My Accutane Journal. My battle with acne at 29

Day 43 - Pain in the name

2011-03-04T09:29:00.000-07:00

So I have been on Accutane now for about 43 days. My skin is dry and I have to be careful with my nose because it is like an oil oil derrick, if I move it the wrong way it will just start to spray. I also have been getting dry patches on my face, neck and hands that will show up no matter how much lotion I think I put on. I have also noticed an incrase in the amount of join pain that I experience. Follow after the break to hear more about the pain in my joints.

As far as pain goes I have been getting pain in my knees, back and feet. The first time I went on Accutane I had pain in my knees every now and again. The pain that I am feeling comes and goes more often that in did. This might be because I am older now, 29 vs 22 or because it is a different brand of accutane or it might be because I am at a higher altitude with drier air.

Another thing that is annoying is that my eyes lids get very itchy around the edges of my eyes, right where my eye lashes are. It is hard to itch that spot and not irritate the skin.

Lastly it is hard for me to shave. It seems that I get a lot more ingrown hairs that end up being a lot more painful when I shave close to the skin. Shaving also casues a lot more irritation that it ever has so I have resorted to just using a beard trimmer on its lowest setting. I look like I have scruff all the time but it is better than itching all day and getting irritated and looking like a hot mess the next day, I had a rather painful ingrown on my neck the other day but I didn't get around to taking a picture of it before it went down. Maybe next time.

Day 34 - Going up to 80mgs

2011-02-23T08:28:00.000-07:00

On Monday I met with the dermatologist for my monthly appointment. He upped my dosage to 80mg from 40mg. Only doing it for two days I have noticed a drastic difference in how dry my nose, lips and mouth are.

I am using more lotion throughout the day and drinking a lot more water. I am noticing more joint and back pain that I was before on 40mg. I also have gotten bloody noses more frequently. My cuticles on my fingers require more attention as they are starting to peel like plywood left out in the rain then dried again. I also have to pay special attention to my ears. They get this weird texture to them sometimes and will flake on the inside of my ear, which I am sure just looks great to others.

I have to make sure I always have a tube of lip balm and a small bottle of lotion with me at all times. At work I have to check the mirror every so often to make sure I don't have any dry patches or unsightly flaking skin.

After the break I posted a picture of a bloody phlegm wad I had when I woke up the other day. It is caused by getting a bloody nose when sleeping and it just pooling up in the back of my throat. If you have a weak stomach don't check it out, otherwise click away.

bloody phlegm wad from after I woke up the other day.

Day 32 - Noticing an an improvement

2011-02-15T19:33:00.002-07:00

I have noticed a marked improvement in the condition of my skin. First I have noticed that the occurrence of large painful zits and cysts. Second and most interestingly I can now take a shower at night and not feel dirty in the morning. My skin would produce so much oil that after waking up I would feel dirty if I didn’t take a shower. Along that same note I can go longer without a shower and my hair does not get greasy.

This week I went to San Francisco and spent a lot of time in the sun. I made sure I lathered on the SPF 45 on a regular basis to ensure that I did not get burnt, as Accutane will greatly increase photosensitivity. I took this picture of the San Francisco painted ladies, the yellow one is the Full House House.


San Francisco Painted Ladies

During my trip I had the opportunity to sit in a steam room at the health club in my hotel. It felt so nice to soak up all that moisture into my skin. It was an odd feeling to have my skin cascade off in sheets when I touched it though. All that dead skin that was trapped in emulsified lotion usually took a good 10 minutes in a shower to get off with out pouring hot water on it directly. With the heat and high humidity after only a few minutes my skin would roll off effortlessly. I had to ensure that I quickly applied lotion when I got back to my room as not let my skin dry out and crack.

I did try a new product while I was in San Francisco. This conditioner all but stopped my itchy scalp. I am going to continue using this stuff and see how it works. I never used conditioner before, as my hair was greasy enough. Now I can’t get enough of this stuff.

Bonacure conditioner. Fixed my dry scalp issue in two days. Two thumbs up.

I do have some spots that I would like to point out. Look after the break for more juicy details:

First, in between my thumb and index finger it continually gets dry. I assume that this is because I put my hands in my pockets a lot. You will also see a small scab from my scratching my skin because of how itchy it was.

Dry skin from Accutane

Second, at the tip of my nose I have a red spot. There was large pile of dry skin that I pulled of this morning around 11am. This picture was taken at 5pm. You will notice that I have a lot of dry skin balls on my face and you will also notice that my pores are starting to push out dried up gunk that has built up for who knows how long. The combination of the two makes for a rather interesting texture to the skin of my face.

Red spot from dry skin wad that was pulled off. Also dry pilly skin.

Third – My lips

It was hard for me to get a picture that captured what my lips looked like. They are not splitting but I do have a lot of excess skin that stays around. The dead skin combined with the copious amounts of lip balm that I use make for a rather unattractive white ring around my lips that I have to actively remove otherwise it looks like I have really bad cotton mouth.

Dead skin and lip balm.

Fourth – My jaw line and end of my eyebrow

You can see that I have two small zits. One an my jaw line and the other just at the end of my eyebrow. They are both on the right side of my face. They do not hurt.

Day 21 - big flem wad

2011-02-09T14:36:00.002-07:00

The last few days I have been waking up with very dry a nose and throat. My nose for instance this morning was packed full of crusties that made it nigh impossible to breath through. My throat was filled with a large wad of mucus. The nose crusties needed to be picked out manually. The throat butter needed to loosen up a little before it would dislodge,This is what came out about an hour after waking up. I will note that this same thing happened with large mucus wads and nose crusties the first time I went on Accutane.

I have some more pictures, one of my chin acne again, and one of my empty Accutane envelopes after the break.

My eruptions scab over a lot quicker on Accutane. Compare to yesterday's photos.

Two empty packs of Accutane. That was last night after my 20th pill.

Day 20

2011-02-07T22:42:00.004-07:00

Nose after I woke up a week ago.

Side of nose today.

Today is day 20. My skin is starting to get uncofrotable around my chin area. I have this dry patch on my elbow and around my neck. I have tried lotion but my skin still has a different texture. Over the last week the longest lasting thing was a split I had on the side of my nose. I woke up one morning and the side of my nose was all crusty. Usually I am used to having blood on the inside but never on the outside. It is starting to get very itch as the scab is starting to flake off.

My scalp has turned into the north pole. If I shake it it will snow. I have now started using copious amounts of conditioner while in the shower now and that has helped with a lot of the itching but my scalp is not in as good of condition as it was before I started my Acccutane treatment.

20 days I also have had to cut down significantly how much deodorant I apply to my arm pits. I have to be very careful not to apply too much otherwise it gets easily irritated. On my first cycle I had no idea and my arm pits became so chapped it was like I had a super bad sun burn that was peeling. Talk about uncomfortable. I luckily learned my lesson the first time and will not be making that mistake a second time.

Over the week I have had some painful breakouts. Go past the break to check them out.

Multiple zits behind the ears

I even had zits on both ear lobes. Those hurt.

This happened a few days before my nose slipt.

My chin has some rather painful pimples right now. The one on the far right in the picture was huge this morning but I popped it. It was two different clogged pores right next to each other.

This is the other side of my chin. These have not erupted yet but I can sure feel them festering under the skin.

Day 9 - I'm so thirsty

2011-01-28T13:45:00.000-07:00

Today I am really thirsty and have some cotton mouth action going on. I have been drinking like a fish but I can't get enough. Maybe I need more electrolytes to stay hydrated. Today my bottom of my feet are getting dry. The first time I went on Accutane I never had a dry foot problem. I am not sure if this is a side affect of Accutane or of it is just because it is winter and my wife likes to keep the heat up. When I went on Accutane the first time it was in the summer in a humid climate. Now I am in a dry climate with forced air heating. If it really starts to look bad I will put up some pictures.

Day 8 - The dryness is beginning to become visable

2011-01-27T22:53:00.000-07:00

Today I woke up looked in the mirror and my upper lip was starting to peel like I had a sun burn. I took a shower and I had chunks of skin that I could rub off. I have been moisturizing regularly and have been avoiding the sun but that is just what happens when you are on Accutane. My skin is starting to get more red and irritated especially on my face I am also noticing my lips are starting peel around the edges where the lip balm does not cover.

My acne is flaring up a little, I have something painful festering in my right earlobe that I can not see yet, and I also have a pimple forming on the left side of my nose that is under the skin.

This is a photo of what my upper lip looked like when I woke up this morning.

Day 6

2011-01-25T23:42:00.000-07:00

Today I am noticing that my skin around the edge of my fingers is drying out. I also have a rather large pimple forming under the skin near the right side of my nose. Today I didn't have work so I was able to eat more than I usually do and I didn't have any headaches. I was also able to drink all the water I wanted when I wanted. I figured out what I need to do to keep the headaches away.

When I did Acctane the first time I don't remember getting headaches and I never home. I was out and about all day.

Free Cetaphil Lotion Giveaway

2011-01-25T00:12:00.002-07:00

As a new blog I am trying to attract some new readers so I have decided to have a giveaway. I will be giving a way a bottle of Cetaphil moisturizer of free. Anyone on Accutane or any other strong acne treatment knows that this stuff is worth its weight in gold. So tell your friends and family about the promotion and all those you know who might be interested in using Accutane. As the site gains popularity I might consider doing giveaways more often.

Follow the break for the terms on the giveaway.
All we need is 150 comments from unique visitors. Anyone who is a follower and comments on this post will be entered into the drawing. The winner will be selected at random from the list of commenters. The winner will then get a featured post on my blog along with their free bottle of Cetaphil moisturizing lotion. The bottle will but the standard pump in a 16oz bottle.

Day 5 on Accutane - I have my first eruptions since I started.

2011-01-24T23:19:00.000-07:00

Today has not been a bad day. Yesterday my skin really didn't have any problems. This morning I woke up with a little acne blemish above my lip and on my nose. Then through the course of the day I had one form on my right temple.

I have posted some pictures of my eruptions from today.

This side profile shows the condition of my skin after a few bad years of acne. I have acne scars on my cheeks, large pores, around my cheeks and nose. It is hard to see in this picture but around the edges of my nose my skin is starting to peel and flake. Once I am off accutane I will be looking into some some of scar fading or removal treatment. I have a lot of scars especially around my jaw line and those divots that you can see in this photo are on both sides of my face.

Follow the break to see the rest of the photos

You can see the little eruption on the side of my face near my temple. This one hurt.

This is the eruption on my upper lip. My lips are glossy. Today I am trying Lansinoh to moisturize. It is a 100@ Lansinoh HPA Lanolin. Works great at night but it is super shiny, so I might not use it during the day. We will see how it goes. Yes I know that it is marketed to breastfeeding women but this stuff feels great on my lips and does wonders at repairing chapped skin.

Day 5 just woke up 7:30am

2011-01-24T07:37:00.000-07:00

I wanted to make note about how dry the inside of my nose is, the edges around my nails (not my cuticle beds yet) and my cheeks. My acne is still getting clearer but I am feeling the moisture being sucked right out of my skin. I will update again latter in the day with more info on how I feel.

Day 4 - January 23 2011

2011-01-23T22:18:00.000-07:00

My scalp has gotten really dry today. This morning I decided to try rubbing some Kirkland brand conditioner in my hair and scalp to see if it would help it feel any better. The first time I was on Accutane my scalp got very dry and itchy but it was not this quickly. I am starting to get a some larger flakes from my scalp and it is rather bothersome.

I now have some itchy spots on the sides of my ribcage, forearms, around my knees, nose and my neck. They are not red and irritated yet they just itch and I constantly want to scratch them.

I did not have any headaches today and I still have some back and knee pain.

Day 3 - January 22 2011

2011-01-23T22:12:00.000-07:00

I worked a long shift today. I noticed that my my joints had some pain and I also had some back pain. My skin is starting to become more dry and I have to keep a tube of lip balm with me everywhere I go. The brand I am using right now is Burt's Bees. I have been using it because I can get it at a discount from work and it is convenient. So far I have been happy with the results.

Day 2 - First day after popping the pill January 21st 2011

2011-01-23T22:07:00.000-07:00

I was surprised how dry my skin was starting to feel after only 10 hours of ingesting my first pill. Today my hips itch a little but very manageable. I had a rather annoying headache that would not go away despite how much water I would drink. The headache would get a little bit better after eating. I have not had to use any moisturizers yet and have been showering normally.

After I got out of work I went and got a haircut. When I came home I rinsed my head to get any loose hair out of it. This is when i started to feel some discomfort in my scalp. It burned a little and I had an intense desire to want to scratch.

Day 1 Bio and Backround - January 20 2011

2011-01-23T22:00:00.000-07:00

This is my journal accounting my second round with Accutane. I am taking Claravis which is one of the generic versions of isotretinoin. The last time I went on Accutane was back in 2002. My acne was was bad enough that it would hurt to smile and my shirts would be spotted with blood at the end of the day. After numerous other attempts to cure my acne I decided to take the plunge.

Recently my acne has started to come back again so I visited with my dermatologist and decided to do a second cycle. Today I had my blood work done, filled my prescription and took my first pill at 9:30pm.

Over the next few months I will keep an active account of my second round with Accutane. I will keep track of my skin condition, how I feel, problems that arise and I will even review products that I use. Please feel free to ask questions or comment on any post.