Before I proceed further, let me give you some background story.

I've been on 40mg of Accutane 1 year ago, been clear for about 6 months post-treatment and started relapsing slowly. Took me few months to learn how to control the breakouts, but I can pretty much say that I'm 90% clear now, 90% better than before tane and 40% better than after the relapse. I'll eventually have to get over the other 10%, it's just how it is. But anyway, here we go:

I'm gonna try to make this as short as possible for the lazy people, but I'll explain in details for the people who really care.

First of all, let me say that there's no way to "cure" acne. That's why I didn't title the topic "how to cure acne post-accutane", but how to control breakouts. Because that's all you can do really. Acne will always be there, hiding, waiting to strike if you make a mistake.

And the worst mistakes you can do are the following, starting from the worst. Avoid those and you have pretty much reduced your breakouts by half.

• 1. Steroids

This is pretty much self-explanatory. If you are prone to acne and you take steroids, you'll breakout like crazy, 100%.

• 2. Alcohol

Worst possible thing to put in your body if you are prone to acne. I learned this the hard way. Got drunk only once, but like crazy drunk, and my skin has been a nightmare for weeks after, I've reached the severity of my acne pre-accutane, if not worse. It's the worst possible thing to put in your body if you are prone do breakouts. 1 beer = 1 pimple, 300 ml of vodka = 20 pimples. Don't believe me? Try it out yourself.

• 3. Dairy.

For me, as a non-vegan, avoiding dairy is almost impossible. It's literally in everything I eat, meat would be a lot easier to avoid, but dairy is close to impossible. If you are a vegan, you already have one advantage over other acne sufferers, but if you are not, I know how hard is it to avoid dairy. So I would say, don't completely try to avoid it, if you can great, but if you can't, just try to reduce it a little bit. For me, the easiest step was to avoid drinking milk and replace it with rice/almond milk, it didn't take too much effort. Cheese and the rest and harder, but I try to avoid them as well. Just do your best to regulate your intake.

• 4. Soda and junk food

I saved this one for last, because as bad as it is too, for me personally it hasn't been a cause for breakouts. But if you can avoid them it's better, they are unhealthy anyway.

So there we have it with the mistakes, avoiding these mistakes is 50% of the job done, now let's get to the treatment.

Now, if you want to visit a dermatologist and seek an antibiotic or a second course of Accutane, that's fine. But I decided to wait and try natural alternatives instead, and so far, I'm not disappointed. If you have never used Accutane, controlling breakouts will be a lot harder and using those supplements might not be as beneficial to you, though it wouldn't hurt to try, but if you have already finished an Accutane course, it's a lot easier to prevent the acne.

So here's my supplement regime that got me 90% clear for 1 month :

• Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic acid) - 500 mg daily. (usually the dose is larger, some people take up to 10 grams, but I decided to stay on the safe side and avoid possible overdose side effects - hair loss etc. Start with low and if you don't see improvement in one month of the supplement regime, increase your dose progressively to up to 5 grams)
• L-Carnitine L-Tartrate - 500 mg daily. (this combined with Vitamin B5 makes the B5 more effective. I use it as a gym supplement originally, but it does help the Pantothenic absorbtion)

• Zinc Picolinate - 50 mg daily. (aim for around 40 - 50 mg daily, avoid taking more as it might halt iron absorption. There are many different types of Zinc, I don't think it matters which one you chose, but I heard Picolinate is the most easily absorbed and effective, so I chose to take it. Plus it's cheaper than the rest as well, so I didn't see a point to get something else. Zinc will also help hair regrowth in those who experienced hair loss on tane.).
• Selenium - 40 ug daily. (another good supplement for your skin and immune system)
• Milk Thistle - (this herb is good to cleanse your liver after using accutane, though I haven't seen any improvements in acne from it, you may skip if you want.)
• A cup of green tea once a day.
• And finally, a gallon of water a day.

This is pretty much what I take to control my acne. Once you are almost clear and you're left with scars to deal with, I suggest ordering a salicylic peel (start with 15% and progress slowly) to apply once every two weeks to get rid of your scars. If you have money to go to get it done at a dermatologist, even better. I chose to do it at home. It's really refreshing the skin and making it smoother and even-toned, not to mention that it unclogs the pores and prevents breakouts.

And finally, you need to know, that no matter what you do or take, you'll still get pimples every now and then. That's just how it is. Aiming for a baby face will only get you disappointed and depressed.

Hope I helped, good luck to everybody.