Roaccutane (isotretinoin) Journey- Month 2

My second appointment with the Dermatologist was on the 21st of March. I had a second set of blood tests a few days prior to make sure everything with my liver etc was still all ok.

The weeks leading up to the appointment from my last check in on the 3rd of March had been pretty uneventful, apart from me mucking up my tablet schedule. The lady at the hospital had booked my ferns visit a week too late so I ran out of tablets.

I was also told a couple of days beforehand that the insurance would not cover the rest of my treatment which was a massive blow. I decided however to carry on with the treatment as I could already see the results starting to show and I couldn't go back now knowing it could get so much better.

The 28th of March

Skin has completely settled down, still dryer that before the start of the treatment but other than that it seems normal. Lips still dry but not cracked at all. Hair looks great!


The 14th of April

The below images are the day of my next Dermatologist appointment after almost 2 months on the Roaccutane.

Start of  Treatment

Roaccutane (isotretinoin)- The first sign of side effects

The 21st of February 2017

By day 7 my skin had become quite dry and had an odd texture, almost as if my pores were being sucked in leaving a strange bumpy feeling around them.

At this point my lips were beginning to get really dry and the left corner of my mouth had started to crack.

I had also noticed that I looked very washed out and pale (paler than usual anyway)

Pictures from Day 7

Split mouth

The 23rd of February 2017

By day 9 despite the copious amounts of Vaseline and lip balm the cracks int he corners of my lips had got worse and now the right side of my mouth had split too making it very painful to open my mouth.

My eyes had really started to sting as if I was very tired all of the time and my skin still had the odd texture.

Overall however I still felt that the side effects were very minor.

The 28th of February 2017

Lips are very uncomfortable and dry however the cracks in the corners has just gone back to the left side now.

Skin has started to look better and I am far far less oily.

The 1st of March 2017

Have increased tablets to 2 per day (40mg)


The 3rd of March 2017

Lips still uncomfortable but cracks on either corner have gone- very happy about this

Friends and family have started to notice a difference and makeup is sitting much better on my skin.

Roaccutane (isotretinoin) Journey

I have struggled with acne for years. I have tried various different diets to help with my skin, skin care regimes, topical creams and medication none of which had any real effect on my acne. When I was 21 I decided to go on the pill and after 2 and a bit years of side effects decided that I did not want to mess around with my hormones any more.

By now I am 24 and experiencing some of the worst acne of my life. Naively I thought by the time I hit 24 acne would be a thing of the past, that is what I had been told repeatedly in my teens so why am I still getting monstrous painful spots.

I finally decided that I had, had enough. Leading up to Christmas I was spending hours trying to hide my acne and dealing with my face looking like a football due to the swelling the spots caused, when my dad told me something that I wish I had known sooner. I was covered on his works private health insurance until I was 25!

The following week I was at the doctors discussing my options for the millionth time, but after realising we had pretty much exhausted our options I was referred to the private clinic.

My first appointment took a while to get sorted due to insurance fun etc, but finally in February I met with the dermatologist. She immediately told me that yes my acne was all hormonal and recommended Isotretinoin/Roaccutane after some blood tests making sure I was in good health to take it. The blood tests came back and showed that my hormones apparently had a mind of their own and didn't quite like to stay where they were meant to which led to my acne and may suggest that I have PCOS (tests for this still to come).

At this point I was actually relived, for years people had told me all I needed to do was wash my face better, eat this or stop eating that, try this expensive cream, how about this weird ointment or you wear too much makeup, the list goes on and on. It was nice to finally know that really not much I could have done would have changed my skin and that I could now be given something to actually help.

Wednesday the 15th of February 2017

The first day of Roaccutane

I was initially prescribed 20mg (1 pill) a day for the first 2 weeks and then 40mg (2 pills) a day for the following 2 weeks before my next consultation with the dermatologist.

Images from the morning I first took the Roaccutane- ironically my skin is actually much better here than it was when I first went to the doctor in November.

An Image from a  few weeks prior in Jan