I originally documented my experience of being on Roaccutane with monthly updates and weekly progress photos on my previous lifestyle blog Thginkcm. However, as this blog is now deleted, I unfortunately have lost the majority of these posts, along with their photos. I have been able to salvage two posts from this series, the below Roaccutane Month Three update, as well as my post on my overall Roaccutane experience, which will be re-uploaded soon. I appreciate these posts won’t mean as much without the context of being able to track the progress of my skin, or the original photos, however I still wanted to preserve the two posts I could save.
I apologise for a delay in my Roaccutane update this month – I managed to lock myself out of my tablet and lost a bunch of my photos, but luckily I’ve got them back and have been able to use them for this post. Across this third month I have mostly noticed side effects on the rest of my body rather than my face, although my dry lips have been pretty bad recently. That being said, I hadn’t really noticed how much my skin has improved this month until I looked back at these photos for this post! I feel like this is the first month where I can see a noticeable change, which feels like a relief and has got me feeling pretty excited to see the Roaccutane working!
Week Nine:
This week has been a bit of a funny week. I have exams at university at the moment, and I’m also running low on my Roaccutane tablets so I’ve been taking my dose every other day until I have my appointment next week. This slightly lower dose alongside the stress has meant that my skin still hasn’t been the greatest. There are areas where I think it looks clearer, but there are also still little clusters of new breakouts here and there. My lips have also been pretty bad this week, they need exfoliating a lot, but are still peeling off in sheets, which feels so gross. They feel tight, and then when they get dry the skin sort of goes wrinkly. I also had my blood test at the end of this week, but I’ve been told that this is my last one while on Roaccutane, so I am super happy about that!
Week Ten:
I had my next dermatologist appointment this week, and I am good to continue at the same dose of 55mg a day. My skin does look as though it is slowly clearing this week, and there are definitely less active spots on my face which is nice. My back is also looking pretty good – I have always been really self conscious about my back as I had quite bad acne on my back, so have noticeable scarring from when I was younger. It’s been so nice with the warmer weather being able to wear what I like, rather than covering up under layers due to being scared of having my shoulders and back on show. My face is still very pink, and gets red quite easily, especially in the evening. My lips are also horribly dry and I definitely can’t forget lip balm when I go anywhere! Physically I have been feeling quite irritable, achy, and tired. However I feel this could also be a result of lack of sleep, as I have been getting up pretty early for work. I have also noticed my eyes have started to become a little drier this week. They often look red and watery which is kind of annoying, but not too big of a problem.
Week Eleven:
Okay, my lips at the moment are ridiculous! They have never ever been this dry before. They never look normal, they are always red and sore and swollen looking. It’s reached the point where I am waking up with shedding lips even though I put loads of the Blistex Relief Cream on at night before I go to bed. They are still peeling in sheets, and are now starting to feel tender in the corners again, I’m worried they are going to start cracking at the sides. My nose is also full of blackheads again which is annoying. This happened in month one and thankfully cleared up after a few gentle scrubs, however this time they’re just not going. Again, I hope that this is just a sign of my skin clearing itself out, but the texture just feels gross, and it is noticeable even under makeup too. To top this off I bought a bottle of the Boots Soltan quick drying suncream lotion and have only used it twice, but it has brought up huge rashes on both of my arms – they’re so itchy! I guess I am going to have to start buying suncream made for babies or sensitive skin, which is a shame as I liked this one due to the fact that it was dry to the touch and non-greasy. I’ve stopped using it for now, and am hoping that my regular body lotion will help to clear this rash up. On a positive note however, I feel like my skin has been looking a lot clearer this week. The marks on my face are mostly scarring and hyper-pigmentation, and I have had less active spots which has been lovely.
Week Twelve:
There have been a few little breakouts on my upper cheeks this week. As they are all around the same area I have a feeling they might be from my makeup, so I’m going to give my brushes a clean and see if that makes any difference. My lips are still horrible. I think the only thing I can do to help is to keep exfoliating and keep moisturising – they’re bearable but just feel gross. My skin is noticeably thin as well, the slightest scratch is leaving a red mark and my face is pretty red. I think it’s important to remember that while these side effects are inconvenient and are impacting my self confidence, it’s nowhere near as bad as it could be and I think I have been very lucky with the side effects I have got. That on top of the fact that my skin is so much clearer now than it has been in a long time and I am so grateful for that.
Overall, across month three of being on Roaccutane, my skin face has been getting slightly better, but I have been noticing side effects more in the rest of my body. I just need to remember to be careful with the products I am using, and remember that I need to be super gentle with it. Check back next month for my Roaccutane Month Four update! (How is this going so quick?!)
This is a post ‘from the archive’, meaning it was previously published on my (now deleted) lifestyle blog Thginkcm. Original upload date has been included in the post title. Post content has mostly been kept the same, unless an updated authors note has been added. For more info see my post ‘Hello, I’m Back!’
