So I am in the middle of my second month and I have been managing my dry skin side effects pretty well until the past couple of day. My lips have gone beyond getting dry and cracking. They are now at the point where they have become raw. If there is any area with dry skin that peels off, it instantly starts to bleed. It's not the normal dry and crack kind of bleeding. I used to be able to peel the dead skin off without a problem and even exfoliate my lips but now if I do anything, they bleed.
I am and have been since I started taking Accutane, using a over the counter medication strength chapstick but it doesn't seem to help as much anymore. It burns applying my chapstick because of all the raw and open bleeding areas on my lips (I just re-read all of this and visually, it sounds like it would look disgusting lol).
Suggestions for healing these areas and what to use next?
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Tell your dermatologist the problem and they'll prescribe (or ask them to prescribe) you hydrocortisone (mine is hydrocortisone ointment USP, 2.5%).
My lips were beyond that for a month+ (I'm stubborn...) and I finally used the hydrocortisone and it was fixed within a day!
I also found that vaseline (only ingredients are petroleum jelly and (optionally) flavoring) works much better than aquaphor for me.
My lips bled until I found Bite Beauty Lip Mask. I had to put it on basically hourly, but it helped more than anything. I think the key to any of them is reapplying before it's gone...always keep a steady layer on there (and yeah, regular old chapstick just doesn't cut it).
I've been done with my 7 month course for a few weeks now, and my lips are approaching being back to normal. I only need chapstick maybe twice a day now. It's heaven.
On 10/7/2016 at 4:42 PM, Parties03 said:Seconding the prescription hydrocortisone ointment, I tried everything else for mine. Dr Organic honey lip balm was also really moisturing in between the ointment applications.
This is correct! Hydrocortisone can help heal chapped lips almost overnight. I'm on Accutane and seriously it works.
Its cheap and you can use 1%.
Hope it helps!
Last week I was in the same situation as you, I am currently on Roaccutane and had tried absolutely everything. I had tried everything from ALL lip balms, bepanthen, Hydrocortisone 1% and none of them worked, all left my lips bleeding, cracking and constantly peeling off completely. I had also noticed that the more water I drank the worse my lips were. I went to the chemist last week pretty upset as I work in customer service and was very self conscious of talking to customers while my lips were like that. He explained to me that while for most people, generic balms work well, for some the water element in generic balms can further irritate the lips, this even applies to Vaseline believe it or not, he suggested that the oiler the product, the better the results should be, as the product would protect and waterproof the lips. I explained I had already tried Vassline, which is when he recommended this product. The product is called 'Wool Fat' and it's literally as it sounds, it's the fat off the wool of sheep (which sounds disgusting I know) but at this point I was willing to try anything I was in so much pain. As a follow up, the second I put it on it was the most relief I'd had all year, I've been using it religiously for a few weeks now and my lips are completely healed and looking normal again! Please consider giving this a try if you've run out of options, it worked so well for me that I wanted to share it with fellow Roaccutaine users as I know what it's like to live with constant peeling, bleeding and pain! Good luck!