Betty's Accutane Log with Photos

[betty cherry 0]

Yeah wedding planning is going good! We know when and where we are getting married, which is a great start! Probably going to get a dress made, for more individuality!

I just discovered that my next appointment at the derm has been made for 2 months away! Trying to get it sorted at the moment, but I am very annoyed. I will have run out of meds by then.

[corrine_1980 0]

Hi BC

Wow you must be busy preparing for your wedding..

Guess you'll be pretty bride on that day..

All the best for the preparation and keep updating your log when you are free

[betty cherry 0]

DAY 140

I am so pissed off right now! The hospital messed up my appoitment; I am supposed to get a "forced appointment" within 4 weeks of the last one, forced meaning that it has to happen, no matter what, but the hospital gave me an appointment 2 months away. So, I called them up and told them the mistake and they said they would get back to me. I told them that I would have run out of meds in 2 months and that I was supposed to be having my next appointment to assess whether or not I can finish the course. So, if I don't have an appointment on time, I will run out of meds before the derm decides I can definitely finish, which I am not happy with. The dumb woman said "You can just get your prescription from your GP" Arrrghhhh! I had to tell her that no, I could not get it from my GP, because Roaccutane can only be prescribed by a certified dermatologist and can only be collected from the hospital pharmacy.

So, they called back this morning to tell me that I still can't have an earlier appointment and they are going to post me a prescription for another month. So, now I have to take another month without seeing anyone, when I was all geared up for finishing this week. God, it's so annoying!!!

Rant over.

xxx

[TennesseeGrl 7]

Sorry your hospital fell through on you.. that really sucks But you are so close to finished, I can't see anything going wrong for now! And you know your body, just trust yourself and if you feel like something's going wrong then book an immediate appointment.

At least you have us to rant to

Happy Hump Day!

[corrine_1980 0]

Hi BC

Don't be sad ok

You'll be ok in another 1 month...

(I will be annoyed if this happens to me as well)

How's your wedding preparation?

Have you got your dress made?

You are pretty and charming girll

[betty cherry 0]

Thanks Miss T and Corrine. Vous etes tres gentilles. I found out that the reason I can't get an appointment isn't because they have too many patients, it's because the consultant is going on a 2 week holiday! Surely they could have figured something out before he went away so that we weren't all left in the lurch?! So frustrating.

Anyway, I don't really have any pimples, so that's something to be glad about! I am getting the odd blocked pore, but they never seem to flare up into a zit. So, I should be happy! I am kind of self medicating, by lowering my dosage to 60mg every 2 days, as my mood has been really low recently. And seeing as I couldn't see a derm, I figured I had to take matters into my own hands!

I think I totally messed up what day I am on the last couple of posts...but today should be

DAY 134

And here is how it's looking today:

Oh and I forgot to say; I went swimming last night and I don't know whether it was the chlorine in the water or what, but my skin went BRIGHT red and blotchy - it was so embarrassing. My entire face was like that, apart from the skin around my eyes, where my goggles had been, which was still white, so I looked like some kind of reverse-raccoon! It was really irritated for quite a while after as well. So, look out if you're going swimming!

BC xxx

[AmberLynn 0]

You look absolutely stunning hun! Those red marks will be gone in no time and you will have perfect skin for years and years!!

[kaz12 0]

hi BC

sorry to hear about the whole derm mess up - but it will all work out and your skin lots great!!! in a month or twos time the reddness will have faded and you will be off the meds! yeah!

i'm on day 140 - and looking pretty similar. Touch wood haven't had much happening since a mini breakout 3 weeks ago so i really hopw that's it. I have a few bumps, clogged pores and quite abit of red marks that really seem to take along time to fade. I have red marks from spots i had 2 months ago - is that right!?

I have 2 months left - i would quite like to be finished sooner but i only went up to 50mg (could have been about 65mg for my weight) so i shall stick it out. But i have a feeling i will be one of the people to find absolute improvement when they finish.

Here's to the downhill part of the tane journey

take care

kaz

[betty cherry 0]

Yeah it's been a while! I moved office and stuff, so have been very busy. There has been some change with my skin and my Roaccutane situation. I started to feel really low and as I couldn't get in to see a derm, I had to make a decision myself. I had been clear for some time and the appointment I should have had would have been my last one - I only had to carry on because I couldn't get to see a derm - so, I made the decision to cut down my dose.

I started by going down to about 20mg per day, but soon ended up forgetting to take them at all. Currently, it has been a week since I took any tane. A little shininess has returned to my face, especially around my nose, but so far I am still clear, fingers crossed, touch wood etc.

My red marks are still looking really bad and have, in fact, started to look worse recently. I think it's because the weather has got hot or something, but then some days are better than others. I still feel that my skin looks worse than it did before I started, which is hard to deal with, but I am hoping to see some improvement with the scarring over time. I guess I was hoping for perfect, hollywood skin, but am starting to realise that might be a little unrealistic.

My mood is much better now, which is the main thing. Let's just hope the red marks do finally fade. I have seen in other people's logs that after stopping tane they continue to see improvement, so I still have a little faith left in me. Just a little.

BC xxx

[kj1982 0]

hey bc, dont know if you have checked out my log, but i made the choice to stop to. i just could not take it anymore, so far so good. my red marks have cleared really well within 2-3weeks so yours could just go like mine did.

i think we all think tane will give us hollywood skin, but once you have had acne i just dont think your skin will ever be perfect, well mine wont be anyway. but when ilook at other people close they dont have perfect skin, we all have our flaws. my sister does not wear any make up and has no spots and everyone tell hers how lucky she is, but if you look hard enough you will see that her skin does not look that good. we just look at ourselves to hard

[S2000 0]

hey bc, dont know if you have checked out my log, but i made the choice to stop to. i just could not take it anymore, so far so good. my red marks have cleared really well within 2-3weeks so yours could just go like mine did.

i think we all think tane will give us hollywood skin, but once you have had acne i just dont think your skin will ever be perfect, well mine wont be anyway. but when ilook at other people close they dont have perfect skin, we all have our flaws. my sister does not wear any make up and has no spots and everyone tell hers how lucky she is, but if you look hard enough you will see that her skin does not look that good. we just look at ourselves to hard

i agree, no one is flawless !!

[TennesseeGrl 7]

I'm glad your moods are better, but I am NOT happy about your derm! They should definitely make it a priority to check up on accutane patients because we need the most attention, and I say that as objectively as possible!

Grrr! Let us know when that situation gets rectified!

Your pictures... WOW! Your face looks amazing! Keep up the GREAT work!

[betty cherry 0]

Got a huge zit! Plus, my skin is reeeeally oily again. I thought this was meant to be the end? Boohoo...

BC xxx

[kj1982 0]

Got a huge zit! Plus, my skin is reeeeally oily again. I thought this was meant to be the end? Boohoo...

BC xxx

oh poor you. i hope your acne does not come back. im not doing so bad, buit no so good either if you know what i mean. my face is starting to get oily again, after about 3 weeks off tane.

[betty cherry 0]

So, I FINALLY had my last appointment with the derm, after waiting 2 and a bit months. As usual, they were running about an hour late. I saw a new derm that hadn't seen meu throughout my treatment, and I was apprehensive about telling him that I had decided to stop taking the tane. As it turns out, he agreed with me and said that I had made a good decision. He said he was pleased with how my skin was looking and that he couldn't see any pitting of the skin, only redness. He did, however, say that it would take one to two YEARS for my skin to fully recover and for the redness to fade. I was pretty shocked by this. If this is the prognosis for the average person, god only knows how long it will take me, as my skin is very slow to heal and marks easily as well as being extremely pale.

Another thing that really worried me was the things he suggested for my "ongoing treatment". I didn't think I was going to need ongoing treatment; I thought this was the end! He said that many people find a small recurrence of acne and that I should use topical lotions like the ones I used before Roaccutane to treat this. If it got really bad, they may consider another course of Roaccutane, but given the fact that I had problems with my mood, they would be reluctant to do this. Great. He talked like I should expect to get some acne return, which is a little scary. Did I go through all this, get all this redness and scarring, which will take 2 years to clear, just to go back to using the topicals I was using before? Why did I bother? Was it even worth it? I am seriously starting to doubt it, especially as the marks I have now are harder to cover than the acne I had at the start.

The whole finishing and being discharged was a mighty anti-climax and a disappointment. I expected my final appointment to be a celebration; I thought I would be perfectly clear, looking forward to a life finally free from acne, but I don't think this was ever the reality of the situation.

Recently. my skin has been oily again, though probably not as much as it used to be. I am getting a few blocked pores and blackheads and I have had a couple of small zits. I got hideously sunburnt in half a day of mild sun, so I warn you all, wear your sunblock. They're not messing around when they say it makes you more sensitive to the sun. I feel like I am back to square one after travelling in a very large circle.

So, there you go. I may not have great skin for my wedding next year after all, which is a pretty depressing thought! Back to caking on the make up it is...

BettyCherry xxx

[betty cherry 0]

27th July 2006 - about 2 months post-tane

Hey everyone! How are you all doing? It's been a pretty long time since I posted, but I thought I should come back and tell you all how my skin is doing these days.

Good news first? Ok. I have not had any zits for a couple of months (apart from a couple of tiiiiiny ones on my forehead). Blackheads are pretty minimal, though there are a few reappearing here and there.

The bad news - my skin is incredibly oily. Like, practically dripping with oil. I have to wipe my whole face down about once an hour and my makeup doesn't stay on for more than half an hour. My skintone is still pretty uneven and I definitely couldn't go without makeup. It's like this all the time, making it very difficult to ever look good!

Overall, I am grateful for the lack of zits, but compared to other people's results, I am disappointed.

Has anyone else experienced extremely oily skin after tane? Should I be returning to the derm, or is it normal? Any help would be appreciated.

Hope you are all doing really good.

BettyCherry xxx

[betty cherry 0]

8th April 2007 - UPDATE ALMOST A YEAR ON

Hey everybody,

So it's been almost a year since I finished on the Roaccutane officially and it's not exactly been smooth sailing so far. After my last post, my skin continued to get oilier and I made a rather silly but necessary decision. I knew that if I went back to my doctor and asked to continue on the roacctuane, they would refuse and I still had quite a lot of my tablets left. Also, I was getting married and wanted good skin! So, I decided to put myself on a maintenance dose of 10mg per day, from the leftover tablets. I know, bad idea to take the tablets without being monitored and I DO NOT recommend anyone does it. But, it worked for me. My skin was pretty much perfect on my wedding day and not too oily. I stopped taking it on the day of the wedding and haven't taken any since. That was 4 months ago now.

Since then, my skin has been getting steadily worse again. It's now almost back to where it was before I started this whole accutane trip, which is very frustrating. I have just changed doctors and have an appointment in 10 days to discuss other options for my skin. The dilemma I now have is that if I go back on the roaccutane, my husband and I won't be able to start trying for kids for at least another year and a half, which would be really upsetting. Is my skin worth it? If it didn't work for good last time, would it make any difference this time? It's really hard to know what to do. But the way my skin is now is really getting me down. Perhaps I will try the old routes of topical antibiotics etc. again, even though I know they do't work!

So, I'm afraid there is no real happy ending to my acne story. Bummer! Hope you're all doing MUCH better than me

BC xx

[betty cherry 0]

Acne.org comes to the rescue yet again! After my rather depressing last post, I decided to start doing something about it again and had a read of Dan's regimen. I went out and got myself some benzoyl peroxide, some oli free moisturiser and a gentle face wash, and after a week, my skin was already looking better. The BP really controls the oil production, which seems to be my main problem, and I have no zits currently. Hooray for Dan!

Might attach a pic so you can see what my skin is like post-tane.

BC x

[titanpinay 0]

Congrats with everything!! there will always be a setback but your skin is at least before than it was before!

[betty cherry 0]

Soooo, it's been almost a year since I finished my course of Roaccutane (well, officially at least) and since then, there have been a lot of ups and downs. After my last entry, the BP worked for a little while, then the acne came back with a VENGEANCE! I got some nasty big ole cysts again and was pretty depressed. My skin was also super oily again. I spent a whole £8 on some "Freederm" gel, as it was pretty much the only thing I hadn't tried, and that was a complete waste of money - it did nothing at all to help my skin, except make it feel sticky.

So, I mentioned it to my doctor and she asked if I had ever tried dianette (the version of the Pill that is actually designed to treat acne in women) and I explained that I had, but only while I was on Tane, so I couldn't say whether the dianette had helped or not, as the Tane had been doing most of the work! So, she decided to put me back on the dianette, to see if it helped.

And, oh my God...it has TOTALLY worked. My skin isn't just looking better, I now have to MOISTURISE. I have never in my life had to do that, apart from when I was on Tane. My skin is pretty much bone dry, no massive oil slick on my face, no blotchiness, and it's looking almost peachy. I am almost annoyed that noone ever gave me dianette before, but I am more relieved that they finally did. To think all this could be solved by something as innocuous as the Pill...

So, ladies, if you haven't tried it, I would really recommend discussing it as a possibility with your doctor, especially if you think your acne gets worse around your period (suggesting it is a hormonal problem). I don't even have to use any creams or gels now. It's pretty nuts.

BC x

[laindenver 0]

Although I never wrote on your log I did read it and I just have to say how happy I am for you that this worked. We all deserve clear skin and it's great that you have it