Ok, so I really hoped I would never need to post on here again, but Iâm back. Iâve been off of accutane for 2 years and my skin has been slowly starting to break out again since March. Itâs no where near as bad as it was before accutane, but Iâm starting to feel very frustrated with it especially since Iâve lived my life for a year and a half with completely clear skin and total confidence. My cheeks, forehead, and nose are completely clear but I have been starting to break out on my chin, temples, and jaw line. On the bright side though my back and chest are still completely clear. On a daily basis Iâd say I have about 5 active spots and probably 3 spots that are recovering. Up until recently I was only dealing with white heads, but now Iâm getting acne thatâs under my skin.Â
I went back to my derm for the first time yesterday and she talked about a second course, but Iâm feeling real iffy about it because the side effects were hell and Iâm going away for my freshman year of college and itâd be really difficult to manage monthly appointments and I wouldnât be able to drink at all (stupid reason I know). So she gave me aczone and differin which will hopefully help manage it but idk. I was thinking about holding out until semester to decide about accutane but I kinda just want my skin to clear up now. Ugh idk Iâm really undecided and frustrated and really donât want to do a second round but nothing else worked for my skin in the past and I donât expect anything else to work now. Iâm partially blaming my derm for this bc I was on a really low dose and only did 5 months before. ugh
If anyone else did a second round Iâd really appreciate some help and advice.
Hey! First of all, I totally feel your pain! I've been breaking out more than I'm used to after accutane and it definitely can get annoying! However a second round definitely is a hassle! During my first round I was in college, went home every month for the appointments, had to find a bloodwork lab close to school, do that every month, and stay on top of the pharmacy b/c they never had Claravis in stock. Also, i did drink when I was on isotretinoin- nothing crazy, just one or 2 drinks every so often. However i noticed that my tolerance went WAAAAY down and has remained waaay down, even 3 years after the course. But another good thing is that accutane basically reinvents your skin and the way your body and skin heal and stuff. So i noticed that treatments that my skin had noooo reaction to pre-accutane now actually work for me. I still break out sometimes but now it actually responds to the stuff my derm gives me! It's like accutane was its kick in the ass. Anyway, don't stress too much about the break outs đ they happen when stressed and all different things (and i'm sure going into college has you a lil stressed right now!) i would definitely recommend sticking with what your derm gave you for a bit, and like you said, maybe after the semester is over, see if you can handle the hassle of The Tane again đ good luck! Feel free to reach out!
