Roaccutane - recommendations for dryness

[BrokenWing]

After a long wait Ds(19) is starting Roaccutane next week and I am filling up my boots online basket so i know what to recommend to him if he needs anything for the common dryness side effects. He already mentions itchy skin coming out of the shower with Dove shower cream, and has slightly dry/watery eyes so expect both will get worse while on roaccutane.

I feel a bit clueless, I have checked loads of past threads that recommend e.g. aveeno, but there are lots of aveeno moisturisers and I don't know which one is best while using roaccutane and what to avoid! I would really appreciate all advice to get him onto the right products he will need.

Lips (and up nose?) - Blistex relief cream seems to be a clear recommendation
Shower - AVEENO® Dermexa Daily Emollient Body Wash?
Moisturiser body - Aveeno Dermexa Daily Emollient Cream?
Moisturiser face - What should he be using while on roaccutane?
SPF50 - recommendations?
Eyes - Hycosan Extra Eye Drops?

I know he needs to drink lots of water, any other advice welcome!

Epaderm emollient as it contains no additives, aveeeno is full of them. Thealoz duo for eye drops, Trehalose helps heal the eye

I have been on it for 6 months, on a 20mg low dose. Not needed to up it as it is working. I haven't had any major side effects. Slightly dry lips - didn't find blistex helpful. Carmen

When I was on it I used doublebase and really moisturising hair products.

Also eye drops the chemist can recommend.

I’ve been on Roaccutane twice and the second time round I did so much research on what to use - as it had been so awful the first time!

My two holy grail products were the CeraVe Moisturising Cream for Dry to Very Dry Skin (the white and blue packaging one) and Aquaphor. I’d buy the massive tubs of both - around 500g each. The CeraVe was brilliant as an all over moisturiser, and Aquaphor was the only thing that made a different to my cracked lips and nose. You can also buy smaller tubes of Aquaphor, but I just used to decant from my big tub into small containers to carry round with me, as it was much more economical that way.

For dry eyes my optician recommended buying eye drops without preservatives in them - they’re much better for your eyes than the standard ones you buy at the shop and last for longer. You can get them from the opticians or just search on google for ones without preservatives.

The combination of those 3 products was basically all I needed. I kept everything else really simple and avoided anything that was too heavily perfumed. With those 3 things it really wasn’t too bad.

For SPF I just used Superdrug own brand SPF50, as I figure they’re basically all the same. I have used the La Roche Pose one before too and also liked that.

Have him drink lots of water and keep a close on how he’s doing mentally/emotionally. It’s a tough medication to be on!

Testing...

Previous message posted whilst I was trying to fix an autocorrect. Grrrr!
I have been on it for 6 months, on a 20mg low dose. Not needed to up it as it is working. I haven't had any major side effects. Slightly dry lips - didn't find blistex helpful. Carmex was better for the times my lips did get a bit dry.
I use cetaphil https://www.superdrug.com/skin/body-moisturisers/body-lotions/cetaphil-moisturising-lotion-236ml/p/599961?gclid=CjwKCAiA3aeqBhBzEiwAxFiOBuUDlQCfnTeX5gQvaUI4PafxUjngX7e-PXAX8ZDVvdYHNYQOmhu4ARoCYRcQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds morning and evening. I have had a couple of occasions of dryish skin, but nothing more than I've had anyway. No dry eyes despite contact lenses.
Only other evidence I'm on the medication (other than lack of spots!) is the fact I could literally never wash my hair. It no longer gets greasy. I like this side effect 🤣.

For me, the lifesavers were Carmex for lips (get it in more than one flavour as you have to use so much of it that you get sick of the same taste) and Aveeno Skin Relief (the thick kind) for skin. They didn't have them at the time but I've recently spotted the Aveeno Bath Soak sachets which I would have found useful.

La Roche Posay Cicaplast Baumé and associated products.

I’ve had two rounds of roaccutane.

Lips (and up nose?) - I used (and still use) bioderma atoderm lip balm. You can buy packs of three cheaply on Amazon. Apply it constantly. I also dabbed hyalauronic acid on my lips followed by La Roche cicaplast lips as a night treatment. For up the nose, dip a cotton bud in Vaseline and twirl it inside your nostrils.

Shower - AVEENO® Dermexa Daily Emollient Body Wash? - this sounds good but in my case only my face got dry. My skin became fragile all over though and found I got more cuts and grazes.

Moisturiser body - Aveeno Dermexa Daily Emollient Cream? - again sounds good. Also Cerave moisturising cream that comes in a big tub.

Moisturiser face - What should he be using while on roaccutane? The Ordinary Squalane oil is amazing. I would apply a layer of hyalauronic acid (hada labo from Superdrug is good), followed by a layer of squalane oil, followed by Cerave moisturiser (the one that comes in the tub).

SPF50 - recommendations? I like Eucerin.

Eyes Hycosan Extra Eye Drops? Yes, I used these as recommended by the derm. She gave them to me on prescription.

Another recommendation - apply Vaseline to the corners of your nose.

Cleanser - Waitrose Pure cleansing milk. Really cheap.

Do not, I repeat, do not use anything like glycolic acid, azelaic acid or topical retinoids. I made the mistake of using a glycolic acid toner and I ended up with a massive cracked sore on my face.

Moo Goo full cream moisturiser is very good for very sensitive and dry skin, if you can get him to, use Lansinoh lanolin nipple cream but they do a lip balm that looks less like a breastfeeding product.
Beauty kitchen Natruline castor oil lip treatment, it looks like vaseline but is far better.

Use the Dermal range

You can wash with these

www.dermal.co.uk/products/dermol-range/

You can use the Dermal 500 as shower gel and a moisturiser

I was on roaccutane 35 years ago

I remember getting itchy skin and wanting more cooler baths and showers

I didn't think of using any moisturisers at the time tbh but probably should have

I was so happy though because my skin cleared up really quickly and stayed that way

It really changed my teenage life for the better.

Photo of Dermol 500

La Roche posay lip balm and the Hycosan eye drops. Eye drops were more of a must have than moisturiser for me. I was on roaccutane 12 years ago and my eyes have never really recovered. I’ve used eye drops ever since.

Same. I remember going to a party while I was on it, and staying out all night without my eye drops. The next day the inner parts of my eyelids were inflamed and covered in little dots. It was horrible. I’ve had dry eyes ever since but it was worth it as my acne was severe, disfiguring and very painful, and since I finished my second course three years ago I can probably count the number of spots I’ve had on one hand.

Looks like there isnt one holy grail product! - I'll get googling all the recommendations morning! Thank you for every post 💐, hopefully he won't be affected significantly but I like to be prepared just incase!

Look up the ISDIN acniben range. It's not in shops in the UK but easy enough to find online. The products are formulated specifically for the side effects of Roaccutane.

Epaderm really helped me.

Eye drops
Eucerin Aquaphor - not the lip version the tube version. This can be used up nostrils, and is far better than blistex on lips, day and night.

A water bottle.

Oh and cetaphil do large pump bottles of face wash and moisturiser

I would try to encourage him to do the nostrils, lips and moisturising and spf from day one so it helps prevent issues after a month or two

Dr Sam Bunting has a new intense moisturiser which looks amazing. I haven’t tried it but I can only use her products on my super sensitive and dry skin.

Also does an amazing SPF but I recommend the gossamer one (untinted) as the other can feel sticky.

I had acne until my late 30s but never tried Roaccutane so I’m afraid I can’t speak from that POV. I hope you find a good routine for your son.

https://drsambunting.com/collections/moisturiser/products/flawless-moisturiser-intense

When my daughter was on Roaccutane she had dry lips and used 'o'keefe's lip repair balm'. It works really well. She used Cerave dry moisturising cream for her face.

My son is on it now and hasn't really had any side effects! He's 17. His lips are sometimes dry so he uses the same lip balm but that's it.

It's working really well though so we're over the moon for him.

We went through a LOT of Burts bees lip salve