Hello all!
I am a 27 year old female who is super over acne! I will be getting married in July and I am hoping that this works so that I am ready for the biggest day of my life!
Although my acne is moderate, it is my biggest insecurity. It feels awful to have such yucky skin. I'm an adult for crying out loud. Well, after YEARS (maybe 7 years!) of trying everything under the sun ...and I mean EVERYTHING (topical, oral, washes, natural, herbal, cosmetic!) my dermatologist finally recommended accutane. I must admit, at first I denied the opportunity to get on it because I was terrified. Then it took about 5 months to actually get the Absorica because of the I-pledge/pregnancy/bloodwork/birth control issues. It really is a time consuming, extremely expensive burden. No one (except other Acne sufferers) understand!
I hope it's all worth it in the end and I hope this helps any one who is on a journey similar to mine. I have read countless blogs and postings about Accutane and have scared myself silly from the possible side effects, so I hoping I am well prepared for what's to come. Here's my detailed journey! 
Details:
Absorica, 10mgs, once a day
Derm appointments every two weeks
Day 1
Started on 10mgs. No side effects.
Day 2
Did not notice any side effects or differences.
Day 3 and Day 4
Oh my! Insomnia. I am a teacher so I hope this does not turn out to be a reoccurring side effect.
Day 5
I feel like my skin is glowing. Maybe I'm imagining it. Today, my body ached so bad. I usually fall asleep around 10:30/11:00 but I fell asleep around 8:30! I could barely stand! It felt like was hit by a cement truck. But, no more insomnia today!
Day 6
Muscle aches. Some days worse than others. My skin is definetly not as oily, and I now know I am not imagining it. My skin looks great considering what it looked like before.
Day 7
My eyes at night feel very different. For example, when it is very dark I can't see as well. The other night I was at dinner and the restaurant was pretty dark and I couldn't see my plate in front of me so I was fumbling a lot. My eyes are definitely drier, so I have to switch to my glasses.
Days 8-10
Is this the calm before the storm? My skin has one pimple, but many small whiteheads. I've never had many pimples, just a bunch of whiteheads that come to the surface pretty quickly. It seems as though the texture of my skin has evened out a bit. I've noticed many more blackheads on my nose. No more body aches. No dryness yet, except for my lips (which I began slathering in Aquaphor from day one). They aren't chapped, just a bit dry. It could be the cold (I live in NYC and it's pretty cold this week) or side effects from the Absorica. The world may never know.
I've been sleeping with a humidifier at night, which may be off-putting some of the dryness. It also helps me sleep because I like the sound.
I am anxious to see what this week will bring. Will I have the dreaded initial breakout? Will I be so dry because of the combination of medicine and the weather? I am praying that my hair does not fall out. Will they put me on a higher dosage of medicine? I am thinking that I will skip my dermatologist appointment on Tuesday because my skin is really at its best right now. Maybe I'll reschedule for next week and get my bloodwork done then.
More updates soon! Please feel free to send suggestions and advice, or positive vibes
It effects everyone differently but its always a combination of something haha. I am on day 7, so far only thing I have experienced within first 2 days, I got like 10 new breakout 
its worse than when I started. My eye sights are fine, no body aches, besides the breakouts I just have dry lips. Skin is still very oily. But thats about it, I honestly would much prefer joint pains than breakouts haha.
23 year old Male on 40 MG a day.
Please, tell your doctor about the reduced night vision - it can be permanent and is definitely one of the side effects of Accutane!
I am in my 3rd month of Accutane right now and this "calm before the storm" is exactly what happened to me. (Which doesn't mean it'll happen to you at all !) in the first week my skin got sooo much nicer and then after two weeks - boom. I got an initial breakout that lasted around 3 weeks. It was bad and unpleasant, but bearable
Every experience is inidividual, but what you'll 100% experience are dryness of the skin (face and body), lips and hair! Your hair won't get oily at all (which is for me a plus rather than a minus)
Good luck!! 
Thanks for the reply! I updated my derm about the side effects but the night vision was only for the first few nights, thank god! So they've upped me to 20mg day (10mgs twice a day). Now I'm very nervous as I'm noticing my hair has been falling out by the boatloads....I know it's a side effect but my hair is so thick and healthy... it freaks me out! I'm anxious for my initial breakout which I'm noticing is already happening. My birthday is in two weeks So I'm anxious about my skin not being it's best but I suppose this is the downside and I have a lot more to look forward to than one day of the year!
In ur third month r u experiencing any symptoms?
On 1/9/2017 at 0:48 PM, veenax said:It effects everyone differently but its always a combination of something haha. I am on day 7, so far only thing I have experienced within first 2 days, I got like 10 new breakout
23 year old Male on 40 MG a day.
I've been using aquaphor and it's healing powers r amazing! I slather it all over my face. I've stopped being oily...I'm on day 23...and my scalp is quite dry!
3 hours ago, JessicaE89 said:Thanks for the reply! I updated my derm about the side effects but the night vision was only for the first few nights, thank god! So they've upped me to 20mg day (10mgs twice a day). Now I'm very nervous as I'm noticing my hair has been falling out by the boatloads....I know it's a side effect but my hair is so thick and healthy... it freaks me out! I'm anxious for my initial breakout which I'm noticing is already happening. My birthday is in two weeks So I'm anxious about my skin not being it's best but I suppose this is the downside and I have a lot more to look forward to than one day of the year!
In ur third month r u experiencing any symptoms?
My hair thank God hasn't been falling out and I hope it won't, but it is extremely dry, so my derm recommended me Phytokeratine Products in order for it not to be so dry anymore and to strenghten it! You can ask your derm for something that would help with your hair falling out.
How bad is your ib?
No symptoms! Except the dryness but as I said, that's something 100% of people get. I've been handling it thankfully really well and I hope my blood work turns out fine soon
On 1/23/2017 at 4:55 AM, Kathi said:My hair thank God hasn't been falling out and I hope it won't, but it is extremely dry, so my derm recommended me Phytokeratine Products in order for it not to be so dry anymore and to strenghten it! You can ask your derm for something that would help with your hair falling out.
How bad is your ib?
No symptoms! Except the dryness but as I said, that's something 100% of people get. I've been handling it thankfully really well and I hope my blood work turns out fine soon
I read that when your hair falls out on accutane its because of dry scalp so I made myself a coconut oil/argan oil/morrocan oil hair mask to moisturize and IT WORKED. My hair two days later stopped falling out by the boatloads. Thank goodness.
My initial breakout isnt too bad. Just uncomfortable to look at but nothing thats super bad. There are so many tiny little under the skin whiteheads that are not ready to come out but when you pull the skin tight...u can see them there.
Its so nice to hear positive things about accutane. Thanks for you replies and information! I can't wait to be where you're at
Hi there. I started accutane (20mg every second day) on the 13th Jan and am going up to 20mg a day after that. I am a 33 yr old female. I believe my adult acne is definitely hormone related. I will be following your journey with interest as we started around the same time. I am sure you will see a huge improvement by the time your wedding day arrives. All the best xx
Hello!
Please tell me all your details! I am so interested in knowing different people's reactions. They just upped my prescription to 30mgs a day. 10mgs in the morning and 20 at night. Unfortunately something went wrong with the pharmacy/doctor communication and I missed my window for the pickup...so I was off accutane for about a week and a half. After being on it for a month. I was so aggravated! But now I've been on it for 5 days at 30 mgs.
I'm not seeing any other symptoms with the up in dosage. My face is pretty awful to look at and have developed a few cystic bumps right under my ears by my neck. Weird! Most of my acne has always been on my jawline and I'm also pretty sure it's hormonal. I pray everyday for decent result and I am not aiming for perfection (and lord knows I really want to) but want to Be realistic and just feel confident in my skin.
Talk to you soon!