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!

He has the prescription and starts on Monday, the dermatoligist wanted him to take steriods for 2 weeks dust to reduce the inflamation so fingers crossed it helps.

His skin is such a mess just now, the inflamation has died down a bit but he has a lot of dark red marks where they used to be, covering his cheeks and jawline, do they disappear eventually or should he be asking the dermatologist next time he goes if there is something to help lighten/heal them.

Vaseline was my go to product. Constantly re-applyingnit to my lips, round and inside my nose and on the eyelids (especially the outer corners) when going to bed.

I took roaccutane around that age although that was around 20years ago now. I was working in a health food store at the time and one practitioner recommended I take a good Vitamin B Complex as that would really help protect the mucous membranes and help avoid dryness. I got on really well with it and don’t remember any major side effects thankfully!

I used Aldi night cream for face, lasonil for lips and dry eye drops from homebargains. Body was superdrug vitamin E cream in a big tub.

You can get dry eye gel as well if the dryness is severe

I'm sure you have been warned about the rare but horrible potential side effect of low mood. This summer DS went on it and was great for about 3 weeks. He then went uncharacteristically quiet for a couple of days. After a bit of probing he said he was feeling really shit about himself and that life felt dark. Not like him at all. I was hyperaware of the potential side effects and had made sure I kept a much closer eye on him than I normally would. Anyway we immediately stop the drugs, it took a couple of weeks and he felt OK again.
Having had this experience I have heard of other people with similar problems so just something to watch.

DS 16 has been on isotretinoin for 6 months. He needs to stay out of the sun and his lips get terribly dry. He has found Simple moisturising lotion the best thing for his lips- it's tasteless but sinks in quickly and actually moisturises his lips, as opposed to some vaseline type lip balm grease which just sits on top of the lips and looks like lip gloss!

Cetaphil for face washing. Aphafor for lips. Buy moisturising foundation.

My marks on my face all faded and mostly disappeared.

Aquaphor healing balm - I used it every day - dry lips, nasal lining, on top of moisturiser at night for any dry patches. It is significantly better than anything else I tried when on roaccutane, don’t bother with Blistex. In fact I still keep tubes of it to hand, brilliant stuff.
moisturiser I used Avene rich moisturising cream but not think it’s been discontinued. There’s a rich moisturiser by LRP Cicoplast Baumé that I’ve used since and would recommend .
I didn’t experience any bad dryness on body so didn’t do anything above a sanex moisturising shower gel.

do they disappear eventually or should he be asking the dermatologist next time he goes if there is something to help lighten/heal them.

They do fade over time. I still have scarring which the derm recommended lasering for but they no longer offer it on the NHS, and I can’t afford it privately. About a year post-treatment I started to experiment with azaleic acid, glycolic acid etc. and it’s improved to the point where only I would notice it.

Btw be prepared for the fact his acne might get worse in the first few weeks of treatment. My skin was very angry at first. But it was so worth it.

@AntonFeckoff can you remember how long it took to start to see improvements.

2 weeks steriods
4 weeks roaccutane 20mg/day + steriods
3 weeks roaccutane 70mg/day (until next appointment end of Jan)

And his skin is still very angry, if anything worse, especially on his neck. Huge red angry spots.

Thankfully no noticable mood issues and he says he is fine in that sense, very dry/sore looking/swollen lips but that is the only significant issue so far. He is powering through and we are encouraging him but he is disappointed no improvement yet.

My son is 16 and just about to stop Roccutane after 6 months of treatment.

I would say it was 4 to 6 weeks before we noticed any improvement but then the improvement was very quick.

His dermatologist advised Ceravee Moisturising facial wash and the Ceravee moisturisers the day and night one. The day comes with SPF 30 or 50 depending which you get. He uses vasaline lip care on his lips be carries it everywhere with him. It has been life changing for him.

Thanks @Hellocatshome , hopefully now he is on 70mg it will kick in in the next couple of weeks and start to clear up.

He only gets little patches of dry skin so far which he is coping with and has the various Ceravee products to use. Its the lips that are the worst and he has carmex and aquafor balm for them.

@BrokenWing Your poor son. Huge sympathy from me. Acne is a side effect of steroids so perhaps that could have slowed things down? I think, also, it can look and feel worse because roaccutane makes the skin more sensitive and fragile in general. And it's really important he wears high SPF when outdoors during the day, even in cloudy weather, if he's not doing so already.

I think it was about three months before mine started improving. I remember waiting. And waiting. And waiting. And when it did start improving it wasn't perfect, just a lot better than it had been, i.e. there were patches of my face that weren't covered in a giant spot. I remember it being quite slow. The first thing I noticed was my forehead began to feel smooth (a bumpy forehead was also the first sign of it coming back before I had my second course). By about month nine my skin looked perfect, but I was on a smaller dose than your son (40mg) so his may be perfect sooner than this.

Hang in there.

Thanks @AntonFeckoff . He is likely on a higher dose because he is a well built 6ft 3in bloke 🤣. The dermatologist put him on steriods first to try to reduce the inflamation before he started the roaccutane, never knew it could make it worse too!

He has also stopped the antibs and DUAC he was previously on now, so that probably isnt helping (the DUAC did reduce some inflamation but probably too drying to continue using with the roaccutane)

Good to know it is normal not to see any great improvement yet so there is still hope it will work for him, just needs more time.

Yes you absolutely can't use DUAC or anything similar whilst on Roccutane.

@Hellocatshome I stupidly used glycolic acid toner on my face with horrifying consequences 😳

Ouch!

The dermatologist said ok to use duac for the first few weeks when on steriods and the low dose, but told him to stop when he started the high dose which he has. I'll make sure he knows to keep it to gentle things now!

My son was on Roaccutane . From what I remember, the dermatologist prescribed a lot of Eucerin - particularly the Urea day cream ( we are in France and can only get the dry skin one but in the UK you can get the very dry skin/ night cream which was a life saver). He also used a LRP body moisturizer and Aquaphor by Eucerin.
I was very reluctant to go with the treatment but his acne was awful and within a month his face had completely cleared. His back took longer.

Also he had some scarring on his back - his back was covered in boils- but you wouldn’t notice now three years later.

He is just in from work, PT bar staff at hotel so has been busy while off uni and Christmas/NY peak time. So i havent seen him much last few days.

Lips are dry/cracked at corners so told him to use the aquaphor repair balm he has regularly and stop licking them constantly!!!!!

Ends of fingers around nails are sore too (he is a nail biter and hands are wet a lot at work) so told him to get the aquaphor cream on them too.

Good luck to your son! I’ve been on Roaccutane and so have both the kids. As a pp said, it is life changing. IIRC I think it took about a month for my skin to stop making new spots, but 1 DC is on it now and it has taken her approx 3 months. Her skin looks gorgeous now. She has that lovely Roaccutane glow that happens while you’re taking it.

I found Cicaplast (La Roche Posay) lip balm to be the best lip balm. There are tubes everywhere in the house. Don’t be without one. Use, use and use again. Cerave cleanser, moisturiser. Vaseline for dry skin patches. SPF I use LRP or Eucerin - really like the Eucerin one.

Hi!
Any advice for help with nosebleeds while on Roaccutane? My son has been on it 2 months now and everything is drying out. I suggested vaseline but he says putting the vaseline in his nose gives him a nosebleed.
Sigh

Hi @WhiteCatmas ,my son hasnt had any problems with nose bleeds yet, but while googling about side effects and taking some notes there was mention of using saline or oil nasal sprays which might be easier than trying to apply vaseline.

If you try any and they work/or don't work for him I would be grateful if you could update here as mine might be needing the same soon!

Just seen mine come out the shower and the state of his shoulders and chest is awful. It just seems to be get worse and worse. Feel so sorry for him. 😔

So relieved so read this @Elevenutionary after reading so many horror stories. I'm due to start it 6th Feb and feeling nervous about it side affects and how much worse they could get