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.

12 weeks

Sorry for the last post and missing a week.  Man, to have a life, geez!  haha.

I went to NYC the weekend of October 3rd.  Great weekend.  Between the last time I posted and now, I have had extremely chapped lips as as well as a bloody nose.  My nose constantly feels like there is a scab in there about to dislocate.

So as of my last blood work, my white blood cell count was low.  Well, apparently, I've had a sinus infection basically since I got back from Vegas.  I've mentioned I've beem sniffly and sneezy.  Apparently, my allergies, led to a minor sinus infection which led me to a minor middle ear infection.  (minor my ass).  I get sinus infections occasionally, but wonder if the low count effected it more of setting in.

I woke up Sunday morning with my ear hurting.  Thought maybe I'd slept on it weird.  But all day it was bothering me.  Woke up Monday with it bothering me still outside as well as in.  I decided to go to a walk in and she said it looked like my sinuses were inflamed which caused fluid build up in my ear to cause the pain,  My ear was the worst part!  I haven't had an ear infection in over 20 years!

So she prescribed me a nasal spray to use once daily, an antibiotic to clear up the minor infection and ear drops for the pain.  I made sure nothing interacted poorly with the accutane with practitioner as well as the pharmacist.

Anyway.  my lips have been super chapped, as well as inside my nose.  I've had a bloody nose almost every day for the past 2 weeks.  I've been putting moisturizer up there, and it burns at first, but definitely helps.  The lethargy is still at an all time high.  I just have no energy whatsoever.  The joint aches have remained, but not gotten any worse, so that's OK I guess.

I've got these little extra dry tiny spots on my face.  Wouldn't even be able to get them in a picture they're so small.  There are two on my forehead, one on the tip of my nose, one on my ear lobe, and one on my left cheek.  They're smaller than a pencil eraser.  They end up coming off, and I moisturize, but they come right back the next day in the same spot.

I'm now half way though my cycle!  I haven't seen many changes in the past month or so, but nothing else new has come up, so now I guess I just wait for this monster on my chin to go away and the redness to subside eventually.  I wonder if after my course, if any sort of peels will get rid of the red blotchy scars.  Anyone else know?

Her are my update pictures!  Week 12, signing out!

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!

2 months in!

Well I've just completed my 8th week of Accutane.  I had my doctor appointment this morning.  She said I'm progessing nicely, and she said again I won't show real progress until after month 3 or 4.  The massive thing on my chin, she said will take a while longer.  I wanted to ask her to inject it with poison or something!  I told her about my joint stiffness, and since it's not too bad, she said we will just monitor it for now.  I'll do my bloodwork tomorrow morning.

Last Thursday, I woke with super dry skin on my chin.  Strange since I haven't been extra dry in a while.  My ears are peeling too, strange.

I still haven't been eating well, drinking well, or working out like I'm supposed to be.  I just have no desire to do anything.  I guess that's part of the accutane journey as well, lethargy.  All I want to do is just get off work and lay around.

Here are my face pictures from this weekend.  Not much change.  I wonder if this will help with redness and not just the break outs.  I'd like to not put as thick of make up on over the parts that don't actually have a pimple.

Week 7

I've been doing really bad on my eating.  It's crazy, b/c I've always been so health and food conscious, and now that I've been told to eat low carb low fat, I'm pigging out.  Is it just b/c someone said I can't that now I feel I have to?!  That's not usually me anyway!

My next doctors appointment is a week from today.  I'll do my blood work that day too.  Until then, good food and no drinks!

I took these pictures this weekend.  Coloring wise, it looks like my big monster on my chin is smaller, but actual size wise it is not.  My back and hips are still achy, and I really noticed the hips while doing sumo squats at the gym last week.  I don't really want to tell my doctor though b/c I want to keep this up and get rid of my acne for good!

I tend to take these first thing in the morning and I look so puffy and cranky!  haha

Week 6

Not much has changed since last week.  It's a little frustrating b/c even though you're told and you read all over the place that it takes a while to notice any differences, you still want to see it.  I also don't experience too bad of drying out, which makes me wonder if it's working on me!  Only time will tell.

I did go back and look at my starting picture compared to this week and holy wow was I inflamed!  The redness of my face has definitely gone down dramatically and I haven't had any new cystic come up since that first week where my chin exploded, so I've got that going for me, which is nice,  Take a look at this side by side from day 1 to week 6!  The lighting is a little different (not sure why since it's the same bathroom!) but you can still see the drastic purple-redness in the first one.  There's not filter on this either from picstitch btw!

I went to the beach Wednesday and got a little burnt.  I was out for an hour and half, wearing 15 SPF and my chest got red, but it has faded.  The accutane has definitely made me more susceptible to the sun.

Hips and upper back are still mildly achy and my rib cage hurts when I sneeze, which has been a lot since my allergies are going crazy.

Here are my week six pics!

Derm appointment and make up coverage!

So I had my dermatologist appointment yesterday morning to re-go over all the side affects and what not of starting Accutane.  On Monday morning, I will go have my blood work done and the results should be back the next day where I can then fill my prescription.  I will be starting with the 30 mg dosage for the first month.  Apparently, in my area, the 30 mg pills are kind of hard to come by, which is crazy b/c since its a weight based dosage, there should be multiple available.  After you have the blood work done and and take the negative pregnancy test, you have 7 days to fill the prescription.  That's a pretty small window of time to possibly not have it in stock at multiple pharmacies.  We shall see how it goes but I'm excited to finally get it started.

So I took some pictures of myself without make up on (eek!), then the different stages of my make up to cover up my acne.  I am in no way a make up artist, so if anyone reads this and has suggestions, I'd love to hear them.  This is my everyday, just going to work make up.  Because I wear so much, I use regular drug store brands.  For going out or long days where I want to look extra cute, I break out the more expensive stuff.  I really like Makeup Forever Matte Velvet.

Also, I hate selfies.  I look horrible in them.  One, they are WAY too close for comfort when you're trying to hide stuff, but also I can't find a good angle!  My nose looks huge in selfies and I feel like its not THAT big in a regular, from a reasonable distance, picture.  And, I make stupid faces, don't judge.  So here we go!

 Here I am fresh out of the shower, where nothing has been applied:

 OUCH!  This cluster on my chin is almost blister-like.  The ones on the cheek are mostly flat now, but can still be felt a little under the skin.  They've been there for a month and a half.

 I realized in this picture my nose is crooked!  How have I gone 28 years and never noticed?!  haha

After I apply all my topicals (which I'm stopping when I start Accutane), I apply primer.  I accidentally bought this thinking it was a different brand and I fell in love!  I used to get very oily in the first 30 minutes after applying my makeup, now I go half the day without having to blot.  It says color correction, but I don't notice that at all.  It leaves a nice silky feeling on my skin, ready for my makeup to be applied.

I do 1 pump and it covers my entire face!

After I let the primer sit for a minute, I apply Neutrogena Healthy Skin in Light.  I would use Medium, but it has disappeared from everywhere.  I've used Neutrogena concealer and foundation for forever but recently changed foundations.  I hate that there are 3 colors of concealers, like fair, light and medium, but a thousand colors of foundation.  I can never get it to match.  I basically apply a thin layer of concealer with my fingers all over the red areas, which is the center of my face, and blend out.  I don't want it to be too thick in 1 area b/c then it makes the finished product looked thicker in that area.  Here I am with just the concealer on.  I'm extra white in it b/c its so light and I'm so tan right now!

After to concealer, I apply Cover Girl 3 in 1 foundation in Golden Tan.  I use my fingers for this as well.  The picture looks kind of yellow, but I can assure you I don't go around looking like a lemon.

No redness showing but gotta set it with powder.  I like using loose powder with the fluffy thing it comes with.  When I try a powder brush, it seems to leave bristle marks in the foundation.  I use Cover Girl translucent loose powder in medium.

Again, looking a little yellow, but its just the lighting in my bathroom I guess.  Not much of a difference between the foundation and setting with powder but its a nice matte finish now.  Pay no attention to my nakey-ness!

From here, I do my blush, contouring and eye makeup, nothing to do with coverage, just tying the picture together!

Again, I make dumb faces, I didn't like any of the ones of me smiling any better so here we are with this face!

So these are my makeup techniques.  And while you can unfortunately of course still see bumps, they're not as noticeable when covered. 

My products used:

Revlon Primer

Neutrogena Concealer

Cover Girl Foundation

Cover Girl Powder

Breakout Background

Hello internet world!


You've probably stumbled upon this b/c you're looking for information on acne and Accutane.  That's the reason I've decided to blog my experience.  I have googled so many before/after/during pictures, experiences, side effects, etc. etc., I thought I would add to the masses and maybe help some others out with what I am about to experience.


Now, I'm new to all this blog stuff, not sure what all I need to link, what it takes to make this look pretty and whatnots, but I guess it will all come along!


For a little back ground on me:  I'm a 28 year old female, who has had cystic acne for as long as I can remember.  It's not awful, I get it mostly on my chin, but no acne is good!  I can remember being in the 4th grade and having this giant thing on my face.  That's NINE YEARS OLD! 


Early middle school my parents took me to the dermatologist for the first time and I got put on tetracycline and Retin-A.  Well, being a middle schooler, I probably forgot to take and use my stuff as directed, but one way or another, it didn't really work for me.  Fast forward through high school.  I had perfected my makeup routine and didn't want to go back to the dermatologists for some weird reason.


Mid-college I started using Proactiv and got on birth control.  Now, I don't know if this actually helped with my cystic acne or if it was just a time in my life when my hormones were working in my favor, but I stopped getting the huge underground pimples that lasted for a month.  I used it for years and still had a lot of breakouts, but they weren't huge and painful, and could easily be drained once it came to a whitehead.  But sometime after college, while still using Proactiv and being on the same pill, the cystic came back slowly.  One a month turned into 3, turned into 8, all lasting for long periods of time.  OUCH!


I decided it was time to see the dermatologist again, why I waited so long, I have no idea.  My first doctor I saw twice.  She barely looked at me, asked what I had been on before, I told her it didn't work, and she prescribed me the exact same thing.  Three months later for a follow up, nothing had changed so she changed me to minocycline and a stronger Retin-A.  Still didn't work so I gave up for a while.


I found a new dermatologist a year and a half ago who really seems to care.  She has tried everything on me (doxycycline (several dosage changes), Oracea, Spirolactone for the oral stuff, and Benzacline, Tazorac and Aczone as topicals.  Sometimes different meds seemed like they were semi-working, but it wasn't what either of us were hoping for.  I also had some bad experiences with yeast infections from the medication, so that was just awful.  I can honestly say I think I'd rather had acne than get regular yeast infections.  UGH, they're awful!  Anyway...


That leads us to this week.  On Friday, I go to take my second pregnancy test and get my prescription for Accutane.  I'm nervous about it, especially the "it gets worse before it gets better" phase, but to (fingers-crossed) be done with this adult acne in a measly 6 months would be amazing.  I do hate that I will be in Vegas in 1 month with what seems to be the worst time for the initial breakout, when I'm trying to look my hottest, but oh well, I have mastered the covered up makeup!


So in this blog, I plan to take weekly updated pictures, talk about pain, changes in moods, what I'm doing to help with dryness, make up coverage, blood work etc etc etc., in hopes that it will help some people also going through/planning to go through this crazy little drug called Accutane the way other blogs, Youtubes, and websites have helped to guide me.


I will take some "before" pictures this week, as well as my cover up make up routine, and then an update Friday of what happens at my doctor's appointment.


Until next time!