Hey guys,
I will try to update this log as often as possible with relevant information, in the hope it can help people who are in a similar situation as mine.
I am a 25 year old guy, and I have had acne since I was 17-18. My acne was never considered severe, but it has been very persistent, it never went away with age and it continually shifted from whiteheads to cystic to small bumps to whiteheads etc.
It actually has always been a problem for me and I don't know why I didn't try to tackle it before. I have tried the Regimen before and it worked, but I think it's a hassle and I don't want to do this for the rest of my life as my acne is very persistent.
This year, I went from almost completely clear without any treatment to a big resurgence with cysts and whiteheads recently. It is almost entirely located on my cheeks, around my mouth and my chin. My chin is probably the worst area and I often have 4-5 active cysts/whiteheads on it. I got fed up not knowing what I would look like every morning and I am starting to see too much scarring and dark marks from all these years of picking at my skin, I've always touched my face a LOT, and I want to prevent further damage as my skin is already in a state where it will never look "perfect".
It has been a week so far and I'm on 35mg, which is a low dose. Surprisingly, the effect took place very fast!
After day 3 I had a massive breakout, more than I have ever experienced. It is kinda expected so I took it as well as I could but to be honest I cancelled a theatre show I was supposed to go to because it was that bad. I counted 45 (!) active zits on my face, I usually have around 10-15. They were almost all very red bumps and about 15 whiteheads. Also 2 cysts, one on my chin and one on my cheekbone.
BUT, and that is why I am actually amazed, most of it is almost already gone! Like, GONE. I am taking my 8th pill today, and my face is now just covered in some pinkish spots from that breakout, and about 5 active zits, and apart from the cyst on my cheekbone, they're all small. The rest of the zits are going away already and my face is looking totally okay. I have never had my face clear up so fast after a bad breakout, it is SUCH a relief. If it keeps going that way (fingers crossed), by week 2 I will be near clear. And I'm on a low dosage!
Side effects :
So far, but I know it's still very early to tell, I have barely experienced any uncomfortable side effects. My skin is definitely getting dry and flaky, but not in a bad way. The dryness is actually not dry, jsut feels normal, except for some flaking around my chin area and around my mouth. My lips, and that's funny so far, are actually better than they've ever been. I've always had fairly dry lips, but I have been applying a THICK layer of vaseline before bed, and just a bit during the day, and my lips are just looking superb haha!
Other side effects I might be having but I am not fully sure yet if it's the drug or another cause :
I sleep a lot less, with worse quality sleep. I wake up not fully rested, and I lay awake more. I am going to take ZMA before bed to see if it helps.
My bowels are less clean, and smellier, and I pee a lot. Again, I will have to experience with diet to see if it's related or not.
What do I do to support the treatment:
I make sure I eat healthy and a balanced diet. I almost don't consume dairy, I don't eat a lot of processed or sugary foods. I exercise and stay active, and I go out in the sun with SPF 15.
I wash my face daily with Cetaphil gentle cleanser. I apply vaseline on lips at night and sometimes during the day. I don't really moisturize too much yet, as it's not needed.
I plan on start taking supplements, in order to make sure that my course goes as smoothly as possible. I'm gonna start taking vitamin d3, vitamin E, Omega 3-6-9 (Fish Oil) and ZMA before bed. I will probably introduce these gradually in order to able to know what causes what, except for the fish oil as I have been taking it in the past and it's great.
Update,
It is now day 12, should have been day 13 but I skipped a day because I had to go somewhere.
My skin: Damn. I have ZERO active pimple on my left cheek, ONE on my right cheek and one on my chin. The rest are just some left over that are fading away slowly and surely.
I have recently bought Ceteaphil moisturizing lotion because my face was getting very dry and itchy, and while it has the downside of making my face VERY shiny, I have found a way to overcome this.
I apply it one day, and then I don't have to apply again until two days later, and the next day after application my skin looks just perfect, not shiny, not dry, just totally normal.
My lips are a bit chapped because I didn't apply vaseline for 2 days as a trial, and I definitely need to stay on it. It's quickly going back to normal since I have started reapplying.
Regarding other side effects, I simply have none. Nothing at all. My eyes don't feel dry anymore, nose isn't dry at all, no headaches, no muscle ache or back pain, bowels back to normal, sleep is getting better. I have started taking the supplements today, I will see what effect it has on my skin in 7-10 days.
Regarding ZMA, I have it but I'm only gonna start taking it in about 2 weeks. Currently making an experiment with a normalized diet (dairy and gluten free) for 2 weeks, so I can assess what is responsible of what. All in all, so far it's a walk in the park, hope it stays that way.
Another update, it's been a month at 35mg.
I actually had a minor hiccup, I went abroad for 10 days and my dermatologist wasn't able to see me before the end of my first month, so I had to cut my dose in half for 8 days to have enough pills until the appointment. So I spent the last 8 days on 20/15mg per day instead of 35mg. It doesn't really matter though.
My doctor now put me on 40mg a day because it's only 1 pill to swallow, and she thinks that since my acne is not too severe, it's better to stay at a low-medium dose for a longer time than to go on an aggressively high dose and cause more side effects.
On the side effects, pretty much nothing has changed, if I don't moisturize and take hot showers, my skin quickly becomes dry and flaky, but with just a basic skin care routine, I have no dryness whatsoever except some days around the mouth but it's barely anything.
My lips are fairly dry, I just apply lip balm a few times through the day and vaseline at night. It keeps it in check and it's not that bad. But if I miss 2 days of lip care, it takes at least 2 days to have my lips back to normal, they dry very fast.
I haven't had any other side effect except crusty nose with slight bleeding for 3-4 days, which was easily solved by applying a bit of vaseline inside my nose before bed. I was exposed to the sun a lot because of travelling last 2 weeks and applying a moisturizing lotion with spf 20 made it very smooth, I have a nice healthy glow now. So far it's a walk in the park, I'm very glad it's not turning out terrible like I dreaded.
About my skin, I have a few pimples here and there, mostly because the food I ate lately was greasy and low quality becase of eating out every meal. But it's really nothing to worry about, I maybe have 3 recent pimples and the rest are just marks or lumps. I hope to be clear in a month, I have a special huge party with lots of people I met when I was clear under the Regimen!
Hey people, it's been a month and 3 weeks on accutane.
I've had my dose upped to 40 mg. As I said previously, I had to finish the last 8 days of my first month on 15 mg or 20 mg a day because I was abroad and slightly short of supply until my next appointment. After seeing my dermatologist, we agreed to stay on a conservative dose of 40 mg and go for a longer treatment to meet the threshold rather than a shorter one on a higher dose, thus limiting the side effects. My blood test was really good however but it's just personal preference. I also changed brand, this one is working well.
After going back up to 40mg I had some kind of initial breakout again, although not as bad as the first one. It stabilized after 10 days or so. Then gradually I started having less and less pimples, and today...I have NO active zits on my face. In fact, 95% of my face is both clear and smooth, and I have lost a LOT of my hyperpigmentation/ red marks, I just look clear, so much that my brother I hadn't seen in a year, when I told him I wasn't taking a harsh treament for my skin he was like "what's wrong with your skin?". Except for a large cyst on my right jawline that is fading and shrinking, but it's not actually infected anymore, it's just slowly going away, plus I have a light beard covering it. I also have 3 other small red marks from previous zits, one on my chin, one on my temple and the last on my cheekbone. But They're gonna go away quickly, they're very superficial.
So it finally feels like the roaccutane has kicked in full force, and if this is the results I'm seeing after just sort of 2 months treatment, I'm optimistic I'll be clear at the end of my treatment which is supposed to be 8 months total!
The only issues is that it's not cold here, and my lips are dryer than they've ever been. Even with lots of lip balm, they dry very fast now and it's hard to fight. My skin however is still alright, as my routine keeps it moisturized and smooth. I don't really have any other side effect, although last week I didn't eat as healthy as I usually do and I went out several times, going to bed late etc, and I noticed increased tiredness.
Hey guys,
Slowly coming into the end of my 3rd month on the drug. I'm still at 40mg and will stay at that dosage for my whole course, it's just perfect for me.
I have to say that accutane has proven to be the miracle drug it's been advertised to so far. I had my last 2 zits last week right under the lip, and now for the first time in I don't know how many years, I'm acne free.
I have no zit on my face, and maybe 4 marks from previous ones, but not really noticeable. Except for dry lips and slightly dry skin, I have absolutely no side effects whatsoever. I don't even feel like I'm on a serious drug. I have never seen my skin like this, it's just nice and smooth and makes me look healthier. The best thing is that I've had the flu for 10 days so I've been staying at home in bed or playing video games, and eating abnormally, which usually means for nothing that I would breakout badly. But no, even if I touch my face with dirty hands, I just don't seem to break out anymore.
The best part is that I still have about 5 months to go to the end of my course, so hopefully if it's already working this well, it means I will have a strong lasting effect and will be acne free forever. It's such a joy to wake up without having this on your mind, I hope it stays that way.
Hey!
Quick update. I'm on month 5 and I got my dosage upped to 50mg last month because it would save me a month of treatment so I thought why not. I got exactly two months left, and I can't wait to be done with it. Not because it's much of a hassle, it's just mentally annoying to tell yourself that it's not a finished process. I want to turn the page.
Anyways, since the last update, 2 months have passed and I've had I think 3 pimples that whole time. Two of those were the results of me popping a small blackhead when I didn't need to. And I had only one spontaneous pimple. They were very minor and quickly went away. I'm clear of all acne, and the best thing overall which I didn't know was expected is that I have no blackheads anymore and my pores are totally different. Even my nose which used to be full of blackhead is totally smooth.
It just worked incredibly well for me and I'm glad, as when you start you pray that you won't be one of those cases where it goes bad.
My skin is so normal that I don't even think about it. I just do my routine morning and night and go on about my day.
My blood tests are still very healthy, I workout a LOT and practice several sports and I don't have any joint pain or increased soreness. Just a smooth ride, but keep in my mind that I eat healthy and supplement myself with vit D3, fish oil and vit E which probably helps.
It's now very sunny where I live, and applying spf 15 or 20 in the morning seems to do the trick. I also wear a cap when I can, I got a nice healthy tan.
The ONE thing I noticed though is how long it takes to heal if you scratch yourself or burn yourself. I scratched my face twice while barely touching it and it took a couple weeks to go away. So be very careful with that.
Anyways, it's just routine at this point, I'm curious to see what's going to change when I will stop the treatment