# My Accutane log



## Omega321

Thought I'd try and help anyone interested in low dose Accutane.

Well I start with my type of skin, Ive got really oily skin, with dry patches around face, spot prone before and on gear back is the worst followed by Chest and I usually get 2 or 3 on my

Face and sometimes get a bad

Breakout if I fall out of my regime.

So I finally decided to start accutane after I thought I can't keep having sunbeds every week for ever ( after been on them for 1.5 years ) and it gets annoying buying special washes and moisturizers and not being able to shower if I forget them and taking antibiotics all the time and STILL GETTING SPOTS, I just want to be

Able to walk into the shower with a bar of soap and a towel.. Not a bag full of ****

I decided to take 20mg a day as I thought my acne is only mild,

So the first week my skin dried up looked smother and lips started to peel

Spots : back 8-10 big red basterdss

Face : 2 little ones

Week 2 face peeling around mouth and lips really bad need to get lip balm!

Spots : back old drying up more coming though 

Face few more 

Week 3 wow I could cry I think I got

The initial breakout face is the worst ita ever been in my life actually looks like I got acne now but good news back is looking alot better

I'm half way through week 3 now face is starting to get better I think it will take a good week or 2 to fully get

Over it as of all the red marks and scars

I'll update this weekly with how I'm getting on


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## Geonix

I tell you a few things I experienced skin wise

*DONT USE ANY SOAP, its soooo dry and always made me skin worse.

*Open your skin through steam, clean and close the pores through COLD water.

*Stress , now this is by far the biggest variable in my eyes, I had bad skin for ages and always had stuff pressing on my mind, 2nd year at uni, I was loads less stressed and guess what? basically all my spots went, just had blackheads.

You get spots on your chest/back?, change your shower gel then, at one point at university I had to wait 7 days for money to get anything and guess what, no shower gel.. So I just used pure water only, within a week my skin easily got 60% clearer and dropped at least double digits in spots. Give it a try.


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## Omega321

NickDuffy said:


> I tell you a few things I experienced skin wise
> 
> *DONT USE ANY SOAP, its soooo dry and always made me skin worse.
> 
> *Open your skin through steam, clean and close the pores through COLD water.
> 
> *Stress , now this is by far the biggest variable in my eyes, I had bad skin for ages and always had stuff pressing on my mind, 2nd year at uni, I was loads less stressed and guess what? basically all my spots went, just had blackheads.
> 
> You get spots on your chest/back?, change your shower gel then, at one point at university I had to wait 7 days for money to get anything and guess what, no shower gel.. So I just used pure water only, within a week my skin easily got 60% clearer and dropped at least double digits in spots. Give it a try.


Nice one mate, yeah I do the cold water after to close my pores , might give that 'simple' a go doesn't contain anything bad..

Stress could well be the problem I'm kicked out from home and living on nans sofa :/ with work going quiet too soo could be that.


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## T_Woody

Omega321 said:


> Nice one mate, yeah I do the cold water after to close my pores , might give that 'simple' a go doesn't contain anything bad..
> 
> Stress could well be the problem I'm kicked out from home and living on nans sofa :/ with work going quiet too soo could be that.


I use simple all the time now mate, the one with a mild moisteriser, definatly recomend after and during the treatment


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## J4M13

Iv been on accutane now for going on 8-9months. Not sure what state your spots/acne are in without pics but mine was insanely bad, had them all over my chest,neck,shoulders, tops of arms and back which is the worst. Are yours painful? Mine got to the point they were so painful i couldnt lie down to even go to sleep and i couldnt go a day without being self dosed up on Tramadol, the dermatologist finally gave me prednisolone which i got abit addicted to as it stopped every bit of pain! Only downside was i put nearly 2st of fat on because of these :sad:

Started on a low dose of about 20mg and now im up at 70mg. Chest cleared up first but now left with scars all over, every where else has slowly cleared up but back is the last place to start clearing up and takes forever but it does work so stick with it fella!

All this was caused because i had a bad reaction/breakout from taking a certain brand lab of gear, makes me scared to ever use again :sad:


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## Omega321

J4M13 said:


> Iv been on accutane now for going on 8-9months. Not sure what state your spots/acne are in without pics but mine was insanely bad, had them all over my chest,neck,shoulders, tops of arms and back which is the worst. Are yours painful? Mine got to the point they were so painful i couldnt lie down to even go to sleep and i couldnt go a day without being self dosed up on Tramadol, the dermatologist finally gave me prednisolone which i got abit addicted to as it stopped every bit of pain! Only downside was i put nearly 2st of fat on because of these :sad:
> 
> Started on a low dose of about 20mg and now im up at 70mg. Chest cleared up first but now left with scars all over, every where else has slowly cleared up but back is the last place to start clearing up and takes forever but it does work so stick with it fella!
> 
> All this was caused because i had a bad reaction/breakout from taking a certain brand lab of gear, makes me scared to ever use again :sad:


Yeah I'm just over a month now and I have one spot on my face and 2 drying out on my back  soo I'm well chuffed

Yeah mine were painful when I led down especially on flat bench  , I've been natty for 2.5 months now so hopefully when I finish accutane in 2 months I won't get anymore when I get on a course again,


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## aesthetics4ever

Alright mate. You been prescribed the accutane or you buying it yourself? I've had facial acne for a few years now (don't get it on my shoulders/chest/back hardly anymore for some reason) and currently on Doxycycline which has helped a lot. I was considering buying some accutane a while back when my acne was getting worse but held back a bit.

I've found that using just water to wash my face is by far the best way to wash it. I've used all the different washes such as the special ones that are meant to fight spots (clearasil, clean and clear, neutrogena etc) to the gentle ones from Dermalogica, Simple, Cetaphil etc and I still got outbreaks. Just sticking to warm water at the moment and my skin is the best it's been for ages. My face no longer has dry patches like it had before and it's getting clearer by the day. Maybe something to consider.


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## dalboy

I found that after coming off accutane it has completely changed how my skin reacts to new spots / marks and cuts.

If I cut myself or get a new spot they take ages to heal. Most of the time they leave a mark behind which never used to happen. (Google red marks from accutane) Ive got 2 small red marks on my chest which just wont budge. Had them about 5 months.

Still glad I used accutane as I was getting spots on my face on a weekly basis. Now I get like 1 tiny one every few months, maybe not even that.

Back still flares up but I think thats related to my training, not sure.

Oh and it also gave me high blood pressure while I was on it (highest dosage was 60mg and I was only on the course for about a month)


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## aesthetics4ever

dalboy said:


> I found that after coming off accutane it has completely changed how my skin reacts to new spots / marks and cuts.
> 
> If I cut myself or get a new spot they take ages to heal. Most of the time they leave a mark behind which never used to happen. (Google red marks from accutane) Ive got 2 small red marks on my chest which just wont budge. Had them about 5 months.
> 
> Still glad I used accutane as I was getting spots on my face on a weekly basis. Now I get like 1 tiny one every few months, maybe not even that.
> 
> Back still flares up but I think thats related to my training, not sure.
> 
> Oh and it also gave me high blood pressure while I was on it (highest dosage was 60mg and I was only on the course for about a month)


 You were only on accutane for a month? How long has it been since you took the last pill? I'm still tempted to do it at 20mg a day for 3/4 months just to get rid of my acne once and for all. I only get the mild whitehead type around my mouth and neck but it's a pain sometimes.


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## SK-XO

Augmentin aka amoxycillin works a treat. I suggest one go down this route before accutane if your problem is hormonal related. I.e. if your cycling and come off and you get a bad flare up in pct then Id suggest that apart from gear related acne if you are generally fine when not on gear I don't see point in taking accutane.

If you have acne all the time regardless of being on or off gear then yes accutane would be a good idea if it's pretty severe.

People keep saying do this do that do this clean, scrub, apply this and that. End of the day it's hormonal related it will keep on occuring no matter how much you clean the affected areas you may help a little bit but overall no, hormonal acne can only be halted by treating the issue, stabling hormones out or simply killing the bacteria via anti-biotic. Or shrinking the glands via accutane. Sooner one realizes this the better.

The issue is with the hormone is test is out of sync or estro is out of sync the body goes wild. High test can cause the issue, alike when in puberty. Also high estro can cause the same type of issue.


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## SK-XO

radicalry00 said:


> You were only on accutane for a month? How long has it been since you took the last pill? I'm still tempted to do it at 20mg a day for 3/4 months just to get rid of my acne once and for all. I only get the mild whitehead type around my mouth and neck but it's a pain sometimes.


Your not guarenteed to get rid of the acne once and for all, in a normal person not using any aas fair play they can more or less get rid of it as the sebacceus glands will shrink to a pea size so if any acne comes it would be one or two spots. But for someone using gear your going to still present an issue.


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## dalboy

radicalry00 said:


> You were only on accutane for a month? How long has it been since you took the last pill? I'm still tempted to do it at 20mg a day for 3/4 months just to get rid of my acne once and for all. I only get the mild whitehead type around my mouth and neck but it's a pain sometimes.


Well I did 3 week course in Oct 10, then another 3 weeks in Dec 10, and about 5 weeks in Feb 2011. Started at 30mg then 40mg then 60mg.


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## aesthetics4ever

Yeah, at the end of the day, hormones and DHT are the cause of acne. I must add that the flare up I had 3/4 weeks back was during my last few days of PCT and that's when it was at it's worse. Slowly getting better now as my hormones are balancing out gradually. That's why I'm not sure about going the accutane route just yet. The doctor seems to think mine's not bad at all but it annoys the hell out of me around my mouth.


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## Omega321

radicalry00 said:


> Alright mate. You been prescribed the accutane or you buying it yourself? I've had facial acne for a few years now (don't get it on my shoulders/chest/back hardly anymore for some reason) and currently on Doxycycline which has helped a lot. I was considering buying some accutane a while back when my acne was getting worse but held back a bit.
> 
> I've found that using just water to wash my face is by far the best way to wash it. I've used all the different washes such as the special ones that are meant to fight spots (clearasil, clean and clear, neutrogena etc) to the gentle ones from Dermalogica, Simple, Cetaphil etc and I still got outbreaks. Just sticking to warm water at the moment and my skin is the best it's been for ages. My face no longer has dry patches like it had before and it's getting clearer by the day. Maybe something to consider.


Noo I'm buying it myself.. Soo expensive! Yeah I might give it ago scared to just use water lol been using washes and moisturisers for so long now id feel like somethings missing


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## bmc

I bought my own after getting knocked back for it

I ran it at 40mg for 3 months,last 2 weeks I did 60mg

Sides=dry lips and skin but a few guys had warned me about this so I had a good moisturiser and lip bam

Glad I used it as all spots are gone,it does say mate your spots will get worse before they get better


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## Omega321

Day 42 still getting spots on face and back only little red marks on face and normal White heads on back, upped the dose yesterday to 40mg to see if that will be any better..

Sides still dry lips and inside of nose is quite bad ATM, skin is not peeling/scaling anymore.


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## Omega321

Day 53 - RAN OUT TODAY!! Ordered some online of a so called reliable site.. It's been 12 days hope they come tomorrow,

Still been taking 40mg a night all in one go. I seemed to break out again when I upped the dose but I'm clearing up nicely now, been washing with imperial leather soap bar and putting savlon on my dry arms and it's cleared up, lips are still extremely dry and can be a pain eating.

But so far so good skin looks much better and smother, pores have shrunk and blackheads on nose have finally gone! No cream or scrub I tried got rid of them properly but accutane has  just hope they come tomorrow so I don't miss more then one day.


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## jazz_11

cant u get it off your gp mate?


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## Omega321

jazz_11 said:


> cant u get it off your gp mate?


 Noo mate I've only tried 1 antibiotic and my skin in there eyes is not

Bad enough


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## aesthetics4ever

Hi Omega, still on the accutane? How are things going? I'm hopefully going to see a derm within the next 6 weeks about some.


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## sam2012

IMO you should always run accutane at 1mg per kilo of bodyweight or there abouts. More is better with this stuff and the side effects are over rated. I was on 80mg for 5 months which is less than what I weigh due to my liver enzymes being elevated, and within 2 weeks of stopping my last tab the acne had come back.

Im now on my second course and running 80mg again, im hoping to increase this to 90-100mg. Remember the more you take, the more it fvcks up the sebaceous glands and the harder it will be for them to recover and start producing the same amount of sebum oil.


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## aesthetics4ever

Just got back from the GP's and nearest appointment is in 45 days time..

He took a look at my acne which is mainly on my face in my t-zone and on my chest and said that it really isn't bad enough for roaccutane. I've tried all the different antibiotics over the last 2 years from erythromycin, doxycycline, tetracycline and the topical clindomycin and zinery t etc and all have had virtually no effect. Still get 4/5 white heads a day and I've noticed bigger more inflamed ones lately that seem to take forever to fade. He says because it's not the cystic acne that a derm will not prescribe me it. My acne is persistent as f**k though and I want rid. I can guarantee I'll have at least 3/4 whiteheads on my face at any one time.

I basically had to beg him for a referral and said that it's seriously affecting my self-confidence. (Which it is - my acne is the main reason I'm reluctant to go to get a girlfriend and socialise with friends often - all I seem to do with my spare time lately is go to the gym) so he finally agreed to refer me. Now it's a long wait till the 15th of September...


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## Little_Jay

radicalry00 said:


> Just got back from the GP's and nearest appointment is in 45 days time..
> 
> He took a look at my acne which is mainly on my face in my t-zone and on my chest and said that it really isn't bad enough for roaccutane. I've tried all the different antibiotics over the last 2 years from erythromycin, doxycycline, tetracycline and the topical clindomycin and zinery t etc and all have had virtually no effect. Still get 4/5 white heads a day and I've noticed bigger more inflamed ones lately that seem to take forever to fade. He says because it's not the cystic acne that a derm will not prescribe me it. My acne is persistent as f**k though and I want rid. I can guarantee I'll have at least 3/4 whiteheads on my face at any one time.
> 
> I basically had to beg him for a referral and said that it's seriously affecting my self-confidence. (Which it is - my acne is the main reason I'm reluctant to go to get a girlfriend and socialise with friends often - all I seem to do with my spare time lately is go to the gym) so he finally agreed to refer me. Now it's a long wait till the 15th of September...


mate i think mine is exactly the same date! its deffo around then, i had to beg and wait for ages myself! ive actually bought some acctuane got it upstairs incase he dosent give me it (the dermo) and ill just use it anyway

dont want to start yet as i go away in about 15 dys and ive heard it gets worse before it gets better so cant risk that tbh...


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## Little_Jay

edit i go on the 12th mate the monday


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## Omega321

Radi and Jay sorry for late reply.. Yeah it worked out great I only ended up doing one month at 20mg and 2 weeks at 40mg sides at this dose are mild and well worth the results in my eyes, when I ran out I was worried as i was still breaking out but I jumped straight onto some antibiotics for a month and skin cleared and I get the odd one now and then on my back, I feel soo much better now I've got it sorted I thought id be stuck with spots foreverrrrr! Now I don't need to wash with expensive washes or anything I can shower with a bar of imperial leather and don't need to moisturise either, soo I would say give it ago be patient and you'll never have to worry about it again!


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## Guest

On accutane currently about 3 months in and just 1 to go i think, it has got rid of all my blackheads, my chest and back are 100x better and im so glad i got reffered and the script. My liver enzymes were a bit off at the start and it took me 6mnths to get them right before i even could get my script. I would recommend accutane to anyone


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## andymc88

A can't believe people are using only 20-40mg of accutane my dermo had me on 6months treatment but I no my dosage was more than triple (180mg-220mg) sure I took 4 large pills and 2little 1s but acne wasn't that bad just told gp "my enjoy of life has gone down" because of spots


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## nickymcd

Good thread. Anyone got any estimates on how much roaccutane costs? Is it free in the nhs?


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## Guest

nickymcd said:


> Good thread. Anyone got any estimates on how much roaccutane costs? Is it free in the nhs?


Its free on the nhs you have to get a refferal from the doc to the derm, then you can get it prescribed. But i think they only prescribe it if other treatments fail to work.


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## Omega321

fusion405 said:


> Its free on the nhs you have to get a refferal from the doc to the derm, then you can get it prescribed. But i think they only prescribe it if other treatments fail to work.


Other wise it costs a bomb!


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## aesthetics4ever

About 3 weeks until my derm appointment now  . Acne seems to have cleared up in certain places lately but still breaking out in small whiteheads around my chin and chest. I kinda don't want my skin to clear up before my derm appointment so they can see my acne at its worse. I really don't wanna be knocked back as I wanna sort it once and for all.


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## Pid

YOu wont be prescribed accutane straight away, they will start you on creams first which are pretty ineffective,

I had accutane about 5 years ago and managed to get every side affect possible from cracked lips to nose bleeds and depression, tbh it made me feel worse than the spots did and it didnt clear them. Just be careful with it.

Back having treatment with Trimethoprim which is working really well.

Stu


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## Justin Cider

Just skimmed through all this, all I wanna say is I feel for you lads... I don't get spots at all, just the few here and there...

Hope everything works out for you lot!


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## aesthetics4ever

Pid I've been on different antibiotics for 2 years or so now and still break out. It's far from severe but very persistent.


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## bmc

I wasted my time going to a dermo who told me it's not that bad...aye for you it's me it's keeping up all night,then I got you look quite muscly do you take anything yes protein shakes,well you should read them and see what's in them as in some form of hormone lol

She gave me a prescription of some sh1t antibiotics that I had already tried so I binned them and bought my own roaccutane enough to last me 3 months at 40mg ed and it worked a treat

I've been off roaccutane for about 6 months and I do get the odd spot but nothing compared to what I used to get I would highly recommend it

Don't know if I'm allowed to post up the website I got it from so I somebody could tell me I'll post it up for the guys that need it


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## aesthetics4ever

Cheers bmc. Got my derm appointment a week on Thursday but if they say I can't have accutane I think I'm just gonna run 40mg ED for 3/4 months. My acne's not bad at all but persistent as hell. Every day or two I have new small ones popping up and it ****es me off. I'm wanting to do a test cycle in October time so also want the accutane to stop my acne getting worse off that.


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## Pictor

nickymcd said:


> What price was the cycle mate?


Ive just ordered a 3 month course at 40mg ED (everyday) It has cost me just short of £200 from united pharmacies uk

http://www.unitedpharmacies.co.uk/product.php?productid=966&cat=&page=1


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## Trevor McDonald

I've suffered from bacne since 18. I'm 22 now. Got loads of scars it's sick. Any recommendations? I've never done steroids and don't plan too. Many thanks


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## Pictor

Adam. said:


> I've suffered from bacne since 18. I'm 22 now. Got loads of scars it's sick. Any recommendations? I've never done steroids and don't plan too. Many thanks


I'm the same mate... I had bad Acne on my neck, chest and back from about 21 to 25 and I'm in a right mess with scars now, mine isn't from AAS use either and pretty much cleared up on it's own, well I was taking high dose's of Vitamin A aswel as B5 and other thing for about 6 month! I have used AAS since though and had a breakout.

My plan is to run Accutane for 3 month as I still get very oily skin especially my face so want to sort that first then next year after summer I plan on having laser skin treatment, skin peels etc

Have you seen a Dermo? I was offered Roaccutane/Accutane afew times but at the time I didn't like the idea of it so left it but they wouldn't do everything for the scars because there was no point if I didn't do the Accutane as it would just keep coming back and leaving more scars!

My advise to you is get it sorted before the scars get any worse, get an appointment with a Dermo or take it on your own back and order some Accutane online!

I wish I had listened to my Dermo on my first appointment, she sent me straight for bloods to be done then wanted to start me on 100mg+ as I'm a big lad and all my bloods came back within healthy range!

Wish I'd done it now as I wouldn't have nowhere near the amount of scars I've got now :no:


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## beanpole

one thing to add, i know its obvious, drink plenty of water at regular intervals. I'v had spots on my bacl for over 10 years. used to get them on my face but just get odd one now. I've tried lots of stuff. From some tablets I cant remember what they were called to the doc saying to buy hibiscrub ( something they use in hospitals to wash hands ).

now all i do is use lynx skin contact smooth shower gell. its an exfoliating creme gell. use warm shower for few mins to open pours, them rub LIGHTLY the gell, wash off with warm then cool the shower right down to close pours up.

i don't use anything on my face, just warms water with flannel. again, not washing to hard as this adjitates the skin causing it to oil up leading to more spots.

I know it may not help you, but thought i'd share whats worked for me best so far... think i'll still have the odd fvcker when i'm 50!!


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## bmc

big ste said:


> Ive just ordered a 3 month course at 40mg ED (everyday) It has cost me just short of £200 from united pharmacies uk
> 
> http://www.unitedpharmacies.co.uk/product.php?productid=966&cat=&page=1


£140 for 3 months worth

http://www.aurapharm.com/


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## 6083

Always suffered from sports growing up -- psychologically ruined my confidence, couldnt look people in the face etc.

found AAS and made them a whole lot worse - ended up on Antibiotics initially which cleared them - so like an idiot it was a green light to take MORE AAS - was putting away in total about close to 2 grams of test at one point!

after a while the antibiotics wernt effective anymore-- i got the most horrendouse cystic acne ever-- my back was an absolute mess, totally carpetted everywhere with acne, i could flex my back and see puss and blood ooze out some of them!

came off all AAS - saw a specialist dermatolgist, who put me on Roaccutane - best thing i ever did

had some random side effects like spontanious nose bleeds, ultra dry skin -- first week i took it made face went 50% worse! --- but afterwards it totally cleared EVERYTHING and it was a permanent solution.

I stayed off AAS for years and remained totally spot free

now ive learned that with AAS when you start getting the side effects - acne, aggression, bloat its because you are flooding your body with more AAS than is attaching to your muscle receptors so the rest is floating round attaching to other things like your skin, brain, hair etc

its been about 13 years since i used roaccutane and now with light AAS use ie Test i wont go over 600mg a week -- i get the odd spot now and again and if they start getting frequent, i`ll run a course of antibiotics for a week and come off them, which will then keep me clear of acne for a month or so (i find its usually when i add HCG they get worse)

so thats me


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## andymc88

I used accutane about 3/4 years ago got it off the derm my acne wasn't that bad looking back now I just told him my enjoyment of life has gone down I got told to say that off a doc I work with because it means your not depressed but they shouldn't just palm you off with crappy creams or meds that are made for uti's. Just wondering why my derm put me on 230mg and people use 40mg and acne clears also I had every side effect, I believe and my endo does to that accutane was the cause of my weight lost (lost 3stone about 2months after I stopped) and IBD, I haven't been able to gain the weight and size back due to my testosterone level are low before I used it 15.2stone when I tensed my stomach could see a 4pack then after treatment 12stone where I've stayed  so considering trt

Sorry to go on abit hope this helps and only other advice ad say is if you plan to use it maybe over winter is better because off my experience it makes your skin very sensitive to sun light also buy a lip balm


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## aesthetics4ever

Just got back from the derm and he's prescribed me Isotrexin retin-a gel as he says the acne is only very mild and non-scarring. Will see if it works for the next 10 weeks, if not he says I can have Accutane if I'm not happy. Derm was a very nice bloke and explained to me that my acne are basically mostly the "non-angry" ones localised to my t-zone. Some people may look at my face and think it's not even that bad but it does get me down from time to time so hopefully I'm on the road to clearing it up.


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## bmc

nickymcd said:


> Thanks for the link just bought from there. Really cheap and it's the Roche type too!
> 
> How long did it take for it to come for you?


Roughly 10 days...they've never let me down


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## bmc

Do you think that's why roaccutane gets a bad name for side effects if dermos are giving out really high doses,where as little as 40mg ed can solve your problem

I got the usual dry lips dry skin but nothing that bad,I would definitely recommend it and use it again if I had to


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