In detail,
My first month on Accutane/Isotretinoin
Lets just say it was something I did not expect whatsoever. So after my first appointment with my dermatologist I was told I will have to take a PREGNANCY test every month. Oh and not forgetting the blood tests because they are a bunch of blood sucking monsters lol.
So my first month went a little bit like this. After my first appointment, I was told I am going to be on 30mg a day for 28 days. I was told I cannot WAX for the next six months of the treatment. My first thoughts were damn I’m going to be a hairy bear.
I had an initial breakout which was around my cheeks and forehead, my skin became extremely dry. I wasn’t used to this as I always had an oily T-zone but I had no choice but to get used to it.
So it was 28 days of one 20mg capsule and one tiny 10mg capsule with plenty of water. I felt my skin drying up within the first week/two weeks. My face felt tight like someone had just clipped my skin back. It was quite a weird feeling but after the first month I was well aware of the side effects.
My mental health on the other hand seemed fine. I heard a lot of horror stories about how it can affect your mood and make you feel really low, so I made sure I kept myself on top of things and made an effort to go out and dress up and do things as normal. As I had already given up wearing makeup, it wasn’t that big of an issue for me to not wear makeup. My skin was very flakey, I stopped wearing foundation. I had an initial breakout which was just awful, I started getting spots around my chin and upper lip. A few on my forehead, it was literally everything pushing itself out. That’s the best way I can describe it. Although it wasn’t as horrendous as I expected it to be, it wasn’t just as bad as I thought it would actually be either.
As I was on 30mg to begin with, I was told the dose will get higher as long as I’m responding well to the treatment and I’m feeling okay. I got a check up every month and I had a blood test to check how my liver and kidneys are coping with the medicine (as it’s such a strong medication to be taking). I gave a urine sample in every month, after the first two months of my treatment, it became apparent that it was working well for me but as the dose got higher, the side effects were more apparent to me.
Love, Mona xo
WITHLOVEMONA 
Hi I have been on the exact same treatment for about 3 years I have just been discharged a year ago myself from dermatology and for the dry skin I personally myself used Nivea and dove in terms of my lips I tried all sorts from the small Vaseline tub, Carmax etc finally found for my Coco butter worked well for my lips and I have just come back from Morocco as a tip what I’ve been told is apply pure coconut oil on any dry area and will keep it Moisturised apparently it’s a beauty tip that they give out to anyone with dry skin. You can get pure Coconut oil in pure form from any of the Asian grocery store.
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I took accutane some 5 years ago after a nasty breakup that caused my to break out in what I assume was stress and hormone related cystic acne. It was the most beautiful my skin had ever been.
Now I just had a baby 3 months ago and my skin is ANGRY. I know it’s hormonal and likely my pcos acting up due to pregnancy related weight gain. I just started on accutane too (not breastfeeding), on 10mg for the first month (finishing up month 1 on Saturday). Let’s cross our fingers and pray for beautiful healthy looking clear skin for us all 🙏🏽
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