Roaccutane (part 2)

Do we all know what Roaccutane is/does? I'll give a brief explanation just so you know what I'm talking about!

It comes in tablet form, like the one above, and in a variety of different dosages.
The dosage the doctor gives you is dependent on your weight; I weigh around 8 stone so the maximum dosage they gave me was 50 mg.
They usually prescribe it for 6 months in total; after 6 months, if you and the doctor feel like there hasn't been significant progress, they can continue for another couple of months. Also, if you decide after a year or so that it has come back you can talk to your doctor about restarting the treatment.
My dosages were as follows:

• 1st month: 20mg
• 2nd month: 40mg
• 3rd month: 40mg
• 4th month: 50mg
• 5th month: 50mg
• 6th month: 50mg

Roaccutane contains Isotretinoin (R is the brand name of the capsules I was taking) which works like the other treatments I mentioned previously in reducing the sebum levels produced, but is very strong and has serious side effects.

Some of them aren't as common as the others, here is a list of the common ones:

• Dryness: skin, lips, eye lids, almost everywhere will dry up because the R is basically stopping the production of oil in the skin so pores don't get blocked by excess sebum!
• Aches/pains: muscles and joints might occasionally ache and the doctors recommend you don't excercise vigorously (which wasn't a problem for me!)
• Hair loss/thinning: but by stopping the amount of oil being produced by the body your hair should also stop being greasy while taking R.
• Mood changes: At every doctors visit your dermatologist will ask you if you have had any serious mood changes. Depression and suicidal tendencies are the most serious side effect of R so it is vital that all mood changes are monitored.

Other symptoms include; headaches, tiredness, eye problems, jaundice, with each packet of R that you get there will be a list of all the side effects in the box along with a percentage of how common they are. I had quite a few of the side effects, but I tried not to let them bother me because my goal has always been to get acne free skin!!!

I'll tell you about my personal symptoms in the next post and you can compare your own to mine, sometimes when you're not sure of what is normal and what isn't you tend to panic. But never fear, if you have any questions just let me know! Or ask a professional doctor, I don't have all the answers but they do!

- Natalie

Roaccutane (part 1)

I'd spent 4 years trying various treatments my GP recommended that were having no effect at all. My mother used to spend hours trawling the internet looking for different treatments we could try, this is how we came across Roaccutane.

In all my life I have never met anyone who suffers from acne to the same degree as me or heard of anyone who had taken R. I'm actually surprised at how many forums there are dedicated to it on the internet beause until just over a year ago I knew nothing about it!

To be prescribed R you have to be recommended to a dermatologist by your GP, so the next day I booked an appointment to see my doctor who agreed that I had exhausted all other treatments (at this point I'd even been having microderm, laser and peels- which I'll talk about another time) and that this was my last option.

Your GP has to write a letter to a dermatologist giving them your medical history (regarding the treatments you have undergone for acne) and then they make an appointment for you, they have to agree that this is the final option. So I eventually got an appointment.... for 4 months later. I was miserable, I was finally going to get a treatment that I actually believed could work and I still had to wait so long for it to start. As you can imagine I was a bit impatient and wanted it over with!

Now I know everyone won't have the option to do this but my mother saw how depressed I was getting and she decided we should go private. 3 weeks later I was on my way to see a dermatologist at the Alexandra Hospital, Cheadle.

I can't comprehend how I felt walking into the hospital, I thought that was it; I'd get the tablets and I'd have clear beautiful skin!!
..... No.

Like I said, I didn't know what to expect because I didn't know of anyone who had ever taken it. Dr Lear, my dermatologist, explained all the side effects and the process to me and then sent me away to make an appointment for a months time. In order to take R you have to have blood tests every month to check that your cholesterol and liver function don't change, girls have to take the contraceptive pill and have monthly pregnancy tests done at your GP to make sure you don't get pregnant (R can severely damage the foetus) and it doesn't mater if you aren't sexually active; I wasn't.

I walked out of that hospital trying not to cry because I'd convinced myself that it would all happen so fast; I'd walk in and get the tablets there and then. Unfortunately acne treament is a long process, nothing happens overnight. Not even when your taking R, infact with R everything gets a lot worse before it gets better.

Anyway, I went home and cried. Then in that week I had my blood tests and started taking Dianette (contraceptive pill) and every day my mum would ring the hospital to see if anybody had cancelled their appointment and there was an earlier slot we could attend; there was!!!!

3 weeks later (instead of 4) we went back to the hospital; Dr Lear checked my blood test results, weighed me, and prescribed me a months worth of 20mg R (they can only prescribe a month at a time because you need to return monthly with a new set of blood tests).

That is how I started taking R, mostly thanks to my mother who I am unequivocally indebted to for evething she has done to help and support me.

If you're thinking about taking R or are about to, remember; it takes a long time but you have to peresevere because the results will be worth it!!!

I'll talk about the the side effects on a different post and if you have any questions regarding anything I wrote about let me know! And I'll also give a bit of a background history on my skin to make you feel a bit better about your own.

- Natalie

The first step to clear skin!

Acne treatment can be a loooooong process! I've had it for about five years and I'm still undergoing treatment.
We all know there are different levels of severity when it comes to acne; you could be one of the lucky ones who can go to the shops and buy a bottle of neutrogena and it clears up straight away, but if you're like me chances are that you're spending endless amounts of money on brand name products that don't work.
Products like neutrogena, clean and clear and freederm are made for superficial acne (spots close to the surface of the skin that clear up within a day or so) so if you have a more severe case then these products are probably not going to work at all. Personally, I found they were a waste of money!

If nothing seems to be working, the best thing and first thing you should do is visit your GP. Your doctor can prescribe you medications and cream which will basically kill that bacteria in the pores.
There are a number of things they can prescribe and it's worth trying them out before you move onto the more serious treatments.
Here's a list of things your doctor can prescribe:

• The contraceptive pill: For girls, of course. It doesn't matter if you're sexually active or not, the contraceptive pill contains hormones that help lessen the amount of sebum the sebaceous glands produce (and for the record, if you do end up having to take Roaccutane, all girls have to simultaneously take the contraceptive pill to make sure you don't get pregnant regardless of whether you are sexually active).
• Tretinoin cream/gel/lotion: contains vitamin A (just like Roaccutane, but very mild) which helps to remove dead skin cells that might be blocking your pores.
• Antibiotics: This can be in cream form like benzoyl peroxide or in tablet form. The tablets are usually prescribed for more aggressive types and you are usually given a 6 month prescription. With most creams and gels you get a 3 month prescription.

None of these worked for me, but they did for my brother! Everybody responds differently to different treatments so don't refuse to try something because your friend told you it didn't work! And it doesn't matter if you think that your acne isn't "serious" enough for a doctors visit; don't think like that, you'll make yourself miserable and doctors are there to help!
You have to have tried every treatment before you can start taking Roaccutane so it's worth going to see if any of the milder treatments work for you, Roaccutane is always the last resort in acne management (in the UK atleast, if they have different methods of prescription in any other countries please let me know!)

I'll talk in depth about my experiences with Roaccutane another day.

I know that visiting your doctor can be a little bit daunting or embarassing but they know what they're doing and can offer you a range of products that might just make the difference!
My mum went with me to every doctors appointment, if you have a parent or friend who is willing to do the same take them with you because you might feel less nervous that way!
Infact, my mum told me to call this post "Step 1: Moaning to your mother until she takes you to the doctor."

- Natalie

What is acne?

Just incase you were unsure, here's the short version of how "spots" are formed:

Oil from the sebaceous gland (called sebum) gets blocked and becomes infected. If the pore opens, the sebum oxidises and turns a brown colour: we call this a blackhead. Blackheads are not dirt and cannot be scrubbed away! They can however be extracted by a blackhead remover stick that can be found in most pharmacies. If you're going to do some extractions make sure you have clean hands because otherwise the infection will spread and will probably end up looking worse than before.

Same goes for whiteheads! Except they are "white" because they remain under the skin.

If there is a break in the follicular wall (where the sebum gets blocked) this causes the more severe acne types such as; cysts and nodules.

If you do have the more severe forms my advice would be to not squeeze them or try extraction. I used to get them on my chin and by messing with them I would just create a scab and the infection would worsen, making the cyst bigger than it already was! (One of my worst experiences in life was when a boy in college asked if I had a tumour on my chin.... I sincerely hope that never happens to you!)

Tomorrow I'll write about some of the treatments but I just thought it might be helpful if we got the sciencey bit out of the way first so we're all on the same page!

- Natalie

Welcome!

Hello and thanks for reading my new blog!

The reason I decided to do this is because I have suffered from severe acne since I was 15 and for the past five years I've wished that there had been someone there to help me and give me advice when I needed it.
I've gone through so many different treatments, spent hundereds of pounds on beauty products that didn't work, and spent the majority of my time completely miserable because I felt as though nobody else understood what I was going through!
It doesn't matter if you have a mild case of acne or a severe form that leaves you with scars (like what I had) because what most people don't understand is that acne can affect you mentally and leave you feeling depressed. I'm here to help and hope that even if you find that nothing I write helps, you will take solace in the fact that there are other people going through the same thing even if it doesn't feel like it!

I'll update this blog as often as I can with tips about different treatments, make-up brands, and facial products and I am very excited about sharing what I know!

- Natalie