My Fight for Clear Skin



La bienvenida a todos (Welcome All),

 

4/9/14 - 1 month after starting Accutane

Since 2006, I've been dealing with adult acne.  I thought it was stress, my diet, etc. because it started off with a breakout here and there.  Ironically, I had clear skin when my diet was horrible so I thought once my diet changed, my skin would get better but it just got worse.  I tried a little bit of everything topically but I knew I had to attack it from the inside/out rather than outside/in.  So when I had my worst break out ever in November of 2013, I knew I had to do something fast. 

In March, I started my first dose of Accutane; Absorica to be exact (generic brand).  My dosage was a 20mg pill a day.  Today marks my 2nd month, there's 5 in total and my face feels and looks so much better.  My dermatologist also upped my dosage to a 40mg pill a day.  Being on a higher dosage does have me a little nervous because I don't know what to expect.  It's been so far so good though so I can't complain.  I'm praying it stays that way.

 

Anyone who is familiar with this medication or read the side effects know that it's very serious, but it's known to work wonders if you can get past the side effects.  I think the side effects scare many people away.  I'm not going to bore you with the long list, but the biggest one they try to prevent with women is getting pregnant because birth defects are guaranteed.  The other side effects are minor so if I get them I can deal with it.

 

Be that as it may, everyone doesn't need such an aggressive type of treatment like Accutane, but I've dealt with cystic acne for 8 years.  Enough is enough already!  Accutane/Absorica dries out all of your oil glands in your body so you may be left with dry lips & skin, and hair loss/thinning.  It seems to dry out everything, but the aforementioned ones were my concerns.  To counteract those reactions, I use Moisturize Me in my hair to receive & retain maximum moisture, and I also take a Biotin pill once a day just in case.  I don't want to take any chances with this beautiful mane.  As far as my skin concerns, I whipped up a body butter and I use that twice a day.

One may ask, why is she sharing this?  Let me explain, before I decided to go on this medication I looked for people that looked like me and had been on the medication.  Unfortunately, I didn't find what I was looking for so I decided to share my experience for the next person.  Maybe I was looking in the wrong places, who knows.

 

In summary, I hope my journey encourages the next person to fight for clear skin because I'll be sure to keep you updated with mine.  In life you're sometimes thrown lemons, so I make lemonade.  My point is life can get hard and beat you down but keep pushing towards yours goals by planning, and educating yourself on the task at hand because some battles you can prepare for, so do it!

12/15/13 - My Hair was Cute Though

Until next time.....

 

Shauntay