Happy 2021 everyone! When thinking about the post I wanted to kick off the year with, I wanted to write about something that I think can help people. For me personally, my skin has always been a huge struggle and something I was always extremely self conscious of. My skin situation was not ideal by any means throughout high school, but it wasn't until my freshman year of college that things got really out of hand. I wanted to write this because I've really been through it all when it comes to acne, and I know it's something many people struggle with, and can relate to. I'm sharing my tips for getting through Accutane, and what helped me along the way.
Before diving in, I have to preface this with the decision to go on Accutane is not one that you can take lightly. There's a lot of potentially dangerous side effects, and a lot you need to be aware of while you're taking it. This is just my experience and what I found worked for me, but I'm by no means an expert and you'll want to consult a dermatologist about any concerns you may have if you're taking it. Like I mentioned, my skin became a major issue my freshman year of college. I remember living on the other end of the hall from the bathroom in my college dorm, and I would wait to shower until really late at night, or really early in the morning to avoid having to walk by people without makeup on. Having such severe acne is really isolating and honestly can become depressing at times. I was always self conscious and always felt like I had to hide.
My Spring break freshman year of college, I went to a new dermatologist and I told her that I wanted to try Accutane. I felt like it was the only thing that would actually help me. I was nervous to try it, but felt like it was my only option at that point. Here are some pictures of my skin in February and March of that year.
I had my appointment in mid-March of that year, but I wasn't able to start until the end of April/early May because your doctor needs two negative pregnancy tests 30 days apart before you can get your prescription. Once I started taking it, I really didn't notice any improvement in my skin for the first month. My acne wasn't getting better yet, and my skin was dry... drier than dry.
Be prepared for dry skin. This is probably the most prominent side effect that I noticed with Accutane. When I say it makes your skin dry, think peeling and flaking. For me, my face, lips, eyelids, actual eyes, and neck got extremely dry. The rest of my body was definitely way drier than normal, but not to the point of peeling like the skin on my face. Also, make sure that you stay very well hydrated during this time. For products to help with dryness, I used this Cetaphil moisturizer and this Aquaphor lip moisturizer and I swear by both. I will note that the Cetaphil moisturizer is on the thicker and for lack of a better word "greasier" than I would typically use if my skin wasn't as dry as it was. For my purposes (or for dry winter skin) I think this is a great product. I also used this Aquaphor ointment on my neck and very carefully under my eyes before bed because they were so severely dry. My scalp got pretty dry too, but nothing crazy. One fringe benefit was that my hair legitimately never got greasy. I could easily go days without washing my hair and didn't need dry shampoo (gotta look at the bright side, right?)
In terms of the actual flaking, you want to be as gentle as possible with your skin while it's in such a sensitive state. With that said, I did very gently exfoliate will I was on accutane. I was a waitress at the time and really couldn't have my skin flaking off at work. I would usually wait until I had been in the shower for awhile and gently exfoliate with a facecloth. Also, it sounds weird, but I would brown sugar to gently exfoliate as needed and I never felt that my skin was extraordinarily irritated by doing so. I did the same thing for my lips too since they were constantly peeling. I would also use a toothbrush and warm water super gently on lips to remove the dry skin and follow up with the Aquaphor lip balm.
Another topic I wanted to mention is wearing makeup while on Accutane. For me, I wore makeup throughout the time I was on it, even when my skin was peeling. I would gently exfoliate if I needed to in the morning, and moisturize with Cetaphil. I didn't use a primer back then honestly, but a product that I use now that I think would work really well while I was on Accutane is the ELF Primer Putty. I also recommend using very thin layers of high coverage products. I started using the MAC Pro Longer Concealer as well as the MAC Studio Fix Powder Plus Foundation. I'd use a really thin layer of the concealer (mainly concentrating on my cheeks where my acne/scarring was concentrated. I'd then use a thin layer of foundation all over (usually Revlon ColorStay), and then top it with the powder foundation. It sounds like a lot, but when used in thin layers it was pretty effective at covering. This is what my skin looked like with makeup on in May:
I started noticing major improvements by the three month mark. My skin was still super dry, but my acne was markedly better. These pictures are from July and August, and I still had a couple pimples here and there, but overall it was really just the scarring and post-acne marks that were left at this point. I did a five month course, so this was toward the end, but I will say that I felt my skin was improving more and more every day at this point. I felt that my scarring was improving a lot during this phase too which I was happy to see.
I finished my course of accutane in early September and really was satisfied with my results. Here's what my skin looked like in January of 2017 (about four months after I finished).
Overall, my experience on Accutane was a generally positive one, and I attribute it to saving my skin. Yes, the side effects were difficult, but I truly feel like the end result was worth it. I am still dealing with scarring/hyperpigmentation, but my acne has luckily stayed pretty much at bay since I stopped taking it (more details in my post-acne skin care post!) If anyone is interested, I can also do a dedicated post on how I cover acne scarring/my current foundation routine!