Update

Well, it's a been about a month since I last posted.  I've taken update pictures but just haven't taken the time to login and post them.  Since week 12, I haven't really seen much of a difference honestly.

No new breakouts, still just that one on the right side of my chin.  It's gone down considerably, but still there.  The hard scar on my cheek seems to be going away some too.

On my last appointment, she said this is the month I should see a considerable difference.  I go back in next Tuesday for my 4 month appointment.  That Friday, November 28 will be the 16 week mark.  I can't say that I've seen a major difference from month 3 to month 4.

She did warn me in the last appointment that for 6 months to a year after stopping, I can't do anything to my face like waxing, facials etc.  wahhh, The skin will still be very sensitive and can cause scarring.

I just worry about the redness that's still there.  I don't see that going away anytime soon.  Maybe I just need sun on my face with no makeup and it will fade away eventually.

Side effects-wise.  My lips are crazy dry and my nose is super dry.  Its bloody every morning and the skin peels off from the the inside throughout the day.  My back and hips are still bad.  My immune system is pretty low too.  Working out with my joints hasn't been easy.  I stretch a lot which has helped some.  I didn't realize how tight my hips were until I (use your imagine) tried to climb on top of my man friend and hada very difficult time doing that, and then one I did, I couldn't actually move!

Anyway, I will FOR REAL post pictures next week after my appointment.

Week NINE!

Good evening fellow tane-ers!

I did my monthly blood work Tuesday morning.  They drew blood from a different spot than normal and it left my arm a little sore.  Weird!  Got the call from the doc the next day.  Cholesterol and triglycerides are still just a bit high, but are leveled off, and my white blood cell count is still a little low.  I know Accutane is supposed to leave you a bit lethargic, and I don't know if the meds themselves are causing thing the low blood cell count or if they're low on top of that, but that has to be why I'm so tired all the time.  I have absolutely no energy or motivation to do anything except get through work, and go home and chill on the couch.

Last week has to be the WORST so far with chapped lips.  They've been peeling so bad!  And I can not keep a thing of chap stick to save my life.  I always have it at work.  Some how leave it there, come in the next day, and boom, gone.  Fine one that I lost a week ago (usually in my laundry), use it for a day, and gone again!  These past 2 months I've probably bought 3 chap sticks, and had 3 or 4 at home that I've had already or some sort of lip salve from a birch box, and now they're all missing.  I haven't had one in about 4 days and I'm dying!  But I then have no energy to stop at the store to buy a new one.  Woe is me.

I go to NY at the end of this week.  Hoping the change of pace perks me up, gets the ball rolling again on the physical activity after all the walking around we'll do.

Oh my, and I can not wait to be able to do some sort of hair removal once this course is done!  I am a brunette with thick hair, I am naturally going to have some unwanted facial hair and plucking is just awful.

Here are my end of week 9 pictures.  No real changes in the past few weeks.  But I guess that's better than getting worse.  Haven't had an actual new pimple in well over a month!

Follow up Friday-Week 3!

Hey ya'll!  As of today, I am 3 weeks in to my Accutane journey.  I have been very dry this past week.  Lips are quite chapped and I'm flaky on my chin and in between my brows.  The pimples that have popped up on my chin since starting do seem to be going away quicker than what they used to, except that damn blister of a zit that I've had forever!  I wish that thing would get a weak spot, a little piece of skin, SOMETHING that I could work with to make it leak a little!

My nose has also started doing something weird over the past week.  It's like whatever is in my pores is being pushed out.  My pores were looking bigger, and then this morning it almost looks like teeny tiny little hairs are sprouting.  I tried to take a picture but you couldn't tell.  I scrubbed it in the shower and now its gone anyway.

I mentioned in my last post that I was going to get waxed, and I randomly thought to google waxing and accutane and dummy me you can't wax while on it!  Glad I didn't just go and do it!

Anyway, here are my week 3 pictures.  No real changes.

 This one by my mouth was the one that kept me from going earlier to get waxed.  It's pretty much flat now, just a little flaky.  More red than anything

 There's that sucker on my chin that hurts like a mother f'er.  It looks and has the smooth feeling of a blister.  The cheek looks worse than it is in my opinion.  It's pretty flat unless you press on it and you can feel it underneath.

 The chin as a whole.  Also up under my nose I got a couple of white heads that came up and have since popped and gone down.  Those ones on the nose really hurt before you can actually see them!

And straight on.  

I'm headed to Vegas in the morning!  Lot's of sun, booze, bad food, tons of makeup and little sleep.  That should do well for my skin!  The dry weather itself is probably going to make me shrivel up and maybe have nosebleeds (happened my first time there, now with this medication, I bet it will happen again!)  

My next doctors appointment is this Tuesday the 19th to put me on the 60 mg.  I'll prob do my blood work that day too.  I bet its going to say the same thing with my cholesterol b/c I will have been eating bad and boozing it up!  BUT, after this weekend, its lean meats and boring food and no booze for quite a while.  No more ketogenic diet for me.