Taking accutane for of course acne

Cdubneeddeal

Diamond Member
Oct 22, 2003
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Today was my second day of taking this. So far, no real side affects to speak of. No depression - thank god. Have noticed my throat has been pretty dry so I've been drinking extra water. This is my last ditch effort to cure my acne. At 31, I think it's time. Before I started taking this, one of the side affects is actually an increase in acne at the start, which I've noticed. It's supposed to go away in a couple of weeks though.

I know many people suffer from acne and have thought about accutane but the side affects can be scary. Thought I would create this thread and update it as much as possible so I can show my progress for the people who are thinking about taking it. Also, if you don't have medical insurance, the price on this is $542.78 - generic.
 

Tifababy

Senior member
Feb 5, 2001
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Good luck! I took accutane about 10 years ago and it worked wonders. I rarely have had any acne pop up in the last 10 years (no more than 1-2 pimples per month). My suggestion would be to invest in some chapstick. I had very dry, cracking, bleeding lips while on accutane...actually, 10 years later, I always carry chapstick as a habit.
 

spamsk8r

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Jul 11, 2001
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I used Accutane myself about 8 years ago, and it does work great, but as Tifababy said, you will get very dry. My lips and cuticles got the worst of it, along with my eyes. I think it's worth it, though, especially if you have very bad acne. I used to be on 4-5 different topical medicines + antibiotics before taking accutane, now all I do is wash my face in the shower every morning, and have virtually no acne. Good luck :)
 

Cdubneeddeal

Diamond Member
Oct 22, 2003
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Well it's been a full week since I started taking Accutane and so far the only side effects I've noticed is very dry skin. In the morning I just apply some facial moisturizer and I'm good to go. I have to carmex my lips almost every 30 minutes though. The good side of the dry skin is that I've noticed a decrease in oil production (So it's working!). I no longer need to apply benzoyl peroxide in the morning and not use Differin in the evening.
 

paulxcook

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May 1, 2005
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Accutane did help me when I was a teenager. But it definitely made me depressed and my mood was pretty volatile, even for a teenager. And it really dried my skin out. To this day I still have to apply lip balm every few hours.
 

Aquila76

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Apr 11, 2004
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Sweet man, I just got my second script of this stuff. I'm 32 and had enough of always having some pimple on my face somewhere. This stuff definitely dries you out though. I use Blistex Lip Medex and I usually only need to use it once or twice a day. What are you using on your face? I'm using Curel intensive moisture, but it seems to still dry out mid-day. My hands look like leprosy, too. I'm constantly lotioning them.
 

Cdubneeddeal

Diamond Member
Oct 22, 2003
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Originally posted by: Aquila76
Sweet man, I just got my second script of this stuff. I'm 32 and had enough of always having some pimple on my face somewhere. This stuff definitely dries you out though. I use Blistex Lip Medex and I usually only need to use it once or twice a day. What are you using on your face? I'm using Curel intensive moisture, but it seems to still dry out mid-day. My hands look like leprosy, too. I'm constantly lotioning them.

I've been using Carmex on my lips. I'm not sure if that the correct stuff to use but it works okay. For my face I use Clean And Clear lotion. It's the only lotion I could find that was made for the face and wouldn't break me out even further. You mention your hands getting dry, mine haven't gotten to that point yet.