Accutane - Week 2 - Milford, CT

Hey all!

Its been some time since my last update so I wanted to make sure I covered some things that have happened within the last few weeks. I'm currently on month 3 and I believe I am on week 9 of Zenatane, still 60MG. Before I begin with side effects and updates I am pretty upset I was not moved up to 80MG at my last derm visit. I was reading other updates and I am under the impression this will only be very successful if I move up the scale each month especially since my course is only 5 months. Any thoughts on this???

1. Dryness on my lips has been HORRIBLE. I am constantly reapplying Vaseline Lip Therapy ( the only thing that has worked for me) about every 2 hours. Since it is the summer and I am a very active person, I've visited many water-parks where I had to part ways with my Vaseline for the day :(. This has probably been the worst thing that's happened. My lips were so dry and painful. I was extremely self conscious not having the option to apply moisture.

2. I've noticed myself becoming very annoyed, moody, irritable and just a plain cranky person. There are days when I am completely out of it and don't want to be bothered with friends or people in general. There are other days when I am feeling normal but still not really interested in speaking to my friends much. This is a bit out of the ordinary for me since I'm very chatty and usually very social. On most days I am simply upset and moody due to the fact that I'm still not clear and in turn get very frustrated and down.

3. I've also noticed I cannot go longer than 2 hours without eating. I typically eat a lot throughout the day however now when I am hungry I become dizzy, nauseous and begin getting a headache. This is pretty new to me and rather strange.

4. I must confess I completely messed up and gave into temptation last Friday, becoming extremely intoxicated. After 2 margaritas and 2 shots I was completely utterly intoxicated and feeling horrible. The hangover the next day lasted for about 2-3 hours which did not seem out of the ordinary for me however I was very afraid I would damage my liver or other parts of my body due to drinking on this medication. I don't plan on doing this again.

5. Last but not least..Results as of now. I believe my skin fluctuates very often there was a point in week 5 where I thought I started to see clarity and then by week 6 it all went south. I have started to see minor improvements but I am still breaking out. I can definitely say I have improved since my last photos but I am not 100% or even 80% clear yet. :(

I think these are all of my updates for now. I will update pictures at the end of my current package. I have 4 more days to finish.

I just wanted to share some updated photos of week 6. I'm super discouraged since I thought I started to see some progress. Hopefully by the end of this month things start to change.

Hey all! So I wanted to share a short update with everyone. I just started a new dose yesterday, I was on 40mg for the first month now 60mg for the second month. Overall the first month was pretty smooth sailing. The skin on my body was not overly dry, I put lotion on in the morning and sometimes none at all just like my normal life. My face was a bit dry at times (flaky under makeup). I found that Cetaphil works wonders! I put it on in the morning then apply my makeup (only powder) and it looks fine all day. My face is no longer oily and shiny which is a great plus. My hair has become a lot more dry which I'm not too happy about. I have thick curly hair that soaks up all products I apply pretty quickly so that will take some adjusting to. My lips have been the biggest issue since starting the medication. They are super dry and hurt at times. I live by Vaseline lip therapy, its the only thing that makes them feel as normal as possible. It comes in a cherry color too so you can feel like you're adding some tint at times.

As for my progress I am feeling it drying out but it does not seem to look extremely different. Week 3 was by far the worst so I am hoping by the end of Week 5/6 I'll see the light at the end of the tunnel. I'll be updating with pictures next week.

Thanks for reading! If you have any questions/comments feel free to share :)