finish accutane

my skin has cleared up, but is very red, and i’ve noticed how badly my skin has scarred!! :(

cant wait for the final results, i hope it lasts!!

How are your redness and flushing going? did it fade?

Accutane seems to be working pretty well. I am on my 2nd month, 40mg per day. My skin has gotten muchmuchmuch less oily. It’s awesome. My acne is starting to go away, I think some of it might be scarring though. My lips are so dry though, it sucks..

Beware about the side effect of depression.. I had depression before and am on medication for it, but about a month after I started taking Accutane, I started becoming suicidal. I don’t know whether it is the drug or not, but if you are depressed beforehand, make sure you pay attention to how you’re feeling and talk about it. Get help if you’re feeling suicidal.

I’m going to start taking accutane in 2 weeks. I am terrified of the initial breakout. Hopefully I’ll make it through the five months.

I AM SO HAPPY I STARTED ACCUTANE!
I must say I had to endure a pretty bad initial break out but it’s finally over and my skin looks A M A Z I N G ! I have had only very very small and very few new pimples and NO more blackheads. They’re gone!

I am super excited to start accutane. My best friend took it a while back and her skin looks amazing! I am preparing myself for some bad breakouts (and crossing my fingers that it doesn’t get TOO horrible) before things start looking up. YAY!

so i took my last two 40mg pills and i have cumulatively taken 6160mg of isotretinoin over the past five months (20-40-40-40-80 mg/day). i am really glad to be done with the treatment, but i am very apprehensive about what will happen in the future. i am afraid my acne will come back, of course, regardless of what i do. and my skin looks amazing right now, so i definitely don’t want it to revert to its previous stage.

some things i’ll miss about being on Accutane:
-the “safe” feeling of being on the drug and knowing what to expect from my skin
-my face not getting shiny/oily during the day
-only having to wash my hair twice a week

some things i’m looking forward to now that i’m off Accutane:
-no facial flushing
-not being afraid of the sun
-no rashes from making out
-being able to wax again
-no more chapped lips/dry skin/dry hair
-scars fading
-being able to dye my hair
-being able to take multivitamins
-not having to get blood tests every month
-being able to donate blood
-not having to eat a fatty meal before taking pills
-no more copayments for appointments or pills
-skin healing faster
-feeling normal and pretty

some things i learned while on Accutane:
-1% hydrocortisone creme is awesome and can alleviate red/irritated skin
-Burt’s Bees lip balm doesn’t work as well as before being on the drug
-getting rough with a romantic partner can lead to horrible skin irritation, so be careful. my face actually blistered, though my partner had a short beard
-try to prevent lips cracking in the corners before it gets bad. once it’s bad, it takes forever to heal and hurts a ton.
-try not to peel the skin off your lips, even if they are peeling already
-jojoba oil is an awesome replacement for the sebum your skin stops producing
-pack your face in oil/moisturizer at night. pack on the lip balm as well. you’ll be glad you did in the morning.
-drink lots of water. take your pills with fatty foods for better absorption
-don’t try to extract comedones after you’ve been on the pills for a few months. my pores basically closed up and messing with them just made things worse

i hope to update in a couple months with good news about my post-treatment healing.
ta-ta for now…

only three more days left!!! i can finally stop flushing all the time. i had to buy some 1% hydrocortisone to stop the irritation on my face from friction/makeup/etc but my skin is clear and the acne has abated. i can’t wait to start the scar-fading period.

i’m on my last couple weeks of Sotret and i’m so ready for it to be done…in order to finish in one month instead of two, my dermatologist doubled my dosage. the side effects were tolerable before but now i flush for a couple hours after i take my pills and i’m getting styes. my skin, however, looks amazing, and from what i hear, it should improve even more once i’m off the drug. i’m so glad i went on isotretinoin, but i’m ready to have a normal life again!
also…for anyone searching for a good lip balm, Dr. Dan’s CortiBalm is amazing and totally saved my lips/mouth.

I took my last pill on December 15th. So far, so good! My skin is perfect. This has really changed my life and given me to confidence to make other changes. I’ve lost 30 lbs this year, changed my diet, bought new clothes and even experimented with wearing some make-up (just mascara so far). I’m thinking of getting contact lenses too. I simply can’t find adequate words to describe what a blessing it is not to have a face covered in blemishes. I will never take this for granted – it’s such a gift.