My Skincare Journey: Taking the Accutane Leap

You know what I dreaded most while in high school and having consistent acne? It wasn’t comments from friends or even other students talking about my acne because honestly what I realized was most kids my age were also dealing with some form of acne whether it was as visible as mine or not.

What I dreaded were bi-weekly comments from my mom and occasional input from my Amma (AKA foreign grandma) asking “Why don’t you just go see a dermatologist?” or “The bumps really don’t bother you?”. No Amma they didn’t until you pointed them out.

My skin before.

Trust me, I knew I had acne and that it wasn’t just your occasional pimple either, but going to the dermatologist meant the DIY face masks and at-home extractions really weren’t working. And 16 year-old me was stubborn and “didn’t need any help”. So one day when I woke up with a bad, painful breakout all over my T-Zone I decided I would suck it up and go to the dermatologist. After a few visits where I tried special face wash, dropped almost $200 on an OTC topical treatment, and began never skipping a morning or nighttime skincare ever again, I found a pill (called Doxycycline) that actually gave me a temporary solution for almost a year. Unfortunately as soon as I stopped taking the pill my acne came back, and it can back much, MUCH worse. It was a lot of trial and error that always seemed to end in error, with me stuck with a face full of acne. I even went off dairy for a couple months and trust me that was hard for a girl who loves cheese on almost everything, but unfortunately I didn’t notice a significant change in my skin.

This whole process left me feeling defeated, especially since my dermatologist said she had one more thing she wanted to try and that she was recommending Accutane. When I first heard her say that I was like I’m not really sure what that means. I've heard the word Accutane mentioned but why is this a last option kind of thing? So I did some research with my mom and we came to the conclusion that people either hated or loved Accutane and there was no in between. Also, online people loved to talk about all the crazy side effects and honestly they scared the S**T out of me.

At this point my acne had become a huge part of my life because I felt embarrassed by it. It prevented me from leaving the house without a ton of makeup on. Concealer became my best friend. I felt self-conscious when my friends would talk about a pimple on their face because I knew my acne was a lot worse. I felt like acne was taking over my life and I wanted to try anything that would make it go away.

So, I decided to talk to friends and coworkers who I knew had been on Accutane before, and the feedback was consistently something along the lines of “Yeah the dry skin and lips sucked but it was so worth it in the end”. And let me tell you most of these people didn’t even have a pimple or noticeable blackhead on their face. So I talked my mom off the ledge and explained why I wanted to go on Accutane, and then I told my dermatologist.

Micro-dose Accutane,
Expert-Guided Treatment with
All-Inclusive Care

Micro-dose Accutane, Expert-Guided Treatment with All-Inclusive Care

Includes Evaluations + Medications

Start Online Evaluation Worried that you're not a candidate? If the physician deems you ineligible for any treatments your initial consultation is FREE - we'll refund you in full automatically.

Included Benefits

1st month’s order is FREE (if prescribed)

One cleanser and moisturizer set

First bloodwork labs order

“Once I heard of the success rates from my dermatologist and how closely I would be monitored on it, I was sold.”

Accutane is typically a last-resort drug because there are some serious side effects like birth defects if you get pregnant, and some people claim it causes depression but there is no proven correlation. So once I heard of the success rates from my dermatologist and how closely I would be monitored while on it I was sold. The initial purge of acne in the first month was hard and made me not want to leave my house, but after that my skin got a little better every day and then all of a sudden in between the 3rd and 4th month my skin was almost 100% clear.

How my skin was looking in the last month of accutane.

The Accutane process for me was 6 months long, it consisted of pregnancy tests, blood work, STUPID iPLEDGE questions(IYKYK), and lots of Aquaphor. In the moment, I might not have said it was worth it but now after being off it for over a year now and only getting occasional period pimples makes me say it was worth it and I would go on Accutane again if I had to.

My experience with Accutane is why I am now on the Clear Health team. While on Accutane, the process was very tedious and I felt pretty alone while I was on it, and google became my best friend (trying to learn all about Accutane as I was on it). But a lot of the info on the internet is very misleading. So once I was off Accutane and I heard about Clear Health, I knew wanted to be on the team to help other acne sufferers and make the process as easy as possible. We make the process so easy and streamlined, which is something I wish I had when I was going through my Accutane journey. 

At home monthly pregnancy tests & going on birth control were required while on accutane.

I will say that I have no regrets but I wish I could go tell my younger self that it does get better and that your close friends didn’t even notice your acne and even if they did they did not give a s**t because no one is as big a critic of you as you are to yourself. This whole experience made me learn how to love myself no matter what’s going on with my body and now my skincare routine is one of my favorite parts of the day.

This picture was taken on my last day of accutane on 9/3/2020.

One thing you need to remember when deciding if you want to go on Accutane is your skincare journey does not end with the last pill of Accutane. I have a very consistent skincare routine that I do every morning and night. Accutane helps get your skin where you want it to be but you still need to take care of it in order to keep those results. With my skincare routine my skin stays extremely clear but that doesn’t mean I don’t get an occasional pimple. Accutane was just one step of my journey but a very important one – the rest of the stuff like your skincare routine, habits, diet, and lifestyle all play a role, and Clear Health’s sister skincare brand Nefaire covers a lot of this but I’ll get to that in a different post.

For now, if you’re still struggling with acne stay diligent! It’s totally normal, and it CAN and WILL get better.

All the best,
Alexa <3