Dr. Torok and her team of doctors at Trillium Creek Dermatolgy and Surgery are absolutely wonderful. Professional, caring, and very talented in the services they provide. I highly recommend anyone to make an appt today.
I've struggled with acne for a while. By a while I mean almost ten years. I'm sure many of you reading this are on a similar journey. When I was about 15 I developed severe cystic acne, the kind that makeup does not hide. I was on numerous different types of medications: topicals, antibiotics, and finally Accutane. Accutane was my lifesaver. While the drug is nothing to shake your head at (it has some serious side effects), it certainly does it's job. My skin was completely clear for about 6 or 7 years. Last year, my skin started to break out again. I had postules underneath my skin that would inevitably come to surface after a while, but rarely if ever developed into cysts. The acne I suffer with now is absolutely nothing close to what I dealt with when I was a teenager. However, regardless of it's severity, it's annoying. I don't want to wear makeup every day to try to cover it up. I want to find a way to cure my ailment and live my life. Sadly, acne sometimes stops me from doing things just because I feel too self conscious to be around other people. I still haven't been able to be around my friends or family without makeup on since my skin started breaking out again. So I needed a change. I started seeing Dr. Torok in Medina, Ohio about three months ago and told her my story. Within a few minutes of knowing me, she had come up with a plan of action, which ended with putting me back on Accutane if the initial treatments didn't work. Low and behold, the initial treatments failed to work. However, she didn't make me wait very long before putting me on Accutane (possibly because I had been on it previously with such wonderful results). I started my treatment on November 27, 2015. I was originally going to be taking 20 mgs of Zenatane (a derivative of Accutane), for three months. I have since come close to finishing my first month, and just had my follow-up appointment. I discussed with Dr. Torok possibly putting me on a higher dose for a longer period of time to reduce my chances of remission (aka acne reoccurring). Studies I've read have indicated that being on a dose that is higher than or in equivalence to 1 mg/kg of weight leads to lower remission possibilities. This would indicate a total dosage of 120 mgs/kg - 150 mgs/kg leading to the lowest remission possibility. I weigh 115 pounds, or 52 kilograms. I've currently taken about 600 mgs of Zenatane total (20 mgs x 30 days), so I asked if we could up my dosage to either 50 mgs a day or 60 mgs a day for 5 or 6 total months. Dr. Torok agreed with my rationale and recommended I begin taking 60 mgs a day rather than the 20 I was taking. I'm thinking my skin will get much worse for a while after this increase, but I'm hoping this higher dose will help cure me for good! I am also on 100 mgs of Aldactone. After a month of taking Accutane I've seen the common side effects. I have very dry lips, my lower back is a bit sore, the skin on my body is beginning to get flaky, and my eyes are dry (although I had LASIK last year and they are continuously dry from that procedure). No nose bleeds or flaky peely skin on my face as of yet. I have that to look forward to if my last course of Accutane can help me predict the future with this course. :) I'm going to try and post photos and an update every week in the hopes that it can help others that are struggling with acne. I'm really hoping that this is the last time I'll have to ever take Accutane again! But we will see. Updated on 31 Dec 2015: On Monday I began taking 60 mgs of Accutane daily rather than the 20 mgs. This sounds odd - but I can already feel a difference! My skin has dried out a bit, as have my lips. Unfortunately my skin hasn’t really seen any other benefits - it is breaking out a bit worse than it was last week. I have 2.5 cysts (one is almost healed) on the left side of my face and a few papules beneath the skin. My chin is in pretty good shape - as is the right side of my face. I’m hoping that this is the worst that it will get and things will improve from here. Accutane is somewhat unpredictable - so this could be false hope. It will work eventually, however. I have noticed that the small pain I was experiencing in my lower back has ceased. This had continued for about a month. I have yet to workout this week so I think that may be the primary cause for the continued soreness. My lips have become more dry and I stash Carmex everywhere. Carmex has bee my savior, but I’ve also had a lot of luck with Aquaphor. Try either of those on your lips and you won’t be in bad shape. Also, for anyone on Accutane, my dermatologist recommended that I take each dose with something fatty - such as eggs or peanut butter. She also recommended a green tea moisturizer to help with the redness of my face. Hope that helps someone! For some reason I can't get my photos to load - I think it might be the internet. Will try and upload them tomorrow. I’m hoping that next week I will have more positive news! Happy New Year everyone! Updated on 1 Jan 2016: Photos I couldn't get to load. Updated on 11 Jan 2016: As of week 6, the side effects of Accutane are really kicking in! Nothing unbearable, but incredibly annoying. My lips are much more dry than they were the previous weeks. I tried to keep track of how often I now use Carmex, and it seems I'm grabbing for it about every 45 minutes. It's been a lifesaver! I've also had to start drinking coffee again (I gave up caffeine and alcohol a while ago) because I have almost no energy during the day. I get headaches pretty frequently now, but that's usually just a reminder that I need to keep drinking water. My skin has definitely continued to improve - I'm so glad that I made the jump up to 60 mgs. All of the previous cysts I had on my face have flattened out, but I'm left with the hyper pigmentation from all of them, which I'm hoping will go away in the next few weeks. It's much easier to hide red marks than cysts! I broke out on my chin yesterday, but these breakouts are so small that they heal within a day or two which is amazing! I'm still on 60 mg of Zenatane (Accutane) daily and 100 mg of Aldactone once daily. I've noticed that the breakouts I have beneath the skin that are flesh colored have really started to go away... I was looking at pictures from a few months ago where I had what seemed like HUNDREDS of little under the skin breakouts, and now I have less than ten on my entire face. I have been getting compliments on my skin, I'm thinking because it looks less oily and is very "smooth" looking. I wish the pictures would do it justice! I'm excited to see how things progress into next week's update. Also - I've developed eczema/psoriasis on my hands. I had this same thing happen when I was first on Accutane, I've been using Aquaphor to help it. It's a bit unsightly. Hope everyone is doing well! :) Updated on 17 Jan 2016: Things are still going really well! I see improvement every day, and my skin looks and feels completely different. It's no longer oily whatsoever, and is incredibly smooth. I get 1-2 small breakouts a week (if that). And the hyper pigmentation I have left on my face left from the Initial Breakout continues to fade. I wanted to post a picture from a few months ago - this is how many little "under the skin" breakouts I had on the left side of my face, vs. how many I have now (which is none!). I would have to attribute this to both Accutane and the Aldactone. As for the side effects - my poor lips are ruined. The corners of my lips keep peeling off and in the morning it is hard to open my mouth because the sides are a bit crusty. As long as I put Aquaphor or Carmex on them right away I am fine, otherwise it's uncomfortable. My eyes are a bit dry, but again, I don't know if that's because of the Accutane, or another prolonged side effect of having LASIK. The skin on my face isn't really dry at all, I put a normal moisturizer on my face and I don't get any peeling. I'm assuming that it's taking a while to completely dry my face out - my skin must have been more oily than I thought. I wash my hair once a week which has saved me a ton of time. If it needs to be restyled, I just wet it down in the shower and condition it. There is no oil on my scalp whatsoever. I also don't ever need to reapply my makeup during the day, my skin never becomes shiny or oily at all. As I had commented in another post - physical intimacy has become a bit uncomfortable. This may be TMI but if you are female, it would be wise to buy lube just in case. I have never needed it in my life, but it is certainly necessary for me while on Accutane. I hope everyone is doing well!! Updated on 24 Jan 2016: I am almost done with my first full 30 days of 60 mg of Zenatane! Again, the change is significant. My face is so smooth and matte. I don't ever have to worry about it getting oily or anything like that. I'm still waiting for the hyper pigmentation on the left side of my face to fade - but I know that might take a couple months to be completely gone. I still have about 10 under the skin bumps that haven't come to surface. It seems like as time goes on they will become inflamed and then be ready to be extracted. I am really happy with my progress thus far and am so happy I moved up to a higher dosage. I still have about 4-5 months left on the medication, I'm really excited to see how my skin is looking by then! The side effects: - Lips are maybe not as bad? Or I've just stopped noticing how bad they are. They are still cracked at the corners, but I don't think that's going away anytime soon. - Body is pretty sore depending on how much sleep I get. If I workout and get any less than 9-10 hours of sleep, I am exhausted and very sore. Sleep is incredibly important while on Accutane, especially if you are on a higher dose. Listen to your body and sleep as much as you need to. - The psoriasis on my hands has gotten better, I apply Aquaphor to them every night before I go to bed. - Eyes aren't as bad. They are still a bit annoying, so I do constantly have to put eye drops in them. - Moodiness has become an issue. If I am frustrated or aggravated at work it becomes very difficult for me to remain around people at my company. Last week I had a really big issue, and was so frustrated I needed to work from home the rest of the day which has never happened. Has anyone else experienced the mood swings? I've also been very content with just staying home lately. I haven't wanted to hangout with my friends as much, it makes me much more happy to just sit at home and watch Netflix! This is very unlike me. Maybe its a combination of Accutane and the winter weather. I go to see my dermatologist tomorrow. I'm sure she will be very pleased with my progress! I hope everyone has a great week! :)) Updated on 2 Feb 2016: Well I'm now in week 9! Things have been going pretty well. My side effects have been diminishing pretty significantly within the past week. My lips are a lot less dry and the psoriasis on my hands has all but disappeared. I think it took my body longer than I thought it would to "get used" to Accutane. My skin is looking great, I'm really happy with how things have progressed. I visited the dermatologist about a week ago and she gave me interesting news. The "hyper pigmentation" that I thought was on the left side of my face is actually rosacea! My dermatologist said this is a common misconception, and gave me a prescription for a cream called Soolantra. I have been using it on my face for about a week now, and as you can see, the results are pretty dramatic. The "hyper pigmentation" has lightened up A LOT. I'm still dealing with some more emotional issues than I am physical ones. I am still constantly tired, which is very annoying to me. I go through strange mood swings. My eyes are incredibly dry, but now I'm used to putting drops in my eyes regularly. It's hard to work out, I usually like to do very difficult workouts, but have not been able to do them because I get light headed and come close to passing out. Has anyone else experienced this? I've also noticed that I wake up AT LEAST once a night having to pee. But I think that is from the Spironolactone. ALSO. I knew before doing this that alcohol was a no-no on Accutane. I thought that I might as well try and drink, as I haven't had an alcoholic beverage in months now. I had a few too many drinks with my friend last Friday, and boy did I pay for it. The hangover that I had was HORRIBLE. The worst hangover I've had in my life, and I have drank far more in the past than I did on Friday. I HIGHLY recommend staying away from alcohol. Accutane and alcohol are both processed through the liver, so overloading the liver the way I did is highly detrimental to your overall wellbeing. ANYWAY. I hope everyone is doing well!
