Epuris (Accutane) Journal - Adult Acne - Canada

So second time is really easy. No purge or big initial breakout. In fact it was great - as soon as I started taking it, my skin cleared up and within a few days my skin wasn’t oily anymore.

I actually really like being on Epuris. I don’t have to blot and touch up my makeup before noon (in fact, at all) and I don’t have to wash my hair every day. It’s totally changed my morning routine. I don’t wash my hair, just kind of let it get steamed in the shower, and fluff it with a hair dryer for a minute. Saves at least 30 minutes of drying long hair.
Wearing a lot less makeup too, so that speeds it up as well. I feel like a very easy, breezy version of myself.

My lips are chapped and the cornea of my pith are peeling, but I found Bite Beauty Balm at Sephora and it’s a thick, waxy, heavy moisturizer (kind of like MAC lipglass) and although the Bite Beauty products are expensive, I’d rather dole out $30 for a lip product that works awesome vs. Less for stuff that doesn’t fix the problem at all. Bite Beauty sadly did not pay me or give me free product for this review ;)

My skin is very sensitive to the sun - even noticed that the backs of my hands were pink just from driving and having them up on top of the wheel. Now I put spf on my hands when I put it on my face in the morning. Just pretend you’re a vampire and stay away from the sun!
Even if you tanned before, you won’t.
You will be pink and burnt. Just forego the tan until Epuris is over.

Blood work and doctors appointments are annoying, but im up to 40mg (from 20) and I hope to be done in a few months.

I even mentioned how much I actually like being on Epuris and my doctor said some people do just stay on a very low dose - 1 or 2 pills a week - long term. We shall see how it goes but damn if you hate your acne just pull the trigger and get on the Epuris bandwagon. It has literally changed my life- how I see myself, and how others see me.

Okay so I had great skin after my first round of Epuris. Not perfect, but a little foundation and I was out the door in the morning.
Over time, the occasional breakout became a couple, consistent spots... and recently I was noticing that if I was stressed my skin was breaking out a lot.
I didn’t go through Epuris once to have crappy skin, so I made another appointment to see my dermatologist.
I had a retin A cream while I was off the Epuris, but I never found it did much - just peeled my skin and made it red. It’s best use was putting it on a rock hard pimple to peel it down so some drug store products would be more effective.
I had dry lips and was super sensitive to the sun first time around, I really found the fasting for early morning blood tests and the frequent dr appointments the most annoying.
It juggling adult acne with kids and a job is also annoying, so I’m willing to jump back in.
Since I was on a fairly low dose and was on it for about 8 months (maybe less??) and I also think I have bad luck and super stubborn acne, I’m not surprised to find myself in this position of doing another round.
I told my doctor I wanted to knock this out once and for all so a higher dose and for 8-10 months is what he suggested.
I did my first blood tests and am now just waiting to get the go-ahead, I have a prescription for 20mgs of Epuris to ease myself into it for the first two months.
I think I only ever got up to 40 last time, so might go up to 60 this time? Hope the side effects won’t be a ton worse.
Gotta go stock up on all the products on the complete opposite side of the skin spectrum... moisturizer, Spectro Gel skin cleanser, eye drops... and throw out all my acne creams and salicylic acid scrubs!
Any thick, awesome lip chap recommendations? Aquaphor just kinda slid around like Vaseline last time.
Anyway... anyone else out there doing a second course?

Haven't updated in awhile but just wanted to say I can tell my body has really adjusted to Epuris and I hardly have any side effects. It's amazing. The only ting is chapped lips, and the corners of my mouth tend to peel fast if I don't have lip balm on every minute of the day. I haven't had to blot my face, I don't look shiny in pictures, and my skin is soo much better. Not perfect yet, and since it's been smooth sailing I do want to stay on it long enough that acne does not come back. My nightly glass of wine has continued but I can tell if I have a couple glasses I wake up with a headache even if I drink lots of water etc so I can tell my liver is busy with Epuris and I've really taken it down a notch on the beverages, which is just healthier all around. So my one sort of complaint is how sensitive to the sun I am, even driving the other day the backs of my hands were pink after being up on my steering wheel in the sun for 30 mins. I'm going on a trip soon and although I'm so excited that I can wear a bathing suit and not worry about breakouts anywhere on my body, I'll still be covered up or in the shade and wearing SPF 10000 to keep from getting burnt! I'm very worried though that just the little bits of sun you get here and there will still burn me - I am fair but this has really taken my sun-sensitivity to another level. I'll still take this over acne any day. The fasting before blood tests is annoying but hopefully I'll only have to do that a couple more times and then I'm done with acne for good! IF YOU ARE READING THIS AND ACNE IS PREVENTING YOU FROM LIVING YOUR LIFE IN ANY WAY, PLEASE TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR ABOUT EPURIS (or another version of accutane). My only regret is not doing this sooner.