Skin Update │ 100 Days On Roaccutane

I've officially been taking roaccutane for one hundred days. 

I'll be honest and say that my skin situation has been getting me down recently. I seem to have gone backwards in the normal cycle of things and the dreaded 'initial breakout' is happening to me right now. I expected it to happen in the first few weeks, not the third month. 

Despite this, I'm trying to remain positive. I've seen some drastic improvements, especially in the texture of my skin and even after three months, it still doesn't feel like I'm taking a tablet!

The First Tablet

I was prescribed roaccutane back in October and have been taking 30mg (my lowest possible dosage) for the past three months. The dose is based on my height/weight and my dermatologist discussed this at my first consultation.

When I took my first pill I was absolutely terrified. The entire day consisted of me pacing around the house wondering if I was making the right decision. My acne is now classed as mild/persistent and with roaccutane only being used in the most severe cases, I thought my dermatologist had made a mistake. Then I remembered that he's the professional and wouldn't prescribe it if I didn't need it. 

As I watched the two little pills roll around in my hand, I started to psych myself up. I knew I was going to spends months battling dry skin, dry lips and mood swings but this could be a permanent solution to my acne, a confidence issue I've lived with for 10 years. 

So I took the pills and felt (and still feel) exactly the same.  

Side Effects

Roaccutane gets a lot of bad press because of the side effects associated with it, the most severe being constant low mood and suicide. I've been incredibly lucky, only experiencing mild side effects on my low dosage. I got dry lips and dry skin pretty much straight away but that was to be expected and it's nothing that a bit of moisturiser and lip balm can't solve. 

Nearing the end of my first month I noticed that I was getting very tired and therefore sleeping a lot. This is a side effect that is hard to combat but I have found that exercising and keeping myself active has helped a little bit. In terms of exercise, I have been experiencing sore joints in recent weeks. I'm currently working on ways to ease this as I don't want to stop going to the gym.  

So, how have I been feeling? 

Well, I'll be honest and say that my mood has changed. Its not been a dramatic change but I have noticed myself feeling low and having a lack of interest in things. The only way I can describe it is feeling hungry, there's food there but you can't be bothered eating. However, it's hard to know if this low mood is caused by roaccutane or personal issues. To help with this, I try to keep myself busy and have some much needed me time. I've also noticed that things get to me quicker than they normally would; I get upset about the smallest things and become aggravated quickly. 

Other minor side effects include a few nosebleeds, some bad dreams and my periods have definitely been more painful. Dry shampoo is also a thing of the past, I'm only washing my hair a few times a week now! 

Apart from that, it's been plain sailing. 

PROGRESS

Wow, this still makes me nervous!

In terms of my progress, you'll see that the texture/condition of my skin improved drastically in the first month but has now deteriorated again. This was to be expected and I know that things have to get worse before they get better. I'm hoping that I'll be seeing drastic improvements in the next few months. However, I must say that my skin is SO SMOOTH!

STRUGGLES

Okay so, I'll never be able to get used to putting lip balm on every hour, the low moods are a real pain and not being able to pick at my spots is TORTURE but trust me when I say, its really not been that bad. I realise how lucky I am to have had a straightforward, positive experience in the first few months and I really hope this continues for the rest of my course 

PRODUCTS

I'm going to do a more in depth post about the products I've been using very soon so I'll keep this brief. I've found that keeping it simple and using a small number of products has been the best option because I need to let the medication work its magic. I've been using products made especially for dry skin from brands like Simple, La Roche Posay and Cetaphil.

My Current Favourites

• Cetaphil Cleanser for Dry Skin
• La Roche Posay Effaclar H Moisturiser
• Simple Kind To Skin Protecting Moisturiser (SPF30)
• Blistex Intensive Moisturiser
• Carmex Lip Balm
• Nivea Cherry Lip Balm
• The Body Shop Body Butter 

What Next? 

I'm going to see my dermatologist for my follow up appointment on Friday. He'll be upping my dosage to 40mg which will hopefully speed up the process and improve my skin dramatically. These next few months are going to be full of big changes and I'm already excited to see the end results. 

If you ever have any questions about roaccutane, my messages are always open! 

Lots of Love,

Meg

xxx

I'm Taking Roaccutane!

As many of you know, I’m very open about my struggle with acne. I’ve had acne for over 10 years and in my most recent skin update,  I was due for what I hoped would be my final dermatology appointment.

I’ve been taking antibiotics and applying a topical cream for the past six months in an attempt to clear my acne. When I last updated you, I finally had skin that I was proud of. It wasn't perfect but for the first time in my life, I felt confident enough to go out without makeup on.

As instructed by my dermatologist, I stopped taking the antibiotics at the beginning of September, two weeks before my appointment. For the first week, my skin was clear and I had no new breakouts. However, in the second week, my acne started to reappear. It wasn't as severe as it was in March but for a girl who'd been used to waking up with clear skin, waking up to breakouts again wasn't fun.

'The acne isn't coming back, it can't be.' 

I knew that the antibiotics weren't a permanent solution but when my dermatologist confirmed that my acne was making a comeback, I couldn't help but feel disheartened. I'd taken tablets every night for six months for the acne to come back after two weeks. Everything seemed so pointless. 

For the rest of the appointment, we discussed my next steps. 

I could try yet another antibiotic, with no guarantee that it would work, or I could be prescribed Roaccutane (a drug I had been offered in my initial consultation). If you've heard anything about Roaccutane, you'll know that it receives a lot of negative press for the severe side effects that it can cause. After a long chat, we agreed that Roaccutane was the best solution

The following week, I returned to collect my prescription. I had to have a blood test and do a pregnancy test - it's incredibly important that you don't get pregnant when taking Roaccutane as it can cause severe birth defects in unborn babies. This is something that I will have to do every month when taking the drug. My dermatologist weighed me, measured my height and prescribed me with a starting dosage of 30mg. I'll be honest, this is a higher dosage than I was expecting. 

What happens now?

I'm officially part of the Roaccutane club. 

I've stocked up on lip balms and moisturisers and I've spent my nights watching Katie Snooks' monthly diaries. If you've been on Roaccutane, then you'll know that no experience is the same and no matter how many people you talk to, everyone has something different to say. It's definitely something that needs to be researched before a final decision is made and it should be used as a last resort. 

There are some amazing bloggers/YouTubers who have talked about their experiences on Roaccutane. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Katie, Sarah, Primrose and Mercydes.

Updates

As I write this blog post, I've just taken my first dose of Roaccutane and if I'm being honest, I'm absolutely terrified. The past few days, my skin has improved massively and I started to wonder if it was a good idea to put my body through such an intense drug. However, the more my skin has fluctuated, the more I've realised that Roaccutane could be a permanent solution to my acne.

It could make my acne disappear for good. 

If things go to plan, I'll be taking Roaccutane for the next four months and I want to bring you along for the journey. I'll be taking photos of my skin every single day and updating my blog with photos, side effects, products I've been loving and anything else I've been feeling. 

This will not only help me to monitor both the changes and improvements to my skin but also *hopefully* remove some of the bad stigma around the drug, giving an honest account of what it's like to take Roaccutane. I also think it's incredibly important to share and be proud of our imperfections. I'm trying to be confident in my skin and I think that this is a perfect way to do it. 

I'm hoping for a positive journey to clear skin. 

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. 

Lots of Love,
Meg

xxx