirit so my kids got to turn me into a human banana split which means bananas, whipped cream, chocolate syrup, strawberry syrup, and crumbled ice cream cones were all thrown onto my face... haha! My scalp was extremely dry week one but that has seemed to go away now, thank goodness! I had one nose bleed while I was showering but it didn't last long. Those white heads have all seemed to go away and my face is pretty calm now, I'm hoping that my face just continues to heal from here on out, but we shall see! I'm super excited for more results! I woke up to rashes all over my arms yesterday so I've been lotioning like crazy! They don't itch or anything though which I'm very glad about! I have a killer cold that hit me yesterday so I've been Aquaphoring my nose to prevent even further cracking or drying. My skin definitely isn't as dry as week one, and the skin that is clear feels soooo soft and smooth! I can't wait for my whole face to be like that!
You have the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen!
I'm hoping you get good results, I'm going on Accutane in a couple months and I don't think i'm gonna be as happy go lucky about it as you haha i'm bricking it.
Thank you so much! Have you started your iPledge process yet? I hope everything goes well for you and your treatment! I'm just trying to be as positive as possible because even if my face isn't showing desireable change, at least any change at all shows that it's doing something! I know all the progress will come together in the end for you and me both!
thanks I don't actually know what ipledge is haha but I have had one blood test thus far. I think the doc said if a derm doesn't contact me in three weeks I have to start contacting them.
Do you feel you had an initial breakout? I'm dreading that, back on antibiotics in the mean time and my face is finally more settled. Its crazy what a little touch of skin clarity does to your mood! xx
thanks
Do you feel you had an initial breakout? I'm dreading that, back on antibiotics in the mean time and my face is finally more settled. Its crazy what a little touch of skin clarity does to your mood! xx
Do you live in the U.S.? It's a program put in place to prevent women from getting pregnant while taking Accutane because of the birth defects. They check to make sure you're not pregnant, put you on 2 forms of birth control, wait a month and then test your pregnancy status again! It's quite the process, haha.
And I would say that I experienced an initial breakout my second week. I felt everything under my skin getting pushed to the surface (gross, I know!) And then I had huge, crusty whiteheads all over that I tried being really careful with so they wouldn't pop and scar. They really bothered me though because some of the heads were even a yellow color... Yuck! My face was pretty red and irritated too! I would say that it was twice as bad as my monthly bad breakouts. But my face has totally calmed down now and is looking better everyday! Also noticed that my noise felt all bumpy when I applied lotion and I thought it was just dry skin, but now I'm realizing that each pore is getting unclogged, so there's a bunch of little bumps on my nose from the stuff coming up (gross again!!) The purging period is totally worth clear skin in the end though!
One Month:
One month down, four to go! I went to the doctor yesterday and received my second month's dose of Zenatane! My blood test came back perfect, so my body is responding well to the drug. I was sick with a killer cold the last two weeks, which meant lots of nose blowing! My nose got so dry that I was getting like 2 nose bleeds a day which was horrible. I started putting Aquaphor in my nose every night and it helped me from getting the nose bleeds so frequently. My skin and lips don't seem to get as dry anymore which is really great! My acne has calmed down a lot, and now I can see a lot of scarring that I thought was acne. My hair isn't super greasy anymore which I am loving! I also don't have the horrible greasy dandruff that I used to have! Just a clear scalp and normal hair! One thing that's been showing up the past two weeks is dry rashes all over my arms and legs. If I don't put lotion every morning and night, then it gets worse and worse. I just have to stay on top of moisturizing! This month went super quick, so I'm hoping that they rest do to!
Hey, I will be starting Accutane in the next week or so. Any updates on how you are going with it?
Awesome that you will be on your way to clear skin very soon! I am less than a week away from completing my second month and things have been doing very well! I have still been getting little pimples but I haven't gotten any large cystic acne in about two weeks, yay!! I'm left with a lot of scarring, but my face is pretty smooth for the most part! I've been getting rashes on my arms and legs if I don't moisturizer twice daily, so I recommend getting a good lotion and putting it on even before you notice your skin drying out! Sorry, these pictures have terrible quality and lighting but it's where I'm at right now
I wish you the best of luck on your journey, let me know if there's any questions I can help you with!
On October 28, 2015 at 631 AM, freakingthefrackout said:hows it going
Sorry I've been MIA! I have finally finished my 5 months on Accutane and am living acne free! I haven't had to worry about deep, painful, crusty pimples for months! Still have some scaring that I would love to work on in the future, but my skin has never been so clear and healthy! So glad I decided to go through with this treatment! Hope all is going well with you and your journey!
