Roaccutane skincare

[LtheWife]

After putting up with almost twenty years of cystic acne I'm finally starting a course of roaccutane at the end of the month. Can anyone recommend a good skincare routine to deal with the dry skin I'll undoubtably end up with? I already have dry cracked lips which Carmex helps with, but as it contains salicylic acid I don't think it should be used during roaccutane treatment so lip balm suggestions would be appreciated too.

Hi,

Good for you. I did the same aged 28 and it was the best thing I ever did.

For lips: Elizabeth Arden 8 hour cream (the original cream not the "lipstick"). I used it on everything, lips, nails, cuticles, elbows, toes etc etc! But at least hourly on my lips, so always have it in your pocket or handbag!

Moisturiser: Use something very basic, no perfume etc. Boots did a great super basic one which was fab. I can't remember the exact name but it was white with blue writing. Epaderm is another thing that would work.

Makeup: And this really was brilliant... Bare Minerals, the whole shebang is amazing for your skin at any stage, AND (really important) it has spf, so will protect your skin from UV. The Bare Minerals skin-revver-upper is also very good for unblocking yor pores as the roaccutant gets to work, but be sparing at first as it might irritate. Ok to use liberally once you are off the RA.

Good luck and enjoy the process (hard to do sometimes) knowing you will have lovely skin by the end!

Thank you for the recommendations Apronlady. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to being able to wear foundation (or maybe not even need to wear it at all). Everything I've tried over the years just slides off the oily areas whilst sticking to the scabby spots and caking. Not a good look! I tried everything, mineral makeup, training as a make up artist, I bought an airbrush and even tried full on camouflage make up before eventually giving up altogether and going bare faced. To be able to wear a full face of make up will be amazing.

La Roche Posay Toleraine range.

Agree with E Arden 8hour stuff for lips.

I did a course of Roaccutane last year and it has been utterly life-changing. I so wish I'd pushed for a referral earlier rather than suffering 20-odd years of endless courses of antibiotics and penicillin for the worst times. Bad skin is just a thing of the past!

I used loads of different lip balms - Carmex was fine, Lanolips and Apivita (a Greek brand that I love - you can get it in M&S) were my favourites. Don't bother with Vaseline.

General skincare: Avene and Laroche Posay were my friends and I used various products within the ranges. I think it's Avene that does a moisturiser especially formulated for skin that has been made dry through acne treatment so that's a good one. You may find, though, that your skin doesn't get especially dry. Other than my lips, which were just permanently peeling off, my skin didn't really get flaky.

Do feel free to PM if you have any other questions. I'm still at the stage of gazing in the mirror just amazed at how well Roac worked. It was completely worth it.

Moisturiser- Cerave. Packed full of ceramides, amazingly moisturizing even though it doesn't look like much. Calmed my skin down fantastically at the start of Retin-A, it's fabulous.

Roaccutane changed my life. Don't expect it to work quickly though -I was disheartened when there was apparently no difference for ages, then bam! Two weeks before the end of my course I had perfect skin. It's not perfect any more (twelve years later) but still a million times better and I am so grateful.

I remember using industrial-sized tubs of Vaseline. I carried one with me everywhere and had to apply it to my lips constantly. At one point I lost it for literally an hour and my lips were cracked, bleeding and swollen by the time I found it. Every morning I scrubbed the dead skin off my lips with my finger in the shower, then Vaselined to within an inch of my life.

Eye drops might also be a good idea. I didn't need them in the end but they were recommended.

Thank you so much for all the great suggestions everybody. Ever since I've started looking into roaccutane or told people I'm going to start taking it I've heard so much negativity with people telling me to steer clear of it and have you tried X Y or Z instead. So it's great to hear some positive stories for a change. Thank you.

Agree with the roaccutane changed my life line. And wish I'd done it sooner - I did it at 28 and wondered why I'd waited so long. Had to pay for it privately but it was worth it.

On the lips, my dermatologist gave me 'bag balm'. It's stuff they used on cow udders turned into lip balm. Was amazing, but not sure if you can get it here (I was in the US at the time). On skin, I don't remember it being particularly sensitive so I used whatever I used at the time. But you've had some great suggestions on here.

One wierd side effect was that my hair went curly. Had been super straight so it was wierd. Lasted about 5 years, it is straight again now.

That's a side effect I've not heard of before thalia!

If I do end up with flaky skin can I exfoliate or is that a no no?

I've had 2 sessions - I hope you only need one!!

I second Elizabeth Arden 8 hr cream and also lansinoh nipple cream - same idea but you can get it on perscription, might save you a fortune!

The inside of my nose got so dry it bleed a lot - I used a cotton bud to put 8hr cream up there! TMI

I used simple face wash & E45 cream as a moisturiser. I found my skin was so dry make up looked awful so I only ever mixed a tiny drop of foundation with the E45 for special occasions.

I wouldn't exfoliate.

It changed my life too. Wish I'd done it earlier. La Roche posey foaming face wash, followed by Avene cleanance and then rose water toner (alcohol free one).

I used body shop aloe Vera night moisturiser morning and night. Lots of different lip balms too. And drink plenty labor water.

Hope it works for you.

Another big fan of roaccutane here too. I used:

Aquaphor lip balm: Vaseline wasn't moisturising enough for me and this stuff is great. You can order it on Amazon, haven't seen it in shops here. Make sure you moisturise the corners of your mouth too! Mine had cracked from being so dry before I started using Aquaphor. Still swear by it now! Also good for moisturising inside your nose before bed to stop it cracking and bleeding. So glamorous!

Cetaphil: non-comedogenic really simple face wash and moisturiser. You don't want the one for oily skin ironically (will dry you out more), you want the normal skin one. Face wash is simple and soothing and moisturiser is really industrial strength. Recommended by dermatologists for roaccutane treatment, and you can use it as a body moisturiser too. Some Boots stores stock it, but again online is easy.

Other than that, you'll likely feel tired and achy on it (totally normal, not as bad as being pregnant) and it took me two months to stop getting the cysts and start seeing a difference. Also, all my blackheads started falling out when my pores shrank about two months in. Very satisfying. Good luck with it, and enjoy your lovely clear skin in a few months

I used neutrogena lip balm spf15 and their basic day cream also SPF 15 which was fragrance free. My face looked as red as a beetroot at the start but was well worth it as 15 years on I'm still acne free!

It changed my son's life hope it works for you too x

I took Roaccutane at 40... I realised I wasn't going to grow out of my acne. God I wish I had taken it 20 years earlier! I echo the Elizabeth Arden 8 hr love, it was by far the best for me, also false tears for my eyes and oilatum in the bath.
Dd2 recently took it and was really proactive with moisturising and had very few problems.
Good luck :)

It will shrink my pores? So I'll be acne free, be able to wear make up, not need to wash my hair at least once a day AND have smaller pores? That's amazing!

Seriously, thank you all so much. This is probably going to be a bit off topic for S&B, but starting treatment was something of a consolation prize really. After not being allowed to do it in my teens I'd decided to wait until after I'd had a family to try roaccutane. I'm now 33, diagnosed with endometriosis, childless and sick of putting my life on hold whilst hiding from the world. After so many years of being told I really don't want to take it and that my skin really isn't that bad, as well as trying to fool myself that clear skin wasn't really that important to me, you've all made me feel so much better. I'm starting to see beggining treatment as the start of something positive and it's making me feel quite emotional.

So glad you're feeling so positive about it. It changed my life too, became such a happier, more confident person afterwards.

Dry lips/nostrils aren't the best but that stage lasted 2 months for me. I've never had to worry about spots since (never had a spot free day before that).

It gets a bad press, but I think with careful monitoring it's a wonder drug.

Roaccutane was discovered in the USA in 1979 when it was first given to patients with severe acne, most of whom reacted with dramatic and permanent clearing of their acne symptoms.
Its a mirror image of vitamin A (sound ok) It a pill with a meal, prescribed at lower dosages for up to six months or longer.
I took it 20 years ago and thought it would never work since nothing had.. so so many antibiotic plus! Skin was getting permanently damaged and no end in site. And I have to say it worked! I was so pleased it changes life's.
But please be careful its a medication that can cause severe birth defects and it is advised to take extra precautions and not get pregs. Still not really know how it works, so could have long term effect.

Oh yes not having to wash your my hair every day was bliss! Forgot that 'side effect'! Waking up with lovely clean hair in the morning is definitely a perk.

I had sore eyes for a while before realising that they were probably dry (doh) and the relief of moisturising eye drops was brilliant. Just watch out for it and use the drops if you think you might possibly need it. I also got dry eyelids (wtf) at one point and needed prescription cream to sort out the irritation, if I'd moisturised my eyelids in the first place it wouldn't have got that bad!

I think if you're proactive with a lot of this stuff (moisturising, lots of lip balm reapplication etc) you can get by really minimising your side effects.

I'm almost envious of you starting out with roaccutane, it really works and gave me so much more confidence.

I'm just coming to the end of my course. Winter, central heating and the roacc has really taken its toll - Flakey McFlake :-)

Cheap chapstick type balms. Buy lots, put them in every bag and coat pocket you have.
Tissues - ditto
Hand cream - ditto
Hair conditioner (leave in and mask types). My hair is like straw at the moment.

If your symptoms are becoming too much, your derm can adjust down your daily mgs - it just means you will be on the roacc longer. It's a total cumulative amount based on daily dosage and weight.

I haven't noticed any sensitivity to products, just really dry skin - especially on my hands. Lip cracking comes and goes, my cheeks (on face!) are quite rough at the moment.

My skin cleared up quickly - bl00dy marvellous.

Congratulations! RA is wonderful, yes there are nasty side effects but it did wonders for my skin.

I second the advice on 8hr cream up the nose and find a good lip balm and reapply often. Palmers cocoa butter lip gloss was the only thing that worked for me. Get some Viscotears (eye drops that blind people use, basically fake tears) as your eyes will be dry and sore. Mine still get sore sometimes and i look like I'm crying!

Don't exfoliate, your skin will be tight and sore anyway. I used an e45 type cream on my face, it was in a blue tube but sorry I can't remember the name.

I really hope it works as well for you as it did for me

I think everyone gets slightly different side-effects. I was expecting to be in agony with sore, red skin everywhere but other than my lips, I really didn't notice too much difference. The lips were so bad though that I literally had to put lip balm on every 5 minutes.

I was knackered in the evenings, and fell asleep on the sofa every night, although felt perfectly well. By the last few weeks I felt like my body was really toiling a bit to process the drug (can't explain it, really, as I felt perfectly well and had no particular symptoms, it was more of a feeling that my system was a bit overloaded with medication!). Also had really very sore muscles and joints - it hurt to do anything at all. But you know, none of it mattered because the Roac was working miracles and I was happy to put up with any side-effects if it meant I could finally, in my mid-40s, not have awful infected spots all the time and be constantly at the doctor getting the millionth round of antibiotics that only worked for a few weeks.

And yes yes, the old pores shrink away to nothing. As well as really hideous acne, I also had quite a few of those milia-like little bumps on my face. They all vanished too, never to return.

I took it age 20 and it was fantastic! I used loads of aqueous cream (recommended by doc but not sure I'd use it now) and the blue Nivea creme. I also had tubes of Carmex everywhere. I was reasonably lucky and didn't have too many side effects - my lips were very very dry, hence the Carmex but everything else seemed OK. I had read all the horror stories too about depression etc but didn't notice anything like that and was just overjoyed at finally having clear skin.

I really hope it works out for you :)

I have had 3 courses, all in my 20s, with each course my skin got better and better.

My bad acne was on my back, my face/neck had mild but very persistant spots - luckily no scaring.

I have very oily skin yet when on the Roaccutane it positively shone. I washed it with a simple face wash and used an oil free moisteriser. No need for make up or anything. No dryness, it felt amazing during that time.

I only had dry lips so made sure I had vaseline with me all the time.