Roaccutane, your experiences please!

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beauty_sarah

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hey all,

so a bit of a rant and hoping for some advice too,
to cut a long story short i developed cystic acne after having the coil fitted. had it removed 6 weeks later and now i am on yasmin pill, helpping a little..........
i was refered to my dermatoligist as my gp said it was the only thing that would help. ive been on roaccutane for 4 months now and my dose is now 40mg/20mg twice a day!!!!!
so ive just come back from my follow up today and saw a new dermatolagist and he said that after this month they are takin me off it!!! erm i dont think so, my skin is still quite bad and still developing cysts on my face...... they wont up my dose because of my weight which im fine with but the uk guidlines say 6 months, ive been on it 4 months and when i go back it will be 5!!!!
im going on holiday in august and dont want to go with bad skin, im a beauty therapist which doesnt look good having bad skin to clients who dont understand that its hormones.
im so worried and fustrated with my skin its really getting me down :(

have any of you been in my situation before and offer ant advice?
 
awww hun i feel sorry for you. I used to have AWFUL skin when i was a teenager etc, went to the doctors numerous times, had every single medicine under the sun, apart from roaccutane! however, my skin is 100% clear now (although i can still see my imperfections but people say my skin is brilliant) and that's not through medicine or anything, i actually use a brand called MD Formulations, which is BareMinerals product line, and it 100% works! It's amazing. Takes a couple of months to kick in and get all the cr*p out of your skin, so the sooner you start it i would say the better. perhaps give BareMinerals a call (as MD is very unsearchable on Google) and check out your local salon that stocks it and then get a skincare regime set up. It is expensive but lasts bloody ages. It honestly saved my life, i am not associated with them nor paid by them to promote them but i think they are the BEST skin care range for people with problem prone skin! Even Kerry the trainer at MD had extremely bad acne and her skin is absolutely clear now! xx
 
Thanx for replying but my acne isn't caused by blocked pores from makeup it's hormones! They are not normal spots, they are lumps on the skin :(
 
I'm on Yasmin and I find it makes my skin bad, Maybe it's doing the same for you? I think the best pill is dionette? I got a cream of the doctor called panoxyl which is a god send x
 
honestly hun ive tried eveything and anything and nothing is working but accutane but its a slow process!!!!
 
My son's been on it since end October 2011, he's now 17. He was on 30mg till end Jan 2012 & 60mg since then. He went back for his review at the beginning of April but they wanted to keep him on it for an extra month, but he hadnt finished all his existing pills so it'll be an extra 6/7 weeks in total really.

They had no problem keeping him on it and actually asked him what he wanted to do. Really helpful, informative and engaging dept - can't say a bad word about them.

So sorry you're having problems, it must be awful for you especially when you're a therapist.

Karaxxx
 
My son's been on it since end October 2011, he's now 17. He was on 30mg till end Jan 2012 & 60mg since then. He went back for his review at the beginning of April but they wanted to keep him on it for an extra month, but he hadnt finished all his existing pills so it'll be an extra 6/7 weeks in total really.

They had no problem keeping him on it and actually asked him what he wanted to do. Really helpful, informative and engaging dept - can't say a bad word about them.

So sorry you're having problems, it must be awful for you especially when you're a therapist.

Karaxxx

honestly kara i really dont know what i will do if they take me off it!!
clients can be so judgmental, one women asked if who would be doing her facial, when i said me she just looked at me in dicusted!!! :(
 
honestly kara i really dont know what i will do if they take me off it!!
clients can be so judgmental, one women asked if who would be doing her facial, when i said me she just looked at me in dicusted!!! :(

Sarah do all you can to stay on it! I had the same probs when I was younger and had to be taken off it first time around as I had a pretty horrific reaction to it! I moved house and was referred again but to a different hospital and it was the making of me. That was years ago and I have had no lumps or cysts since. In fact I'd almost forgotten how awful it was to have acne....looking away when someone got close and avoiding bright lights on my face etc. Totally trashed years of my life to be honest...it's such a cruel thing to have. To my horror both my kids have now had it now and really badly. My daughter has bad pitting on both her face and her back, and my son....who got it when he was only 11 bless him....is the same! He had lumps on his neck, back and chest the size of my thumbnails...hideous! However they are both now rid of the actual acne and all thanks to Roaccutane. With hindsight they probably wouldn't have the scarring should we have got them on Roaccutane straight away but the GP's mess about with so many antibiotics that you lose months if not years. I'm not qualified to start knocking antibiotics as I'm sure they work for the average dose of spots and I fully understand that Roaccutane is a dangerous drug but it really does make the world of difference if monitored carefully. Hope you can shout loud enough to be heard! Let us know how it goes....feel for you xxx
 
Mimo9 thank u!!! I am going to try!! I will have a follow up next month and If they say the same as they have today I'm going to ask for another opinion!! I have only 9 cysts now before it was nearly 20!! But their taking their time! I don't understand it atall my bf was on it before me n was on it for nearly 7 months !!
 
I haven't read the other post but my skin went horrendous (acne) when I was on the mini pill but they put me on that to help my migraines because there is progesterone and oestrogen in the combined and that was causing them, any way both the microgynon and noriday we're awful! I asked to be out back on the combined and because my skin was still awfull they put me on co-cyprindol (dianette) and its amazing, my doctor said that pill is designed for bad skin, Your only meant to be on for 6months though as any longer it can cause DVT.
Worth asking your doctor about hun x
 
Just keep persevering. If it was me there's no way they'd get me off it....you won't get the same results with anything else!! You'll get there in the end! xx
 
Just keep persevering. If it was me there's no way they'd get me off it....you won't get the same results with anything else!! You'll get there in the end! xx
I will hun, I'll argue the toss with them, but they may say have another dose in a few months!'
 
I just wanted to add a little hope for the future - my son has been asked to take part in a genetic testing study which will hopefully help doctors find out why some people suffer more than others and whether there's a genetic link in families.

I know it wont help anyone now but maybe in the future it will

Karaxxx
 
Hopefully! I wouldn't wish this on anyone! It's horrible x
 
Hi Sarah,
as a fellow acne sufferer who has had two 3 month courses of roaccutane I can totally sympathise with you.
I know you have been on it for 5 months but if you still have cysts and your hormones are the cause then roaccutane can only help so much. Dianette is a better contraceptive than yasmin for hormone control.

Without examining your skin I cannot say definitely but it may be that the hormone imbalance has started the acne process which has been exacerbated by other factors.

You can ask your dermatologist to prescribe the roaccutane gel/cream to use daily as it isnt systemically absorbed as much and this may help give some continual therapy.

There is some fantastic evidence for blue light therapy for acne (but I think its only available privately).

Occasionally some time off the pill completely can help reset everything so to speak. However, this isnt my area of expertise.

Good luck
 
What you need to be careful of as well is your liver function. In three months my cholesterol shot up to 6!!!
 
I had really bad cystic acne a few months ago and was on the pill too but came off the pill and went on antibiotics but my acne was due to stress and worry so I have been signed off work for 2 weeks and my skin is a lot better now. Just a thought really. I also took pictures of my face from different angles and then as its better now I can look back on those and think how far I have come xx
 
Have you tried acupuncture?
 
Hi Sarah,
as a fellow acne sufferer who has had two 3 month courses of roaccutane I can totally sympathise with you.
I know you have been on it for 5 months but if you still have cysts and your hormones are the cause then roaccutane can only help so much. Dianette is a better contraceptive than yasmin for hormone control.

Without examining your skin I cannot say definitely but it may be that the hormone imbalance has started the acne process which has been exacerbated by other factors.

You can ask your dermatologist to prescribe the roaccutane gel/cream to use daily as it isnt systemically absorbed as much and this may help give some continual therapy.

There is some fantastic evidence for blue light therapy for acne (but I think its only available privately).

Occasionally some time off the pill completely can help reset everything so to speak. However, this isnt my area of expertise.

Good luck

I have only been on it 4 months! It is caused by hormones, from the coil!
 
I had really bad cystic acne a few months ago and was on the pill too but came off the pill and went on antibiotics but my acne was due to stress and worry so I have been signed off work for 2 weeks and my skin is a lot better now. Just a thought really. I also took pictures of my face from different angles and then as its better now I can look back on those and think how far I have come xx

I have been taking pictures through out my course things have improved
 

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