Hi all,
I™ve struggled with acne for 20+ years - I have mild/moderate persistence acne, red bumps that just appear randomly all over my face, no area of my face is safe but forehead and cheeks seem to be the most common areas for breakouts.
I've tried every topical/antibiotic/treatment/diet/lifestyle change under the sun, and even had a course of Accutane aged 17 which helped for a while. But when I hit 30, the spots came back. I tried a 2nd course of Accutane last July, but had to stop treatment after less than 2 weeks due to severe headaches.
I went to the dermatologist yesterday and have been put back on Accutane - he wanted to try me on topical Isotretinoin due to the headaches on the previous round, but I managed to persuade him otherwise, due to the fact that my skin is super sensitive and ANYTHING I put on my face blows my face up (even a Salicylic Acid facewash burns like hell). Looking back, there's a chance that the headaches were possibly due to dehydration so am making sure I drink loads of water this time round.
Anyway, will be documenting my journey on here... fingers crossed.
Day 2:
So far so good, few new spots popped up overnight but no headaches to report yet 
19 hours ago, Fighback said:Will you keep us updated?
Yes
Day 3:
More spots appeared overnight, my face is as bad as it's been for a while but guess this is part of the IB phase.
Face doesn't seem as greasy today, so I'm hopeful that things may be starting to happen already.
Day 8:
So, with a heavy heart I've decided to quite Accutane (20mg) after just 7 days.
My reasons are for the following side effects:
Extremely dry/red face- My face looks and feels like I've got a really bad sunburn, it's really red.
Very sore / dry / bloodshot eyes -My vision is a little blurry already too.
Headaches -becoming worse every day.
I'm gutted that I'm quitting so early into treatment - I had started a log on here to document my changes and was feeling positive.
If I was to continue with this treatment there's no doubt that the side effects would get a lot worse- and also there's no guarantee that this will fix my skin anyway!!
So that's it, back to the drawing board - I'm just not willing to put myself through all this.
Tom.
Well done, @Tomh82
And do yourself a favor. Never try it again.
Nobody should try this gland exterminator "treatment", an invention of some lab lunatics who dont give a damn about peoples health.
Out of curiosity, and if you dont mind my asking these type of questions. Do you spend a lot of time thinking about your acne? Does acne stress you out and make you feel uncomfortable socially?
On 12/5/2019 at 9:08 PM, Akos said:Well done, @Tomh82
And do yourself a favor. Never try it again.
Nobody should try this gland exterminator "treatment", an invention of some lab lunatics who dont give a damn about peoples health.
Out of curiosity, and if you dont mind my asking these type of questions. Do you spend a lot of time thinking about your acne? Does acne stress you out and make you feel uncomfortable socially?
Hi - thanks, it was an easy choice to stop as I was suffering so much. Theside effects are only just calming down a week later, my skin and eyes have been so sore and dry, I can't imagine what state I'd be in if I'd have continued with Accutane. And this was only 20mg per day.
Yes I do feel pretty conscious about my acne socially. I just feel that as a 37 year old man who lives a healthy life in terms of diet and exercise, I shouldn't have to still be dealing with this. Even though it's on the mild/moderate side, it's still very frustrating.
I had a similar experience my last go around with accutane and have vowed to not take it again. It's a tough decision to stop accutane, especially when other treatments have not been successful. I'm 36 and female and i get the whole socially awkward thing with acne. I choose to not wear makeup which has helped me get used to my face but it doesn't mean i love it. It's definitely frustrating but keep your head up.
Hi @Tomh82.Im glad the side effects are vanishing. Do you still have dry eyes? If you just took a few pills for a few days, I think they will get back to normal. Be patient. Maybe you can help by not straining your eyes too much, like using too much the computer or smartphone. Blinking more your eyes. And avoiding, if possible, direct wind on the eyes or too much air conditioning or dry places, that kind of things. I dont know if I would recommend using an eye lubricant, a drop, just because I mistrust pharmaceutical products. But probably a good drop once or twice a day it is not going to do you harm, and it could refresh your eyes. Personally, I have no choice than using drops, because I have chronic dry eyes.
I understand the frustration about acne, I experienced that several times. In my experience, my acne appeared clearly as a consequence of tension or nervousness in the face. And acne didnt appear necessarily in the regions with more sebum, like the nose and forehead, not at all, but in the regions under more muscular tension (which in my case was/is around the mouth). I mean, in an ideal condition, if I keep my face completely relaxed, it was impossible to have acne. I could have sebum, but not acne lesions.
So that is why if I was self-conscious about my acne, or about my sebum (if I think about it as something bad or disgusting, instead of something natural that keeps my face young and healthy), I would have more acne, or the current lesions would get worse, and also I would secrete more sebum.
I dont know if you notice the same thing, but it is clear that if that is the case, the more you are worried about your acne, the worse it is going to be.
Just the focus or attention your mind is giving to the problem plays an important role. And everything that prevents your face to be relaxed. It could be, for example, if you are depressed or furious or something. It is not that a thought translates into acne, but a thought, or certain emotional state, or insecurity translates into tension or nervousness and that produces acne (in the presence of an oily skin).
So, that is why some people consider acne a vicious circle. And if we go deeper, and consider acne a psychosomatic problem, we could say that the sufferer sustains this circle to have visible a problem, to punish himself, etc, etc, And that is why so many people with long-term acne, also have depression, OCD, etc. The sufferer could just not realize about his/her bad habitudes, mental and physical, and he/she doesnt do anything to change them.
Anyway, I dont want to bore you, and maybe your acne has a different cause. But this aspect is something to be considered.
Also, I discovered that acne also can appear if you just press or rub with your fingers your oily skin. Maybe because it blocks the pore, a purely mechanical reason.
And also some drugs could cause a flare up, especially if taken long-term.
I dont know about diet. I never noticed a food can trigger acne, but I didnt follow any radical diet, and also it is difficult to determine. But probably diet is important too, I dont know.
All the best.