Accutane Treatment Update

[Gilly78]

Just thought i'd update you on how my Accutane treatment is going...

I'm now 3 months in and doing rather well!

First two months I started on 10mg per day and had an initial worsening (As expected) then a significant reduction in the P&P. The past month has seen a slow but steady improvement in my condition. I am now upping the dose to 20mg per day as initially prescribed by my derm and will continue with that for a further 6 weeks before tapering off and stopping after another fortnight.

My condition before starting (As I saw it) was hovering between mild to moderate with a number of P&P, though no flushing or real redness. I also had a touch of acne and oily skin.

My skin is now significantly clearer and softer, much less oily and my pores have reduced in size. I would describe myself as being 1 out of 10 in terms of severity compared to between 4 and 6 a few months ago.

I was hoping to take low dose Accutane for longer but yesterday the derm (4th i've seen in 3 months!) decided my skin was looking great and saw little point in continuing long term. I think I would have preffered to go longer but it will be interesting to see what happens after I finish treatment at the end of the year.

Three years ago Accutane put me into remission and it would be nice if the same happens this time, though i'm not going to build my hopes up. However I expect further improvement over the next two months so who knows. I know my skin will get oily again fairly soon afterwards, though i'm hoping to a lesser degree!

Side effects.... A very slight increase in the redness... More slightly pink than red. Slightly dry lips and eyes occasionally. Aching joints that are worse in the morning. Feeling fatigued after just a few hours from waking. It feels like i'm permanantly fighting off a virus. Nothing too major but I wouldn't want to feel like this long term.

So... A few minor niggles but a great improvemnet in my skin with possible further improvement to come.

I also found out I can get laser treatment on the NHS. I'm sure this wasn't the case a few years ago but I think i'll give it a shot in a few months once my skin is stronger. As I said I don't really have flushing and my skin is more pink sometimes than red. I also have no visible veins so whether it'll be usefull to me I don't know, but it's an option never-the-less!

If they could only find a way of developing a drug that has all of the benefits of Accutane without the side effects....

Scrap that last bit. If only they could find a cure.....

One day!

[TheMediumDog]

Good news.

Would you mind saying - what was you initial worsening like? How long did it go for? Was it the rosacea symptoms which worsened?

[Gilly78]

My skin became even more oily and I had an increase in the P&P and general imflamation. This lasted about two weeks with the second week being the worst. Moving into the third week things improved significantly. I had mild acne which also worsened - probably due to an increase in sebum - but it was the rosacea P&P and imflamation which was noticably worse.

Thankfully I was expecting this so wasn't too alarmed!

[LauraB]

Hi Gilly.

I'm also experiencing dry lips from Accutane -- particularly cracked and red "corners." I'm trying all kinds of lip balms, but anything you would recommend?

Best,
Laura

[Gilly78]

Hi Laura,

I use Nivea 'Essential' Lip balm which is fairly thick. I've been using this continuously even before starting Accutane and it really seems to help. My lips are only slightly dry and as soon as they feel a little more uncomforatble I put some more on.

Something like Vaseline may be good if they're excessively dry.

I've just gone from 10mg (Brief spell at 15mg) to 20mg per day (For final 6 weeks of treatment) and the skin on my face is getting noticably drier so i've changed to a heavier moisturiser. So far my lips have remained about the same.

How long have you been taking Accutane for Laura?