Accutane: Before and After

Here’s a video I put together that shows the “transformation” of my skin during my use of Accutane, I thought it showed the dramatic effect on my skin pretty well:

After!

After 5 months of treatment, I made it.  Although I’m posting these pictures a couple days before I’m officially off of Accutane, the condition of my skin won’t vary much, and I actually have time to post for once.

Since this is the official, “after” post, I want to recap my experience as a whole.  Before starting treatment, I was somewhat apprehensive, because of all the press the negative side effects of Accutane gets.  But, after starting treatment, and seeing the results, I would definitely do it again, and I believe I made the right decision.  Aside from the compliments I get on the improved condition of my skin, I also saved my skin from major scarring, which would be expensive to fix, if even possible to fix in the first place.

However, I can’t say the journey to this point was easy.  The constant dryness, sensitivity to sunlight, and paper-thin skin were definitely hurdles I had to overcome.  Waking up every day feeling dry and cracked isn’t pleasant, but can be managed.  If there’s one piece of advice I can give, it is to moisturize.  Use Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream, or whatever else works with your skin, and keep up with the lip balm. When I’m without Carmex for more than a couple hours, my lips become dry and cracked and red.  Also, treat yourself to a nice pair of sunglasses, it definitely helps the sensitivity to sunlight a lot.

Overall, I think Accutane is a worthwhile medication that should be taken by those who need it.  Talk to a dermatologist, see how bad your skin really is.  For me, antibiotics and topical medications weren’t effective.  But maybe for you, that’s all you need.  If so, then you’re lucky, and you should count your blessings.  But, if you’re like me, and nothing has worked, the dermatologist may suggest Accutane.  If they do, and you have nodular acne, then I wouldn’t hesitate to take it.  Accutane is a wonderful medication, but only for those who’ve tried everything else.

Finally, if you have any questions regarding my personal experience with Accutane, leave a comment or email accutaneadventure@gmail.com.

Without further ado, here are the “after” photos:

Almost Done! (Day 149)

After nearly 150 days, I can say that I am almost done with Accutane!  My dermatologist appointment is on January 11th, so after that I won’t need to take the pills every night, or worry about the side effects as much.  Accutane stays in your system for up to a month after the treatment ends, so I should see a gradual reduction in side effects as I stop taking the medication.  Here are some pictures from this morning, I never realized how much my skin has improved until I looked at the before pictures.

Week 12

It’s been 12 weeks, and I think there’s some improvement showing.  My skin, although a bit redder than it was in the week 10.5, has shown significant improvement. My face is smooth, and all one texture, not bumpy and rough.  I’m really happy that it’s starting to flatten out in a sense, because it shows me that my breakouts are less and less severe.  Here are the pictures for week 12, click any to get a larger view:

Week 10.5 (Day 67)

Well, it’s been awhile.  I’ve been crazy crazy busy with school, cross country, and everything else, so I decided that after about 5 weeks off I should at least take a set of pictures and give an updated status.  Okay, so my joints hurt; a lot.  But, I’m running a lot too, so we’ll see how much my joints hurt once cross country ends at the end of October.  Next, my dosage is still at 60mg, and my bilirubin levels are still elevated, but at the same elevated level, so it’s fine.  Carmex is the best lip balm, it’s worked very very well so far, I can’t get enough of it (literally).  Also, I think my face has cleared up a fair amount.  Given, this is the first set of pictures since week 5/6, so there should be some major clearing, but for comparison, I put week 1’s picture at the top and week 10,5’s picture on the bottom (week 10.5 is the blue shirt).  Also, the full week 10.5 gallery is at the bottom per usual.

Week 5 Roundup/ Beginning of Week 6

This week has been varied, to say the least.  My dosage was increased to 60 milligrams, 20 more than I had been on the previous month.  So far, I’ve noticed that my face is drier, my nose is drier, and my lips are drier.  I haven’t experienced any headaches, however, or anything like that (knock on wood ;)).  I think the increased dosage has helped the quality of my skin already, because I’ve noticed a change.  Take a look at the pictures below and tell me what you think!

Day 35: A Good Skin Day?

Today was my first day of school, which for me, means school ID pictures.  Luckily for me, my skin was looking pretty good, so it should come out nice on my ID.  I know people have good or bad hair days, but do people have good skin days?  Who knows, but that’s what I’m going to call it.  After my increased dosage, I’m not noticing anything different as far as side effects go, although I know that my skin, nose, and lips will become dryer and will require more moisturizing.  It’s kind of annoying, but it’s worth it I think.  Stay tuned, tomorrow I’ll post progress pictures (for real this time ;)).

Day 33: Dermatologist Appointment #2 (Oh, and yes, I’m still alive)

Hey everyone, sorry for dropping off the face of the earth.  I’ve been crazy busy preparing for school to start and for all my extracurriculars to start.  I’m going to take a set of pictures on Friday, and I’ll skip last week’s (there wasn’t that much of a change anyways).

So, today was my dermatologist appointment.  They said the blood tests were good, but my bilirubin levels were elevated.  That means that I could have Gilbert’s Syndrome, which, if you’ve been following my blog, my dad has.  It’s completely benign, and it can be hereditary.  So, the doctor thinks it’s probably just that, but she wants me to call my primary care physician to make sure.  She said that I’m responding very well to the medication, and she wants to increase my dosage.  I guess that the higher the dosage taken, the more lasting the clear skin will be.  So, since I’ve only been having minor dryness and pain and all that stuff, I said sure, why not.  I’m on 60 mg now, taken in 3 20mg capsules.  I went to CVS to fill the prescription, and somehow it’s going to take an hour to collect three boxes, go on iPledge, and put the three boxes in a bag.  I’m going to go back later on tonight as I’ll be in the area anyway.  But, I’m happy that the dermatologist thinks my skin is doing well, and I’m glad I’m reacting well to Accutane!  (By the way, they scheduled the appointment correctly this time, so I have the next appointment 30 days after this one!)

Week 4 Roundup

Well, it’s been almost a full month on Accutane.  This week really showed some improvement, I think.  My face seems to feel nicer, it’s not as rough and it’s not as inflamed.  I have a few new breakouts, but it’s lessening, I think.  I’ve noticed that I can see my freckles now, I don’t know if that’s because of my increased sensitivity to light, or because they were hidden (can they be hidden?).  Who knows.  If this is month 1 with the initial breakout, I can’t wait for the following months where I’ll only see improvement.

Day 27: Uh-Oh

So, as the first month winds down, I’m realizing an issue: I don’t have enough Accutane to last me until my next dermatologist appointment.  I will be off of the medication for two days before the appointment.  I don’t think it’s a big deal, but it’s kind of annoying to have to stop in the middle of my journey (okay, the first 1/5, but who’s counting) and wait to start up again.  I’ll make sure they schedule me in for exactly a month away this time, I don’t want to be without my medication, I want to get this done as quickly as possible ;).  Blood test tomorrow morning, then dermatologist appointment Tuesday.  Fun stuff.