Leonidas' Accutane Experience

[leonidas]

Now on third day of second Accutane course. The first course was about 9 years ago. And it's not Accutane, but Sotret, which is what my New York CVS gave me. Same stuff, different maker.

I'm 190 lbs., and the derm said the ideal amount is 95 mg. (BTW, 34 year old male.) But they don't make a 95 mg pill. So, he's starting me off at 40 mg for the first month and will then bump it up to 80 if I'm tolerating it well.

Nothing happening yet. Had a bad breakout starting over the weekend, so that doesn't help me monitor things. I'll check in on occasion about how things are going.

[leonidas]

Skin started drying on third night. Became too sensitive to put 2.5% BP on that night. Was having bad breakout that week and most of that stuff is now gone. But having some ingrown hair problems below chin. Annoying.

Now using Cetaphil almost all the time to wash. Before, it was making me too oily because it kept my skin so hydrated. But now it's a good combination with the accutane. No side effects except slightly dry lips.

[leonidas]

Day 8. Got a couple new pimples this morning, one near my eye, which is unusual. Wonder if this is the initial breakout stuff? I can't believe it is since I had been using tretinoin cream then Retin-A for about 10 weeks prior to Accutane. They are supposed to push up new-forming pimples to the surface, like Accutane. So, what could be left?

Of course, my biggest problem was always lack of sleep, and I had a crap week of sleep last week and on the weekend. So, this breakout could be from that, and the Accutane isn't yet strong enough to prevent the breakout. Either way, P.O.'d.

[leonidas]

Day 11. Still seem to be getting a new pimple each day, for whatever reason. Got a big, fat ingrown hair yesterday. Been popping erythro since starting to prevent any initial breakout (even though told not to take anything else by derm when starting Accutane--but since the only risk is drier skin, didn't see the harm).

Forgot to mention this. On days 4 and 7 (or so) got headaches in the evening. I got worried I'd have to stop because "severe" headaches are a sign of increased pressure on the brain, and you're supposed to stop immediately. However, the American Osteopathic College of Dermatology said they have to be persistent. Otherwise, they can be controlled with Tylenol or Advil, etc.

[leonidas]

2 weeks. Have stopped getting a new pimple every day. Skin mostly clear today. And my sleeping has still been crap. So, the clear skin is good news.

Also, I noticed that, even with the new stuff last week, their lifespan is short, like for a normal person. They come and go within a few days. Before they would come and last for weeks, sometimes, and the red spots (post-inflammatory hyperpigmentations) sometimes for months.

On one hand yesterday got a dry patch with red spots. I remember them from my first Accutane course. They appear on different parts of the body here and there. But just hitting them with a lot of moisturizer controls them.