So i visited my dad a few weeks ago and noticed that my half sister has mild comedomal acne (she is about 15) so being the caring type i emailed my dad to suggest that maybe she tries differin cream because this by FAR the best topical i have ever used for my acne…I suggested this IF it got worse or her current regime wasnt making it better.

Alas, my dad took her to the “quack” and presented my email to the doctor (rolls eyes) and she was prescribed differin to try BUT so far it has made her spots worseand made her skin sting and is itchy…..I think she hates me two-fold i) for discussing her acne ii) for suggesting a cream that has made it worse…..I feel quite dreadful about this, I just hated the idea that she could end up with permanent scarring like I have if her skin condition isnt properly managed…..I think the initial breakout from differin is usually a couple of weeks then the soreness, redness and spots start to go away….I really hope so, the poor kid has had to have braces fitted recently too…

so vote: should I have kept my giant mouth shut or did I do the right thing???

This will probably be my last diary entry as I do not feel that I belong here anymore.

As the title suggests, it has been five months since I finished my Roaccutane course. Since then I have only had a few blocked pores on my forhead (due to changing facewash and my skin not liking it) and a few on my chest, but no actual spots. I still apply differin cream at night and have been advised by my derm that if the blocked pores (v tiny bumps) get more frequent then I am to use benzyl peroxide in the morning also.I am very lucky that I can actually email or phone my derm with ANY worries about my skin and he will give me advice about what to do.

My skin  has returned to being exceptionally greasy, I have to blot off the grease at least twice a day because it feels horrid, oh how I miss my ‘normal’ skin on R! and I am now prone to getting red in the face when a) angry, b) hot, c) cold d) upet…..this is not ideal but I guess if I choose not to wear makeup on my skin, then I have to expect these things. I still have not regained a normal monthly cycle, my cycles have been 41, 45, 14, 13 and now at least 44 days. This is quite strange but I daresay if I came off my minipill they would probably go back to normal..I guess..

So that is all for R-related news, other news:

I came off my antidepressants completely in December and am now relying on my own brain to balance the chemicals itself….it is not doin such a good job really – I fell  pretty depressed and have been crying for hours over the smallest things. guess this feeling will pass. I didn’t have the greatest Xmas holiday, I got a phone call from the GP telling me I had to go to Hospital within two weeks because the mole which had excised was ‘ severely displastic’….I now understand that this means it was at extremely high risk of developing into a melanoma. I have had to have a second round of surgery to take out some more tissue around the scar. Luckily the pathology result came back clear this time but I have a two-three inch scar and have been unable to exercise for 6 weeks Aside from that, things are suitably great – my lab work is not yielding results I am happy with, I hate my housemate, I hate my house,  I found a perfect flat for myself but someone took it before I could put the deposit down…so at least I have clear skin..If acne returns then I will be back on R and antidepressants as fas as I can…

no photo unless you lot really want to se my ugly mug again…

well take care all I hope R works as well for you as it did for me

Sparks x

Hello Dearlings!

I think this will be my last update for a while because my roaccutane and acne-related comments have become very boring, but in the best way possible!!

I used to have pretty bad comedomal acne on my cheeks, and huge amounts of redness and marks from old spots, I had cysts along my jawline and under my ears, at least one at all times and they were really painful and Inflamed. the whole of my face used to feel bumpy and I used to pick at the bumps in the hope of getting rid of the spots before they fully developed, as ewll as picking blackheads and whiteheads and unfortunately picking a cysts…(OUCHIES). I was using harsh facewash for spot-prone skin, exfoliating too much, also applying topical antibiotics and taking oral antibiotics, plastering on heavy make-up every day to try and disguise my skin and would often refuse social situations because I was so ashamed of the way I looked.

Roaccutane has changed my life. If I over sleep, I can run to work without even washing my face and not worry about how my skin will look for the rest of the day…make up is now an optional affair, and I can enjoy applying it in ways which reflect my mood or the occaission and I feel confident enough to go out with friends and work mates. I have only had two periods since my course ended, so that’s two 40-45 day cycles, which certainly beats the 12-16 day cycle I had pre-roacc (thanks to the minipill  totally wrecking my monthly cycle….thanks a bunch, now don’t go messin with it again….stuupid hormone pills)

Here is my face now make-up free and evidently hairbrish free. (visible brown dots are moles not old spot marks, you can’t see the marks on camera any more!

and just for fun here is one with full makeup at halloween…glass of wine in hand…ah life after roaccutane rocks!….excuse the random kitchen stuff..I had been busy baking all day!

Over the last month I have had a few blocked pores….tiny bumps which try to make minature whiteheads but just fade away into nothing within a couple of days. I still religiously apply differin cream at night and the red marks are now more pale brown and I can see that it is going to take several more months for these to fade totally.

Antidepressant wise I am now down to about 6mg per day from 60, so I am nearly there…and it all feels a bit much at times. Ah well, I’m not here to exorcise my emotional demons…

I still live in fear that as soon as I stop applying differin that my skin will break out, and that the miracle which roaccutane has worked on my skin will wear off, but I will cross that bridge if or when I come to it.

Good luck to you all on your journeys and I hope that you can all emerge from the crysallis oftreatment feeling like beautiful butterflies (but with longer lives to enjoy)…

Sparks x

ps thanks for the support after my horrendous facial waxing accident…It took a week fot it to get back to normal. a week too long in my books…..apparently you arent supposed to wax while using differin either…doh!

Hello you lot!

I know I haven’t been too active on the site recently but I have been reading your diary posts . Enough about you, what about ME?

This month I have had zero, nil, no spots whatsoever. I have not experienced this in eleven years and it feels amazing! I only apply the tiniest bit of concealer in the morning (to cover dark circles and a couple of more prominent red/brown marks from old spots, and by the end of the day there isn’t really any makeup there at all!! If I spray myself in the face with dodgy chemicals (I am quite clumsy) and have to rinse my face in the lab, I can cope with not applying anything else for the rest of the day, and noone even notices….at the weekend I don’t even apply concealer unless Im going somewhere special!

Photos without makeup: you can still see some faint brown/red marks from old spots but they are slowly fading and a few dots of concealer cover them up nicely

All side effects have totally vanished. I now have to wsah my hair every two days like before, and my skin gets greasy by the end of the day, but I still use simple products becasue they are so mild and make my skin feel so soft and smooth, so much better than the horrid tight sensation after using a drying facewash. Can anyone tell me, if you use a brush to apply makeup, how often should you wash it, and how do you wash it? I am thinking every month or so with facewash, but Im not sure…

so that’s me really. Life has returned to normal, and I’m now down to 15mg from 60mg of fluoxetine, and feel pretty good about it. woohoo! well then here is hoping that the following months bring only more good news, less marks on my cheeks and less antideppressants!

have a great month guys and girls, and don’t give up hope during the tough times, because it is SOO worth it in the end!!

Sparks x

Hello people.

It has now been a month since I stopped taking roaccutane and in the past four weeks I have had a total of two tiny red bumps which went away in a day so I wouldn’t really call them spots. Aside from that…its all clear I’m so happy!!! I just passed my four week negative preg test too so YAY only the one contraceptive for me now!!! I have been testing out my liver this past week while I was on holiday, treating myself to a glass of wine every day for  four days, and I did not suffer any ill effects, nor did I appear to get drunk on the small amount of alcohol which is amazing concsidering the six month  abtainence. here are some pics from this morning sorry not yet brushed my hair.

DIMPLES

I had a go at photos last night after washing my face but the red marks are much more obvious just after washing so I binned those photos…

My skin has regained some natural oiliness (mmm shiny shiny face) but that’s life huh?! I can still see the red marks, but at the airport I got bored and went to the clinique counter and asked how to disguise acne marks – and I got me some pale concealer and you know what…it’s great, its the best match to my skin colour yet…absolutely no you’ve-been-tangoed-ness  and its nice just to apply where I need it and not all over…but if Iwant total masking then I will use both the concealer and the light coverage foundation….I deem this unnecessary for normal everyday outings!!

I think that is all for this month, hopefully all will remain calm during the next four weeks. I shall let y’all know.

p.s. still no period…ah well, I consider this a blessing

Hi people!

I think after this entry I will only post once a month because It’s gonna get pretty boring pretty soon!!! so far, so good, I got over my little mood blip the other week, sorted out the work problem (which I will apparently never live down ~ according the boss) doh! but Im sure you dont all want to hear about my dull life…but I feel the need to emphesise the fact that I spent the day manually highlighting protein sequence alignments on my computer according to how conserved the residues were….with a very loud obnoxious vacuum pump right next to me……I am now feeling a bit dizzy and cross-eyed!!!!, so obviouslty what I do, is I sit down in front of my pc at home and write a diary on here!!

I saw a bump on my chin last week, but this does not seem to be doing anything, I also have a tiny red bump between my eye and hairline, which I thought was going to explode in to a giganto-pimple but hasn’t…….erm, not yet anyway, so thats pretty good. The red marks are a-fading, and Im not sure how long this lack of pimples will last, but I am willing to accept the odd one here or there, as I only expect them to be pathetic teeny dots that disappear within a couple of days.

skin regime post roacc: wash twice a day with simple moisturising face wash folloewd my light hydrating moisturiser, and appl differin cream immediately after moisturisation in the evening.

diet: I’ve stopped worrying about saturated fat…bring on the cheeseand full fat icecream!!!!!

exercise: I know I said I would start this last week but this week I really will. it turns out I have lost about three pounds over the lsat month (somehow) but as I havent changed size (clothes feel the same) I can only assume that the pitiful amount of muscle I did have has melted into fat….dar! I’d better get my mini-muscles back to work before they forget what they are!!!

have a good week all, stay sane, and keep popping the pills

Sparks x

oh – the weird dreams – they have not gone away. I had a nightmare that my acne returned over night and the derm told me it was incurable and that taking roacc had made it worse….. did not enjoy that one. was the night after i discovered the chin bump….I’ve gotto learn to chill out about this!!!

I have started writing a novel. introduction done, basic plot in mind,planning out the characters- I find this fun !!

Hi guys, I thought I would just pop back for a quick update as i am so used to writing a diary that I will have to gradually wean myself off!!

one week off the tablets and…..here is the good news – I have had no spots, the red marks are fading, I no longer have crippling arthritic pain or muscle pain. I have much more energy, have comfortable toilet trips, no flaky skin, and the hand rash is no longer resident. My hair and skin have not, contrary to my previous fears, become terribly greasy, they are still dry.

Strangely, I am having real trouble sleeping since coming off the tablets, this is quite possible because i am so used to needing 10 or more hours of sleep that I go to bed fr earlier than I need to and so cant sleep! I am also less hungry since stopping the tablets, which is probably a good thing. Exercise will begin this week, slowly working up, and alcohol will be gradually introduced to my diet to avoid any kind of binge-drinking ickiness and idiocity to which I have previously been prone in my youth.

Bad news: my eyes and nose have decided that after months of being dry that they would quite like to stream constantly, I guess this will go away soon enough,,,

Other news: I have taken my Prozac down to 30mg a day (well 20 one day, 40 the next etc) and it has caused some pretty ma-hussive mood swings. Today, for example I feel very lonely and sad that I don’t socialise because I’m shy and panic under social situations. I just want to be surrounded by people who deserve the energy and hope which I pour out to people  (given half the chance), otherwise I end up feeling empty, like today. And Friday I found out a pretty big mistake I made at work a few weeks ago which means I wasted nearly three weeks (involving many tears), and Im in two minds whether to tell my boss about the anti-depressant dosage reduction causeing loss of concentration and emotional instability or if this will be seen as just making excuses…oh I don’y know, I got through the last four years without telling the boss anything personal why start now…but when I feel happy or inspired its like I actually feel it now, not just a vague sense of slightly improved disposition.

Come on Pickle, pull yourself together, you made this mess, now re-balance you brain chemicals pronto and get on with life and quit bothering these lovely people…..

So that’s it. The last tablet has been taken. My journey with roaccutane is (fingers crossed) over.

As you may know from my frantic coment to my previous diary entry, I got me another mini pimple, or pimplet, which I like to call them (apparently this is a type of anemone too, but I reckon anemones are somewhat less attractive to have on your face though!) lets see:

le pimple miniature:

le pimplet anemone:

for sure, I think I had the lesser of two evils there…

I bought out the differrin early to heal it up faster too. OOooh random statement – check your bellybutton. Clearly I do not do this often enough, I was playing with my bellybutton stud and realised that there was enough dry flaky skin in there to make a snow globe…..gross huh ??(don’t screw your face up like that until you’ve checked your own)!!!

on to the main event then:

Before, during and after photos (all without make-up):

A graph of my progress:

The final stats:

approximate improvement = 94%

time completed =100% (5 months, 20 weeks)

dose completed =100% (5.000 mg)

unhealed lesions: 0

bumps waiting to surface: 2 (its the same two..still no action)

-

Positive effects of roaccutane

triumphed over the acne HUZZAH!!,

only needing to wash my hair every 4-5 days rather than every 2

reduced facial oiliness so no giant shiny nose or makeup sliding off

Enforced alcohol detox – good for systemic health

increased water intake (as above)

self-confidence boosted and depression elevated (and lowered anti-depressant dose as a result)

cleared up some bizarre skin condition on my knees and elbows which I’ve had since childhood but didnt think it was a condition (which I have now identified as psoriasis circumscripta)

-

All the side effects I had, classified by the level of discomfort caused:

1. mildly irritating – increased thirst, sleep disturbances and weird dreams, eye dryness requiring eye drops, itchy arms, slightly more erratic than usual periods, Eczema on hands and arms, but only for the last week..ugly, but  as my grandma says, you have to suffer to be beautiful!

2. moderately annoying- constant fatigue, hand rash, , itchy scalp requiring T-gel, flaky peeling skin, especially the chin area, increased downy facial hair, dry lips needing constant carmex, increased capacity to sweat, and perculiar upper lip sweating (daily)

3. very irritating and frankly uncomfortable- constipation causing repeated fissures, muscle and joint aches on occasion making it really quite painful to walk, or sit, or lay down, or do anything really,

4. painful and barely tolerable – waiting for my skin to actually stop having new spots and being told that I was making up the aforementioned side effects by my partner…basically, nothing seriously intolerable happened to me.

-

Advice to anyone taking or about to take Roaccutane:

drink plenty of water, dont drink (much) alcohol, wear sunscreen, behave yourself with regards to the two contraceptive methods (if youa re in the PPP (pregnancy prevention program). Remember that everyone reacts differntly to medications and not to get disappointed or upset if you have different progress or side effects than other people. Write a diary on this site and post pictures because it really helps you to see how far you have come, and the support is overwhelming too make sure you take your pills with some fat because the drug is only fat soluble and othewise wont be properly absorbed.

-

Sparklypickle’s Roaccutane survival shopping list:

Neutrogena T-gel

Carmex

simple moisturising facial wash

simple light hydrating moisturiser

simple derma intensive relief cream

tesco comfort eyedrops

Dove Pro-age conditioner

some evening primrose or starflower oil capsules (if you are female)

Clinique superfit foundation (presumably females only)

savlon (for cracked mouth corners)

Sanex Dermo intensive shower creme (v moisturisng)

Thanks for paying attention, thanks for all the comments, thanks for coming out on a cold rainy night. Anyone with any questions, please ask away! Let’s see how I and my newly clear skin cope in the following weeks and months eeeeeeek!

Sparksx

Hello people! Huzah, I have survived another week of this, most tiring and woesome regime!!!

firstly, here are some pictures…side on without makeup at the end of day after travelling across the country (complete with delightful, as usual, tube journey), front on with makeup, just cos I wanted to show off my new hair colour and thought about takin a pic after the makeup was on…mmm shiney face…you can tell which is without makeup from the big ol’ dark circles!!

so you get the idea….nothing has changed except a bit of red mark fading, and I wouldnt have it any other way …woohoo!!

Roacc Effects: skin peeling on chin, neck and ears(?) shine returned almost completely to nose. NO SPOTS this week <does the closest approximation to the happy dance which my semi-crippled body can endure>

Roacc side effects: dry eyes,lips and skin, joint/arthritic aches (hips, mid-back, shoulders, neck, knees, heels) muscle aches (arms, legs, shoulders, back) extreme fatigue, but sadly also lack of ability to stay asleep (prob not roac, but I dont have big worries at the moment…) moodswings (more likely withdrawal from prozac effect), itchy arms (now covered scratches and scabs where I cant stop itching myself),

So I just had a pill recount, after dropping one on the train…oops, so thats eight days, as I am writing this on sunday evening, so that means the last pills will be taken next monday evening and will be ony 20mg, not 50 that day cos Ive lost the other two pills, one into the ether and one on the train..but as the total would have been 5040 and my cumm dose is 5000, then I can afford to miss out in that 30mg I reckon, unless a pill turns up in the next few days, now Im wondering if there are more missing, hang on, I started taking them on what day of the week, erm, tuesday or wednesday? oh it may have been wed cos the derm apptment was tues and Id already taken anantibiotic by then so had to postpone, oh dear, so that means I’ve lost a dose somewhere cos I should finish til tuesday…..it is possible that one day I just took too many pills though by mistake….I dont always pay that much attention and have to check whether I took them or not right after I swallow them……..well, I think 30-50mg here or there wont make a huge difference…will it??

Well thats about it…no sunburn, no alcohol, no spots, no exercise, so not a bad week…really counting down the days…….only eight more…..

approximate improvement = 92% (8% only due to red mark visibility)

time completed =95%  (8 days to go!!!)

dose completed = 94%

current dose: 50 mg

unhealed lesions:  (nb, does not include red marks which are flat and fading)

bumps waiting to surface: 2 (its the same two..still no action)

ok, so here is the lowdown. I read the article kindly sent to me by Olivia (Ton254) (cheers m’lovely) and have summarised the findings of a study comparing various aspects of some generic forms of isotretinoin (from 2006) and the original Roch pills. This study was funded by roche btw:

(if you stumbled here a-looking for my latest diary the check out my previous entry)

the generics studied were Accunetan,Accuran,Acnetane,Acne-Tretin,Acnil,Acnotin,Aknal,Cecnoin,Curatane,Dercutane,Isoface,Retinide,Scheritonin and Tretin

1. Isotretinoin content -Roche have a content tolerence of 5% so 95% and 105% of the stated content is acceptable, for example, a 10m tablet may contain 9.5mg or 10.5 mg and still make it into your pack. Almost all generics complied with this.

2. impurity and inactive ingredients: capsules contained soy oil, butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA),butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), α-tocopherol,methylparaben, propylparaben, fatty-acyl esters and triglycerides. Roche maintains a less than 2.54% total impurities limit on their drugs. eight out of 14 generics exceeded this amount of impurities, including Tretinoin (trans retanoic acid = vitamin A)

3. shelf life – only those tablets stored in Roche-style aluminium blister packs retained their Isotretinoin contnt after 6 months storage.

4. particle size – there was a wide range of particle sizes between the different generics and roche. Those with smaller particles will be absorbed more easily, and those with larger particles less easily.

ok so how could this affect your treatment? well, the only two points of interest are the ‘unknown impurities’ which were discovered (who KNOWS what they are, but don’t be alarmed, there are impurities in all drugs) most importantly the particle size. So someone taking 50mg a day of a geneic brand with smaller particle size than Roche will be effectively receiving a higher dose than if they were taking 50mg of Roche Roaccutane, or any other generic with larger particles. There are comments made about the fact that the generics with larger particles tend to give less side effects, but this is intuitive if the patients are not absorbing as much of the drug. Of course this does not make them more or less likely to work, but would suggest that a longer treatment plan should be used when larger paricle generics are used, or higher doses to compensate. unfortunately the particle size form generics is not readily available so I guess the best indicator of the paricle size is how itchy your arms get, or how flaky your chin is

One last thing. Isotretinoin is fat soluble. it is very insoluble in water. To get the most out of  your treatment you should take the pills with some fatty food, or as I do, with an evening primrose oil tablet mid-meal, (followed by a chocolate muffin…but thats just cos Im greedy).

Dr. Sparkly Pickle x

so thats it folks. there ARE differences betwen brands,