An overdue update!
April 29th, 2008
It has been a while, it is hard to write daily when there is not much happening. I will write once a week from now, unless anything major happens.
Well my face is still very dry despite the constant moisturising and my lips are the same too, if the balm wears off I can only last a minute without re applying.
My eyes have been so dry too. By the end of the day it is hard to even keep them open, even using the eye drops and ointment. While we are on the subject of dryness, my ears, arms, legs just about every where are dry even with moisturising.
My skin is looking pretty clear, still very pink and quite sensitive. Now the weather is getting warmer I am making sure I apply a high factor suncream every day as I don’t want to risk burning.
One other thing to note, I have noticed my chin has become a bit lumpy and it feels quite numb too so I will keep an eye on it.
May 12th, 2008 at 5:41 am
Hello, my apologies for the long comment, but I hope it contains information that may be of benefit to you or others that come across this diary. forgive me for wishing to remain anonymous.
I came across your site in my quest to learn more about my skin. i’m a 30 year-old man and have dealt with folliculitis and acne, since about 17 years of age when I started shaving regularly. It goes through varying periods of severity, but gets really bad when I must often give in to the urge to scratch the itching or dig to relieve ingrown hairs… in some cases, this also triggers bouts of trichatillomania (compulsive pulling of irritated facial hairs… ).
I’ve never sought treatment from a doctor, but I have found some things that help. Maintaining a light and nutritious diet seems key. The more I stray from this, the more it comes to the surface. Fried foods and dairy seem to block things up the most. I love meat, but strive for a vegan diet as often as possible… I know firsthand that it is possible to get all the best nutrition from a vegan lifestyle. Citrus and garlic are great to keep in the diet for their antiseptic and antioxidant properties (read about limonoids… the antioxidants in citrus).
whfoods.org (world’s healthiest foods) has helped me so much to learn how to build a balanced diet. nutritiondata.com has a nutrition calculator that has also been very useful.
For washing:
Drop unpronounceable chemicals at once! Natural, mild, vegetable, coconut, or goat milk-based soaps have been blessings. Primal Elements is one of my favorites and they have many amazing scents to choose from…
Take any chance to use hand-made products that use raw ingredients. It’s these that have brought me the greatest benefit.
Milk baths. Using a cup or so of whole milk (coconut milk is great, too) and oatmeal through a tea bag or cheese cloth… the milk really does sooth my face.
You can experiment with all kinds of surprising bath ingredients that are fun and relaxing (and make your skin feel great). I melted about half a bar of Lindt dark chocolate (85% cacao) and added to a milk bath. I was amazed.
A few ounces of raw honey is great in the bath, too.
For moisture/medicating: unrefined coconut oil. i can’t say enough good things about it… you can use it all over, even the hair. It really seems to help bring the skin into balance. Burt’s Bees also makes a bath oil with Almond and Lemon oils that works just as well. Both are fine for daily use. Burt’s also makes a honey and orange wax lotion that doesn’t leave skin too oily, but does build up more than the other oils.
Aloe’s okay, sometimes, but I find gel leaves an undesirable film on my face. I’ve discovered a splash of aloe juice can work much better to moisturize and soften. It’s also great for fruit smoothies
For broken spots, I’ll dab a bit of tea tree oil… I’ve also discovered garlic can work wonders due to it’s strong antibiotic properties. I made a vial of garlic water to dab on spots that works well. As long as you don’t wash your face with the stuff, the smell is not really an issue. Just use it before you wash or when you plan to be out of public for a number of hours. Splashes of any citrus also work great for a refreshing and healing effect.
I plan to try Baking soda as an exfoliating scrub. I’ve used it in a bath and it really softens and heals. I hear great things about it as an exfoliating paste. 3 parts to 1 part water.
Right now, I seem to be concerned more with the healing of broken skin… I currently have a number of places that have taken weeks to heal over, and just as they did, they’ve flaired up with whiteheads and ingrown hairs and have broken yet again. Thankfully, I do not scar easily, but wounds like this really make me worry.
So, I empathize with what you’ve gone through and wish you the best with your treatment. Sometimes it seems like an endless experiment finding a true remedy… Since I can remember times where I have not had to worry about my skin in this condition, it seems to be telling me that there is something I must change about my life to bring it back to normal. Maybe that’s a stretch, but it does give me some extra goals to work for.
Again, best wishes.
-C
May 12th, 2008 at 5:51 am
I should also add that this period has been a time where my diet has not been nearly in the way I would like for many months now, and my life is a more chaotic than normal with stress. These are certainly factors. While I know how to get proper nutrition, it is certainly a worthy challenge to meet.
I find it interesting how my skin condition are both affected by and contribute to my level of stress.
May 12th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Hi! I stumbled on your blog while searching for information from other accutane users. I am a thirty-something woman from the U.S. who is also taking 40mg per day. I am in my 5th month of treatment, with about two more months to go.
I thought I would share some things that have worked really well for me. Ironically, my skin has always been a bit dry, despite having cystic acne. So when I started accutane the dryness became quite unbearable. I tried every cream out there and finally found relief when a Mary Kay rep at my office told me about the Intensive Moisturizing Cream. Here is the product on the UK site: http://www.marykay.co.uk/Display.asp?PageID=10278&Directory=IntensiveMoisturisingCream
I swear by this stuff. A week after using it I had no more dryness, tightness and no more flakes. My skin is dewy and soft and plump. I love, love, love it! A lot of Mary Kay reps sell their products on Ebay and you can actually get it for much cheaper than the retail price.
I also find that the Nivea cream in a jar works fantastically for rest of the body. I put it on immediately after bathing so I lock in the moisture.
I was getting a lot of nosebleeds until I started using a nasal spray in conjunction with a bit of vaseline applied in the front nostrils with a cotton swab.
My eyes are chronically dry and I have had to give up my beloved contact lenses for my glasses. No getting around that. Ask your eye doctor for some prescription eye drops that increase tear production. They definitely help.
I live on Excedrin for headaches, which I wake up with daily. If headaches become frequent, you do need to be careful to have your doctor check your eyes for inflammation around the optic nerve, as the increased pressure from spinal fluid build up can cause permanent eye damage.
Good luck on your treatment!
May 28th, 2008 at 8:25 am
i’m 7 days into my treatment, and not really having many side efftects yet. why no update for a month??
May 30th, 2008 at 8:01 am
Hiii!!!
I came accross your website in search for people with experiences in isotretinoin.
I did try all up to laser for 6 years, but…it wasnt until this year that i got cysts everywhere in my face, not just one or two, but 30 or 40. Never had pustules (those with white head). Only cysts and nodules. LOL. Funny.
Anyway, im 40mg, and my skin is kinda…perfect? I still use glycolic acid, salycilic acid and lacto acid on all my products (concentration 8 to 20%). I have no clue why my skin got more resistant since i started isotretinoin. Its like it can hold on all what i do.
Also, my skin became normal in terms of oil production, my pores are not anymore visible, no more blackheads, if a cyst comes, it gets reabsorbed by 3-4 days.
My lips are a tad drier and my hands. Beside that…its all ok.
Anyway…its been long time since you updated last time…dont forget to lol.
Im curious. Ofcourse…i always expected to get same side effects then other people, but apparently i dont.
Well…hope your acne is getting better and better.
A tip would be to apply moisturizing mask every day. When i was on tretinoin cream, my skin was horribly dry. So…after putting on moisturizing masks up to 3 times per day, my skin was baby soft.
Now too i do that. And apply moisturizing serum, and shock treatments. Maybe its a reason why my skin is not dry and flaky
N.
June 2nd, 2008 at 9:47 am
UPDATES??!!!!