DISCLAIMER
I'm not a doctor, dermatologist or any other type of medical staff. This is my own personal opinion, experiences and advice. You follow the advice at your own risk.
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Acne vulgaris (cystic acne or simply acne) is a common human skin disease, characterized by areas of skin with seborrhea (scaly red skin), comedones (blackheads and whiteheads), papules (pinheads), pustules (pimples), nodules (large papules) and possibly scarring.
Most people will get acne some time in their life. It's normal. So many as 80% of people between 11 and 30 will be affected by acne at some point. Then there's those that have it for years and don't grow out it after puberty. People like me. I have had acne since I was 12. It started out in the face and moved on to the back and shoulder area. The ''acne gene'' came from my biological father. Several people on that side of the family had/has a fair share of acne.
I didn't get much banter and teasing about it, but I still hated the sight of it. It really got to me, I felt like the new pizza from Pizza Hut. Having said that, I'm one of the more fortunate acne victims. Some people are much more worse off than me, so I should really be grateful.
I've tried every product and home remedy known to man. I begged my GP to put me on some antibiotics, but he didn't want to do so whilst ''I was still growing''...... So as the good boy I was, I waited patiently to finished puberty. When I moved to UK I went to my new local GP and asked if she could refer me to a dermatologist cause I wanted antibiotics. She said she wanted me to try Oxitetracycline, a milder antibiotic, for 12 months. So I did. It did help a bit, but far from enough. So a couple of months back I got my GP to refer me to a dermatologist. Today I had my first appointment. So happy!
I told the doctor in the Neath Port Talbot hospital dermatologist dep. my story, which I've just told you. He got absolutely furious at my previous Norwegian GP. He said that the puberty excuse was so some mumbo jumbo and not true, far from it. He said that if he'd seen me when I was 13 he would have put me on roaccutane straight away. He said that the point of treating it early is to stop future scaring. Finally, a doctor who makes sense. So if you're GP says no because you're too young, change doctor and bypass him/her I say.
Roaccutane or (previously accutane in USA) is a that goes underneath your skin and kills all the bacteria and infections. Roaccutane (accutane) is the brand name, but the generic name of the drug is
Isotretinoin. So if you're prescribed this, it might not be called roaccutane or accutane, but it is still the same drug.
Basically what Isotretinoin does, is to dry out your skin. It pushes everything to the surface and removes the infected skin. That's why I will have to moisturise like a crazy person.
About here, you might be thinking; what about side effects? Well yeah that list is CRAZY long. Most common is dry skin, dry lips, headaches, dry eyes and inflammation of skin.
The entire list of side effects can be found here:
NHS UK
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| Sorry about the picture quality... |
These pictures was taken today. That's how my back and face looks right now. Believe me, it took a bit of me to publish that. But I did it cause it will serve as a constant motivation. After I'm done on this drug, my skin will be as smooth as a baby's bum.
I've weighed the pros and cons, read more blogs/reviews than I care to remember and talked to mates that have been on it. My mates who've been on says it was the best thing they've ever done. The pros clearly outweighs the cons. The possibility of becoming free from acne for the rest of my life is worth a bit of headache and dry skin. So after the cure I will have perfect skin (over 90% success rate with this drug).
For 8 months I'll be on this drug. My dermatologist said to me that male patients that go on this cure have a much higher success rate when going on a smaller dosage for a longer period of time. Meaning that 1 pill a day for 8 months gives much better results than 2 pills a day for 4 months. He said if he were to put me on a high dosage, my back could flare up and become borderline infected and my face worse too. So that's why I'm on the 8 months cure.
I can hardly drink alcohol during those 8 months, which actually I'm kinda looking forward to. It's not just that I might get a bad headache if I do, but I could (in theory) be hospitalised If I've been on Roaccutane for let's say a month and go out and get really really drunk, my liver (and other organs)
CAN shut down. Even though this is highly unlikely, the chances are still there. What will happen, is that my skin gets extremely dehydrated. I did ask about Christmas and New Years Eve, if I could have SOME drinks. My dermatologist suggested that a week before New Years, I start taking the pills every other day instead of every day. So that means I CAN actually have some drinks on New Years Eve :)
I'll be documenting the whole process on my blog and I will take one photo of my back and face every day. Loads of people have questions about acne, roaccutane etc. So even though I'm FAR from a dermatologist, I can still answer based on my personal experiences. I will also write about and show what products I use and have found that people recommend online. And also where you can get a free skin care consultation. You might be surprised to see what products I use.
So stay tuned!
Today's song: The Script - Hall of Fame ft. will.i.am
