Considerations if you're gonna take Roaccutane

This is continual post about Roaccutane, if you haven't read my previous post, here's the link.

Roaccutane is a prescribed medication by dermatologists only to help victims with severe-mild acne, just in case you didn't know.

I've finished my phase of Roaccutane now. A month ago or so. And here's an update of how everything's been for my skin and what I've learnt from my make-up class.

I've been on Roaccutane since mid-last year (around there) and has finally finished mid-April 2011. I was told by the dermatologist that unfortunately 5% of the medication-users can still have acne after finishing, so hopefully I'm not in that 5%, because I will cry my eyeballs out. Acne has been bugging me for a while now, and it sucks boogers. Honestly.

I've finished in mid-April and thank god SO much that it has gone away, and it will continue to stay this way [according to dermatologist and many other successful users]. The few days after, I realise I do have pimples here and there on my cheeks so I threated, but my skin is perfectly fine now.

Now, for anyone who considers to use Roaccutane, there are MANY important factors you MUST consider...

Briefly, what this drug do is that it stops ALL the oil in your skin, so it becomes dry and flaky as you take it.. and this also stops the acne. It also makes your skin HEAPS dehydrated and for those who don't know what dehydrated skin, it's those faint scaly lines you have on your forehead. Go take a look in the mirror now, I'm sure you'll be able to see it.

Because your skin and body will get SO dehydrated, you definitely will need to drink alot of water to help this and the only way to completely hydrate your skin is by your sweat. Yes. I know it sounds gross but that's how it works. Your sweat is the only thing that will hydrate your skin.

Something that also bugs me is that now I have a scar in between my brows from eyebrow waxing. This drug also thinner out your skin, so you will most likely won't be able to visit the salon until 6 months after you finish your Roaccutane. Waxing is a hair removal process that you must exclude, so instead, go for plucking.

Your skin will also become more sensitive to the sun, so sunscreen must be applied frequently, but I always skip that step... which is quite silly of me :(

During your process of taking Roaccutane, you cannot fall pregnant also! So if you have a family, do remember your personal contraceptive preferences. Because this drug is so strong, it will cause an impact on the baby and you don't wanna risk that!

There are many other negative impacts which comes with these 20mgs capsules such as depression which CAN cause suicidal practices, so if you're an emotional person, please beware and most of all... be strong!

These days, because of these suicidal stories by the drug, dermatologists no longer prescribe Roaccutane. However, some still do... so if your dermatologist do suggest that you should go on this....

Please consider:

• Your skin will become sensitive to the sun
• Your skin will become more thin, prone to waxing as it'll leave scars
• You cannot be pregnant during the process
• The drug CAN cause a depression phase which could be suicidal
• Your skin will go through a phase of extreme dry and flakiness

Please research more about this drug as I am no dermatologist or beauty therapist, so I cannot tell you ALL about this and what it does!

Yours deerest,

----

My Acne History + Roaccutane experience

Hey girls! So it's Wednesday today, let's call this a 'Warm Wednesday' post LOL (I'm so lame). Let's get a little bit more warm and cozy hahah. SO, you're gonna ask "How?". Alright, I'll start off with telling you about my acne history.

Hahaha, okay, excuse me for the horrible joke.

Okay, so I just wanted to be a little bit more open today.

I know there are many people who suffer from acne during their teenage years and I understand that it can pull down your self-esteem and cause you to be more self conscious. The reason why I wanted to do a post about this is because, I looked in the mirror today and noticed that my acne has completely gone away, though I'm left with thousand of red scars which still makes me feel hella horrible.

I remember years ago, in 8th grade, when I looked in the mirror, my entire forehead was covered with cystic pimples, and my cheeks were just horrible. But I didn't care at all. I was so careless then.. I don't even know why I never cared about my skin.

From 8th grade till 10th grade, I was told lots of remedies of how to cure your acne, such as scrubbing your face with lemon juice... and using a bunch of other stuff on your face such as methylated spirits (?!). But that didn't help at all! And then I went on and followed Bubzbeauty religiously and tried her home-made masks tutorials. Unfortunately, as much as I love her, the masks just didn't do anything for me.

And then, I went on and tried the famous famous Pro-Activ which costed me $90 (?), but unfortunately, it did jack for my skin. Lucky they allowed us a 90-days refund if it didn't work and I returned mine back on the very last day. If you ask me what did Pro-Activ do for my skin, I couldn't remember, but I just know that the solutions and toners didn't work for me at all. My skin conditions stood the same. So that's my experience with Pro-Activ. However, I have two friends who tried Pro-Activ and it worked wonders for them. So if you'd really want to try, do some more research and decide! Who knows.. I might be one of the minorities.

After that, I really wanted to try Chinese herbal medicine (I think that's what it's called), however, my mumma never had time to cook the medicine for me, so I never had a chance to try it either.

Hmmmm.... what else is there?

After trying things that didn't work, I don't know why but I started drinking lots of water. And I mean. ALOT! I would drink 2 bottles at school and lots of water at home too [daily]. It was great because eventually my acne went away half-way thru 11th grade. To add to this, my skin cleared up SO wonderfully and I was SO happy.

If you never had acne, you would never understand how WE feel. The feeling that people walk pass ya and look at ya as if you're somewhat abnormal was horrible. And when people talk to you, they'd look at your pimples instead of looking into your eyes! It's like they're talking to my pimples instead! It was the most horrible experience.

Well, my clear skin lasted for a short time, until I started breaking out again at the end of 11th grade. I continued to break out from November 2009 till maybe July 2010?

And that's when I passed many more experiences. I remember walking around in Casula with my mum and there was this Vietnamese couple who walked pass us. And then suddenly, the lady ran to us and tapped us on the shoulder. And kindly suggested that I should go and check out this doctor who would be able to help me ALOT with my skin problems. It was very kind of them, however, it wasn't great knowing that other people probably thought the same. I mean, they walked pass and noticed my face full of pimples, then that would go for every other person too right? How embarrassing for me, at the time.

I also remember EVERY single time I was to go shopping with my mum and when she bumps into someone she knows, ALL the ladies would greet her first and then turn to me, look at me, and say "Gosh, my does your daughter's face have so much pimples?".

You don't know how HORRIBLE it was, to be there, out in an Asian community, and have someone saying that about you, and other people who walks pass, overhears it and gives you the strangest looks. To make it worse, you know our Asian parents talk as if they're screaming, so... have you pictured it yet?

Anyways, my face right now, isn't breaking out anymore. I stay up till 3am these days and my skin doesn't break out. I no longer have big cystic pimples, even when my 'time of the month' strikes.

How did I do it? I'm here to tell you today :)

A good guy-friend of mine have always kindly suggest that I should go and see a dermatologist, and this was ever since May 2010. He described to me what it was like and also mentioned that they will send you to go get a blood test. As soon as I heard 'blood test', I immediately refused to go. I was scared of having blood tests, just because my sister always come home with BIG bruises after blood tests. It looked too horrible and too painful. I'm sorry but I cannot!

And then it was probably around August 2010 that my cousin decided to take me to a dermatologist (I didn't know it was dermatologist) until I got there. And booking the appointment already, I had to go.

The progess

You'll need to go and see your GP (family doctor) and have them refer you to a dermatologist. I'm pretty sure that you cannot go to a dermatologist, yourself. You will need to be referred.

Costs

The first time I went, it cost me $150 and they gave me a receipt which could be claimed back at Medicare! And when I went to claim, I received a $60 refund, which meant the appointment only costed $70. I'm sorry if I got the pricing wrong, but I shouldn't be too much off.

However, times after that, each time would cost me $75 and I would be able to claim around $30 back from Medicare. So it was great. It was cheap and all to see a dermatologist. I thought it would cost me a fortune, but thank god!

My dermatologist prescribed me Roaccutane 20mgs and Clindatech Solution. I was told to take Roaccutane twice a day, one capsule in the morning and one at night. And Clindatech Solution must be applied on a cleansed face in the morning and night.

The experience with Roaccutane

I'm still on Roacc. but I can tell you that, the first two months or perhaps, the first month I was on Roaccutane religiously, my skin was SO dry! It wasn't normally dry, it was VERY VERY VERY VERY DRY! Sigh I cannot put a strong enough emphasis on how dry my skin was.

This is my image from B.LIV products review.

OKAY, LOOK AT THE FIRST PICTURE! That is what my skin would look like AFTER mosturizing! My skin before moisturizing would be ten times drier! Dry to the point where it flakes and all! I would be applying moisturizer at school so many times a day!

To make things worse, my lips were as dry was my skin! And I would always have a lip balm with me which never helped! This is where my fave lip balm kicks in hehehehe! During this time, I have tried Softlips and Nivea lip balms, however, both never worked. And my cousin gave me her lip balm which she said was her favourite! It was Blistex Lip Conditioner and it's GREAT! I always carry this lip balm around with me. It's inexpensive and available locally at most pharmacies.

Anyways, beside my flaky skin and super super super chapped lips. I didn't experience any hair-loss or anything else, although my guy-friend did.

NOTE: When you first take Roaccutane, I would say for the first one or two weeks, you would BREAK out like NO tomorrow. But that's the process of how it works. It would break you out FIRST and then start to clear up. So if you're deciding to go on Roaccutane, don't threat if this happens!

And also, there were times when I ran out of capsules and never bothered to buy more.. my skin started to break out again. Just a little bit though! So do remember to buy it when you've ran out! Don't be silly like me :P

Off to Clindatech...

Clindatech is an acne solution gel. I will describe to you this in a more detailed post when I do a review. I'm just gonna go through it very briefly now though...

I'm really unsure whether Clindatech has contributed to the dryness of my skin, but one thing for certain is that after applying it on at night, when I wake up, there would be no more redness within my skin. Because I've used this together with Roaccutane, I'm really unsure if this has helped me with any skin conditions. I just know that my skin would sting ALOT and BURN when I applied this!

So lastly...

I do recommend you that you should see a dermatologist ASAP if you're suffering from acne. I prefer to spend my money on something that's been proven by science than home remedies and stuff!

Please leave me a question in the comment below if you have any!

Till next time, please remember to have safe days and drink lots of water!

Yay!

Yours deerest,

----