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Accutane Journey - 23 F

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(@charecko)

Posted : 11/02/2018 11:24 am

Hi Everyone, I hope this is in the right place. I'm 23, female, from England and started Roaccutane yesterday :)

I'm on 40mg, have moderate acne, cystic, white heads, black heads, huge pores and oily skin. Thought I'd keep a log for anyone like me, and so I can look back as I go along. 

Day 1: I took my first dose yesterday and within a few hours developed a headache, which went away with painkillers, slept well, and feel fine today!

 

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(@charecko)

Posted : 11/03/2018 6:19 pm

Day 3 - Have been staying really hydrated so so far no more headaches. I've noticed I have a couple of HUGE under skin bumps, I'm really hoping they don't get too visible, I haven't had spots like that for a while :( 

No dry skin or lips yet, but slathering on the lip balm regularly!

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(@charecko)

Posted : 11/05/2018 11:48 am

Day 5 - I'm noticing some aching around my neck and shoulders today, slightly worried to have that so soon. Spots seem to come and go much quicker. Still no dry skin, though I was very oily before starting Roaccutane!

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(@charecko)

Posted : 11/07/2018 10:52 am

Day 7 - (I'm updating this as and when there are changes!) :) Today one corner of my lips cracked, ouch! Again, this is pretty soon but I'm not surprised because I've always had dry lips even before Roaccutane - just keeping up with lip balm and applying a layer of vasaline over the area. 
Getting a few small spots on my nose, but still no dryness, actually still very oily. No headaches since the first day which is a relief!

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(@charecko)

Posted : 11/10/2018 11:15 am

Day 10 - The oil is disappearing! Definitely gradually reducing, and being replaced with a few dry patches, but I'm pleased about that! Lips still very dry and cracking. NO NEW SPOTS! :D 
Feel very tired through the day. I can't believe I'm already on day ten, it does fly over. 

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(@charecko)

Posted : 11/14/2018 2:49 pm

Day 14 - Wow! Two weeks has flown by, and the dry skin is here...and lips...and hair! It almost happened overnight. No oiliness anymore, which is amazing! But the skin on my lips peels and cracks even with loads of lip balm. Small price to pay for clear skin I guess.
Skin is clear, apart from black heads - oh my! They all seem to be being pushed forward, which I've heard is normal but my god my pores look huge, even bigger than they were before, and that's saying something!

I had rosacea before accutane, and it's definitely making the redness worse, but that might be because I was on antibiotics for the rosacea and had to stop them for accutane, so we'll see how that develops.

To be honest, with the dryness, I can't imagine taking it for another five and a half months without shrivelling up haha, but will of course stick to it!

No other major side effects, just mild aches here and there, and tiredness. So far, so good!

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(@charecko)

Posted : 11/19/2018 5:11 am

Day 19 - Pores still look huge and I have loads of blackheads coming to the surface! I'm trying not to wear any makeup to just let my skin do its thing, but it's difficult! 

Another thing is I seem to be losing more hair than usual. Seems it's coming out all day long! I know hair loss on tane is a side effect but I was hoping it wouldn't happen so soon! 

Otherwise things are going well! No new cysts, much less oily, muscle aches not so bad, and dryness manageable with lip balm and moituriser! 

One thing I will say is my hair barely gets greasy anymore!! :D

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(@charecko)

Posted : 11/26/2018 5:41 am

Day 26 - Definitely starting to notice more and more dry skin! My arms and hands are especially dry and red. No muscle aches or headaches worth noting. Lips very dry. Taken another picture of the pores on my nose, I'm noticing SLIGHT improvement, but so many blackheads are coming to the surface it's crazy!

Had a couple of chin cysts but nothing too bad. 

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(@charecko)

Posted : 11/29/2018 5:04 pm

Day 29 - I can't believe it's going so fast! I had my dermatology appointment today. She was pleased with how things were going, and upped my dose to 60mg a day. I was surprised because my skin is pretty good at the moment, but hopefully this will keep it that way! :) I'll start on 60mg tomorrow.

No new side effect really, other than the fact I keep waking up in the night very very warm. She did say excess sweating can be a side effect, so I'm not too worried about that. Otherwise, no headaches etc. Dryness is pretty easy to deal with with regular moisturiser :)

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(@charecko)

Posted : 12/07/2018 10:03 am

Day 37 - Nothing much to report! Skin pretty clear, I had a couple of big spots on my chin but they've pretty much gone now. My pores are still big but no longer dark! The sebaceous filaments and blackheads have almost entirely gone which is amazing!

Skin quite dry even after moisturising. I have been using the NeutrogenaHydroboost water gel which is great! But I might need to switch to something heavier....

No new side effects to report 🙂

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(@charecko)

Posted : 12/12/2018 6:00 pm

Day 42 - My skin is pretty much red and dry 24/7 now. No matter how much moisturiser I use it stays red. Having rosacea definitely doesn't help with that! Inside of my nose is dry too, I can feel it pulling. Using vasaline there a lot! 

Otherwise no new spots! :D and blackheads almost all gone, I'll post another close up picture soon. Although my pores are big, not having them dark makes them way less noticeable! 

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(@charecko)

Posted : 01/13/2019 5:22 pm

Day 74 - Haven't checked in in a little while. I had my dermatology appointment a couple of days ago and they were happy with how things were going so kept me on 60mg.

They were reassuring about the hair loss and said it shouldn't turn in to alopecia or anything.

I've developed eczema on my hands, but apply cream daily which seems to help. Otherwise no real side effects other than the odd (small) nose bleed from the dryness inside!I actually feel like the skin on my face is slightly more oily, definitely more shiny! Not really getting inflamed spots anymore, or cycsts! A couple of blackheads and one or two whiteheads but better than before 🙂 Hoping the shiny face clears up!

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(@charecko)

Posted : 02/07/2019 5:32 pm

Day 99 -Sighhh, had a big breakout. Spots on my cheeks, chin, nose and forehead. They seemed to come out of nowhere. They're small whiteheads but it's such a downer to have pretty much cleares up for it all to come back. I'm wondering if it's because I used powder foundation to hide the shiney face over the last week :/

I had my fourth dermatology appointment today. She reassured me that it's not unusual to get a breakout during treatment, and the the redness I'm having will *hopefully* go away after I stop the medication.

Sorry for not having the most cheery update! I'll try to post some pictures soon.

 

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