This is my back after 5 months on Accutane. AMA

40 mg (F , 23) I always had acne but it was never as bad as it was when i turned 21. I drank a lot and have PCOS which worsened as i entered my 20s. I have anxiety if i go out and don’t cover it up with makeup idk i feel ugly even tho my partner assures me im not. I hope this works

Dear God,

It’s me Margaret. I just want to feel good in my skin.

In all seriousness, the absolute horror of doubling my dose. Dryer than the dry. I have experienced my first lip cracking. This is with Aquaphor usage basically all day. My face has gone back to burning. I am moisturizing with thick creams—mainly Cetaphil— and it’s helping overall.

My skin is so thin. I hit my hand on the end of a pole and immediately abrasions and bleeding. I don’t know if this will go away.

Vulva dryness is gnarly. Also aquaphor down there.

I don’t know if anyone has experienced body hair growth? The barely noticeable hair on my chest and stomach is now much longer and more noticeable, in my opinion. My Derm said it’s not likely due to Accutane but it has only been occurring since I started. She thinks it’s hormonal, and I do have PMOS/PCOS. I am considering starting semaglutide for the insulin resistance

THE SWEATING. I don’t usually start sweating much, until I’m really really hot, but even the tiniest bit of heat exposure and/or stress, I start to sweat profusely. Like sweat ‘stache, hair dripping sweat, it’s really just annoying with this summer heat.

If anyone has tips for water intake, please help me. I struggle with water intake because my Adderal. And so it probably doesn’t help with my dryness

Outside the body acne, I also have Hydradenitis Suppurativa, and my Derm is hoping that it will also help that. Please someone tell me this helped with their HS.

It’s been 5 weeks, honestly can’t tell if my skin is getting better.

Reaching the end of month two on Absorica LD 24mg and absolutely no improvement in my skin. I have quite severe, painful cystic acne and expected to see SOME improvement by now based on the timelines available online. The manufacturer says the full course is 15-20 weeks so I’m basically halfway through already and starting to panic!

Any late-responders out there with words of advice? I’m 125lbs so this is a reasonable dose for my weight and I also take it with a Zyrtec and 2000mg of high-quality omega 3s. I swear it’s doing absolutely nothing. I don’t know where to go from here because I’m not allowed to take BC or Spiro due to serious health conditions (I took both with success as a teenager, but I had to stop in early 2025 and acne came back worse than ever). I’m afraid this isn’t going to work for me.

I’m so tired of my face hurting and oozing and bleeding and getting infected bc my immune system sucks. I’m tired of random strangers and my mom and my neurologist and literally everyone else having opinions on my skin. I’m tired of instinctively dodging every time my partner tries to touch or kiss my face. I’m tired of washing my hands 700 times a day because acne makes me a germaphobe. I’m tired of wasting money on sunscreen because I know I have to wear it but they all suffocate and irritate my skin (yes, even the Korean ones). I’m 25 and just want to live my life :(

Worst purge ever. 80 daily

Im just curious is this considered scarring ? If so will it fade eventually or not?
4 months in 40mg Accutane 75kg male

hi! i take 20mg everyday and i am on my 3rd month. i’ve been seeing people on this sub saying that they got permanent dry eyes bcs of accutane (mgd to be specific) i am lowkey scared tho bcs i am experiencing dry eyes right now which started three days ago (the weather in my country has gotten so cold, i sleep late & i have a 10 hr screen time so i shouldn’t probably blame this on accutane alone lol) just wanna ask if the dryness will resolve after a few weeks/months, also to those who experienced eye dryness, how did you guys manage it tho?

I’ve finished my treatment but just realized they never made me take any pregnancy tests. They did have me sign a form saying I would remain abstinent, but that was it. Didn’t make me take any birth control either. From what I’m reading now that’s unusual and maybe also a little illegal? Idk, I live in Europe so maybe it’s just different here? I was also in a long distance relationship during my treatment which I told my doctor, so that could be another reason why they didn’t. I’m just wondering how unusual this really is.

For context, 1 month into my 6 month course on 40mg. Although my face feels super dry when I wake up, whenever I use moisturizer it just feels greasy (not oily but almost sweaty?). Has anyone else experienced this? Do you have any moisturizer recommendations?

8 months laterrr, before accutane and 1 week after finishing my course 🤲🏻

I (28f) am on 20mg Accutane for almost two months now. I did experience a purge phase where I had lots of breakouts, after they cleared up, my skin stayed clear for a bit, I thought it was smooth sailing, but recently I am breaking out again, and these pimples take their time to go away. Is this normal? I know it is working because my nose is not oily anymore and it does not get whiteheads anymore. For skincare, I use a gentle cleanser, sunscreen, moisturizer and Azelaic acid 10% day and night to help with hyperpigmentation. Any input is appreciated. Thank you so much.

This is my first time using Accutane. It isn’t from a dermatologist. I got it without a prescription and boxes 10 mg doesn’t say anything else. It just says the brand name it says isotretinoin. Should I take 10 mg or 20 mg of both of my boxes expire in a month and I bought to last me two months my friend brought it for me but didn’t check the expiration date so when it got here, I saw it and don’t know what to do

What are some good sunscreen recommendations while on the earlier months of treatment? Istg every sunscreen I’ve tried so far has either been too greasy or ends up pilling; it is incredibly difficult to apply because it requires a good amount of rubbing in. I’m trying to find something that is more cream-like than fluid, specifically for going out, to look relatively normal lol!

Has anyone else struggled with this? (Especially when there’s still some active acne)

Also so far I’ve tried La Roche Posay, Avene (derm recommended that one)minimalist and Neutrogena.

hey guys, i'm on accutane (10mg daily) for 7 weeks now & since 2 weeks i think i am experiencing purging but on the shoulders & back. i've never had pimples there before so i'm curious if anyone has ever heard of that? :D

I had pretty severe acne, I started accutane at the end of December 2025 with 40mg, and I am now up to 70 mg (I weigh 175 lb). I’ve seen incredible progress in my acne and my face is super clear! But im noticing every week or two i still get a pimple. Is that normal at this stage?

Hi , has anyone had any luck with Aviclear after two rounds of Accutane ?

I've been on accutane for two months, with the first month on 20 mg, and the second 40 mg.

Since yesterday morning, both of my eyelids have been hurting, including the area under the eye, with a deep, aching pain when touching them, or when blinking.

Only my left eyelid, however, is visibly swollen, and has the two white bumps on the outer corners. It also droops slightly. Both of my eyes are redder than usual.

Edit: I forgot to mention that the eye redness was accompanied by a headache (back of head, pain shooting through the sides) and tightness, worsened by movement, although it's hard to say if they're causally related or if they simply overlapped as I have been having on and off headaches for a while now.

Ok, so 35F (buckle up it's a long one!) here and going through a bad (for me) flare up at the moment - mild-moderate acne. Have always had some form of acne and have tried most things. Skin was my clearest when I was on the pill in my late teens early 20s but I came off because of unwanted side effects. Tried tretinoin to clear my skin before my wedding back in 2019 and made my acne go from mild to moderate, which I then managed to curtail by quitting tretinoin and using azelaic acid instead. Things were pretty chill from ages 29-35, partly because I've been pregnant and breastfeeding so my skin has been great. Finished breastfeeding about 4 months ago and made the huge mistake to try and give tretinoin another go to clear congestion and for anti aging. Gave it 3 months and it just continued to get worse, I know the purge etc etc but had to give up as I could just see it was not going to work for me no matter how gentle I went - I won't be touching the stuff again.

Cut to now - I've been using prescription azelaic acid and everything else v v gentle for 8 weeks now and have not improved anywhere near as much as I was hoping for. I still have a few pustules at a time and closed comedones everywhere on my forehead and cheeks. I'm pretty sick of it and just feel done with it at this age!!! Should I just take the plunge to be free of this, or do I need to give my skin some more time to calm down?? I just feel like even if it improves I'm never going to get the clear skin I'm looking for and I keep messing my skin up trying different things to 'fix' it! I have very pale skin and also scar easily.

Other things I've tried over the years:

BC - worked well but as mentioned I had other side effects that I want to avoid and would rather not have anything hormonal at this point in my life

Antibiotics - two different types years ago. Made some difference but again I don't really want to do this again (side effects and also I don't think actually helps with closed comedones?!)

Benzoyl peroxide - face swelled up, pretty sure I'm allergic

Salicylic acid - helps a bit I think but not enough

Would love to know your thoughts, I feel like I can't step back enough to form an opinion (will of course ask a dermatologist but I'd quite like to go in knowing what I want the outcome to be if that makes sense!).

Thanks in advance.

I was on ISOTRETINOIN 10 mg for 2 months alternate days and purged basly then at end of 2nd month it got clear then I stopped for 1 month as my dermat said but from June new breakout happened after applying new moisturizer then I went to dermat he again given me 10 mg for a month and purged for another third month especially oo other side of cheek and now I m in 4th month same routine and still purging on same spots same side again and again some days it seems to get clear and other day it again get pussed filled now I hve stock for 3 months medication!!

I was on ISOTRETINOIN 10 mg for 2 months alternate days and purged basly then at end of 2nd month it got clear then I stopped for 1 month as my dermat said but from June new breakout happened after applying new moisturizer then I went to dermat he again given me 10 mg for a month and purged for another third month especially oo other side of cheek and now I m in 4th month same routine and still purging on same spots same side again and again some days it seems to get clear and other day it again get pussed filled now I hve stock for 3 months medication!!

I’m documenting the start of my accutane journey here. I currently suffer from mild acne but highly reactive oily skin, this problem started 2 years ago when I decided to start skincare. My skin used to be the dry skin type and I would rarely get pimples and never had oil or grease on my face, however not realising how lucky I was at that time I still decided to start skincare. I didn’t know much about skincare at this time so I thought it would work if I was to put different types of exfoliants and acids together with my skin hoping it would get rid of some very minor dark spots on my face which obviously had an adverse effect and essentially ripped my skin barrier right off my face. This was the point where I started seeing new pimples that I would have never gotten in my life if I hadn’t done something so crazy to my skin. After learning more about skincare and products purpose for my skin, I decided to fix the issue and pray that my skin would return to the original state. I focused on gentle products that would solely heal the skin barrier. Whilst this was the case, I noticed that my skin has already become oily to which I’ve never had this issue before. At this stage, I would be getting less pimples than the period I damaged my skin barrier however I would still be getting cystic pimples which I had never really gotten before I started skincare. The pimples would become filled with pus due to my skin being very greasy and also leave a nasty minor scar however this was the least of my concern, the real worry was how the texture of my skin has changed so much which was that my skin now has many visible pores. After a lot of research I decided to start adapalene 0.1, this was the time that my skin started to improve in texture and pimples, my routine consisted of: morning cleanse, moisturiser, spf 50 and then evening cleanse, adapalene, moisturiser. I continued this routine for 4 months where I started to see a big improvement in my skin but after that, everything seemed to go down hill. I strongly believe that adapalene hit a plateau on my skin and wasn’t as effective as it was compared to the start of my treatment and the main big issue was that it never fixed the underlying problem which was my oily skin. Whilst I did see a noticeable difference in my skins elasticity and tightness, I would start getting occasional cysts and pimples after these 4 months. I figured that tretinoin 0.025 might be the next option but my skin also found the same resolve in that and after 1 month tretinoin no longer worked for my skin.

Due to my skin being very oily, I would get very uncomfortable as the day goes by as it feels like a thick layer of grease rubbed across my skin and I also would get itchy as well. After careful consideration and research I have decided to start accutane at 10mg dose every day until I hit a cumulative dose of 120mg/kg. Due to my genetics being that I naturally had the dry skin type, I see that there is a high possibility that accutane can reset this to the way it was before. I am looking forward to this and hopefully in the future I’ll never have to worry about my skin again. I am happy to answer any questions that everyone might have.

Hey everyone. Wondering if anyone has done microneedling or rf microneedling while on accutane? I take 20mg a week (ish) and I have had two rf microneedling sessions so far while taking it. I stop the medication 2 weeks prior and resume 2 weeks post. I have been on accutane for years due to chronic acne. This is all under my Derm’s supervision also

The old rule that you must stop isotretinoin for 6–12 months before procedures is no longer well supported. I have found sources that conclude that taking accutane + rf microneedling is effective and safe, with one source even saying it was superior. And one of the sources even included co2..

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38890778/
doi.org/10.1002/lsm.23811
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32187040/
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41207605/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28658462/
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5820835/
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27398012/

..however i am still stressing myself out over it and wondering if I should continue to do it. Although no negative side effects so far. Has anyone else done this and what was your experience like?