Into my first week on roaccutane ...

Hia shaun,

hope youre ok. If its any consalation Im having the exact same experience! Im about 3 weeks in to my course. Things were going ok but saturday morning...Bam! The biggest ugliest breakout ever.

Lovely Sam and Emma on here told me to battle through and they were right - it really is getting better. Its still bad but i am seeing improvement every day.

I phoned dermatologist in tears after the initial breakout and he assured me that it would clear up in a week or two.

Im crossing fingers. Sorry i cant be of more help but all i can assure you is that my skin is improving a lot and its only been 4 days.

Best of luck! M

Hi Snowball, it's great to hear that your skin is recovering! I am on a 10mg dose, so maybe it will take quite a while to kick in as I have only just started. Hope to hear more of the good news! Thank you all for replying, Snowball, Sam and Emma. I really appreciate it

Hi Shaun, I was about a week in when I had my first breakout, I'm currently recovering from what I hope is my last one as I finish in 10 days! My breakouts have been large patches of skin that peel off to leave huge red patches all over my face I have ( by all accounts ) been on a whopping dose to many on here but it's worked and I've got thru it, my skins paper thin and the slight knock and I get a scabby sore ( not good when you work with clawed animals ) but I hope all will calm down soon! What dose are you taking?

Hope you're doing well snowball ?? You too Sam xx

Hi Emma, I am on a 10mg dose, been experiencing dry lips and face ( if I don't apply sunscreen), but it's not that bad YET as I have just started. How are you?

Hi Sam, I am on 10mg, just started. Yup having same symptoms-dry lips and face( if I don't apply sunscreen). However, it's not that bad YET as I have only just started, hope all of it gets better.. Thanks for the reply great to hear that you are doing well with clear skin!

Hi I finished roaccutane about a month ago (the relief!). That's pretty normal to have a break out! I was quite lucky I only had maximum 2 breakouts whilst on the course but best thing I ever did! My skin is no longer painful and red due to the dryness. I no longer have rashes on my arms. My lips are now back to normal and not smothering lip balm on every 2 mins. Honestly just be patient and persevere. My face is 100% clear not one spot!!! I am quite worried about the acne coming back so hopefully it won't. My confidence had came back and I no longer wear heavy foundation like I use to. I now wear a light bb cream and it's great not to feel so clogged up on my face. Use eucerin products from boots especially aquaphor soothing balm for your lips! It's like magic don't use Vaseline as its not as effective. Good luck and any questions feel free to ask

Oh thank you so much dear. They say it won't come back again, not in years because the oil gland had been shrinked. I feel how happy you are now. Im getting excited also about the result but will have to go through nasty break outs first. Like what they always say no pain no gain. 

As of now, i don't see any dryness yet and my lips are still normal maybe because i started on a low dosage. I've seen Eucerin here and will buy that today itself, theres also moisturizer from them but i don't know how it will be. Will keep you posted dear, i hope ill be like you too. All clear and spot free.

Stay pretty 

I was on 20mg the whole way through the course. I think my lips and skin started to get dry afte about a week or so... I used eucerin aquaphor for my lips and the eucerin urea body lotion for my body and the urea face moisturiser for my face. I tried cetaphil and it wasn't as effective as eucerin.. It is expensive but so worth it! I am now back to using my normal simple branded light face moisturiser and Vaseline spray body moisturiser which feels so good not to be wearing heavy lotions day in day out but honestly don't give up like some people do as they don't see results quick enough ... You have to have a lot of patience with this medication and try bare with the side effects as they will kick in soon but they are manageable with the right lotions and potions

Oh that only means you don't have severe acne then, how's your skin now? how are your pores? 

Still having lots of breakouts half of my face but i know it will go. Thank y ou for the support. My only regret is that i should have started this meds earlier stage to avoid the deep scars.

Anyway, nice to have people who really understands the situation. You know how painful it is and the confidence wasnt there anymore.

Will keep you posted miss, thanks a lot.

No it wasn't severe it was just persistent and the mg goes on your body weight apparently ? I'm not sure though .. I'm only petite so could make sense. My skin is 100% clear and my pores have shrunk. Don't have any regrets as soon enough you will have clear skin and you can buy scar serum to reduce the scars ? That's my plan in the next few weeks as I am having breast surgery in 5 weeks so I will need to buy scar serum anyway the only thing that was a pain for me was the constant blood tests as I have a needle phobia but I was willing to do anything for clear skin! I know people are worse off in the world who have major illnesses but acne does affect confidence sooooo much as u will know! Take each day as a step closer to beautiful skin

Hello hello :-) welcome uyelai, well I had my 3 month post roaccutane check up on Saturday I honestly couldn't thank my derm enough, at 33 yrs suffered with acne from the age of 14, years of creams and antibiotics and after 16 weeks of roaccutane I finally have skin I'm not ashamed of, I've had 2 spots on my forehead in the past 3 months, not deep ones just very surface and disappeared in 2 days. I feel more confident and can look people in the eye! The journey is tough so keep your head high and think how proud of yourself you'll be to say you've stuck it out. I had a whopping dose of 70mg daily ( think my derm is known to give high doses ) I sat next to a young girl of about 15 when I had my appointment and she collected her first pack of 50mg!! Hope you're doing well Sam? Glad to hear you've had brill results too xx

Oh i hope you're ok.

Well for me i don't have any problem with needles so i can bear that. As i've check on other fellow tane users they said breakouts will worse while on accutane but it will go. Yay can't wait.

Keeping positive always, you too.

Thank you emma! That's way too high but our dr knows best right. Im on 20mg right now and will have another check up after a month, depends on how will be the improvement. 

How are you now? What are the side effects you experienced?

I don't have any problem with the side effects it may bring as long as there would be clear skin afterwards. So hard to be living in your 30's and still getting this pesky acne. 

Hey Emma, it's my first week into accutane and I've had a major breakout. How long do you think it'll take for it to go away as I start sixth form next thursday. 

Hia Kiran.

Not Emma here but I hope you don't mind me replying.

I have been on roaccutane for around 3 months now at quite a low dose and things are going really well but I just wanted to sympathise with you on the initial breakout period and let you know that in my experience it will clear quite quickly.

I went through an horrific breakout period when I just wanted to give up. I took a week off work and couldn't look at myself in the mirror my skin was so bad. Worse than ever. Then after about three weeks it was a completely different story.

It's hard to believe now but I'm sure everyone on this thread will tell you.. IT DOES GET BETTER. I know it may not help now because as I say I remember being in your place three months ago. I couldnt believe it when my skin was getting worse when this medication was meant to make it better.

Today - whilst not perfectly blemish free I can go out without make up (unheard of before).

I'm no doctor so I can only talk from my experience but after the breakout about three\four weeks later I found my skin so so so much better. It sounds a massive amount of time when you want all of the breakout gone NOW.

But it will fly by.

And im sure by the timr Xmas prom is here you'll be happy and advising someone one this forum to not worry because IT DOES GET BETTER

I hope this helps.

Let us know how it goes in 6th form.

M X

Thank you so much for being reassuring. How long did it take for your breakout to stop? 

Hia K

It got better after abour a week (as in - the breakout didnt get worse) and my skin cleared about 3 weeks later.  It sounds like ages away, I know but your breakout will clear quicker than usal because of the medication.  I was advised against using over the counter spot cream due to dry skin, but I was at my witt's end - so I did.  It helped me, but everyone is different so Im afraid it's trial and error.  So - for me, the breakouts stopped after a week and cleared up after 3/4 weeks 

I hope this helps 

M x

Cheers M this is really helpful,I just hope this break out ends soon so I dont have to miss any sixth form days. Btw which over the counter spot cream cream did you get? As I haven't got any dry skin yet. 

I used acnecide 5% gel that you can get from behind the counter at boots. It's about a tenner. It worked for me but as I say - I'm no doctor so it may not work for you. (Remeber to wack on the moisturiser anyway. I slathered it on day and night)

There are two things that this process has taught me 1) everyone is different - some people get dry skin, some don't. Some get breakouts, some don't etc... 2) we all get through it in the end. At 7 days in you feel like you never will get to the end. I think back to may when it was so so bad for me. Now its september and im such a different person with so much better skin. IT will be the same for you I'm sure. Let us all know how you get on. We all understand what you're going through

M x

Hi guys, i hope you don't mind me replying. I am now on my 11th day and my breakouts are still there, big big acne with puss it's like eww when you see the mirror. But like what others have said, patience is the key. It feels endless you know, im always wishing to wake up every morning without the breakouts but reality it isnt. Im still keeping positive, it will surely get better.

Hey M,

todays my seventh day and honestly I feel so upset and down today, my face hurts so much due to the huge spots. I'm so embarrassed of my face that I'm not going to the carnival so, Im just going to stay home alone and watch movies.

Hi Kiran, I am Shaun. Been on this medication for around 4/5 months. It has been working great, my pimples have subsided a lot and there has been a lot of improvement from last time. Patience is a virtue, if you take it, don't worry it will heal, and there will definitely be signs of improvement. There are no pimples on my face at the moment, but sometimes a pimple will spring up and it will heal after a few days. Just don't pop the pimples, as they will

Leave scars. When you take the medicine, the pimples will dry out and they will just fall off,Don't worry. Hope everything is well on your side, cheers.

Hey Shaun, 

thanks for the advice, it's day 11 for me and I have noticed that my spots are quite dry however the rest of my face is fine. As I'm at my initial breakout stage I've been getting these really big,stubborn spots which are taking ages to flatten.i just hope I don't get any breakouts.

P.S- how long did it take for you to notice an improvement in your skin? 

Hi Kiran, elai here. Im on my 21st day of the drug but still no improvement, big big cystic acne that hurts like hell and little drying on the lips. I really don't know when this IB will stop.

How have you been, how's your condition now?

Hey elai,

I'm on my third week now and I'm still getting spots but that's only around my chin,forehead and upper lip area. My cheeks are clearing up but my spots are huge and super painful which is really annoying. I'm currently on 5mg and Monday 21st I should start my 10 mg dose.

Hi Kiran, sorry for the late reply. Have to study for my ongoing O lever examination here in Singapore. It took about a month and a half to see an improvement. I still get some small pimples here an there due to stress and lack of sleep due to studying Dont worry, it will all disappear in due course. And if your face is red, dont worry, its part and parcel of this medication. After this medication, the redness will dissappear. Dont worry Take care!

Very happy for u Sam. Did ur acne marks also lighten up while on accutane?

For how many months did your treatment last?