I’m guessing you’re expecting a wonderful post about some miracle, natural home remedy acne solution that I’ve found and has cleared up my acne in no time flat. But that’s not the case. Well, I guess that depends how you see it. About 6 months ago, I made the decision to go on Accutane. I actually talked about it in a post once to get second opinions from people. Most of the opinions were negative but I also saw many positive ones. So once I started taking accutane, I decided to keep that info out of my blog so I wouldn’t have other people’s opinions changing my own.
So let’s go back to the beginning. I’ve always had a little bit of acne. Nothing to get super upset about, but enough that I saw a dermatologist when I was in high school, when I was in college, and after college. But it wasn’t until I started CrossFit and was competing, that my acne got out of control. And when I say out of control, I mean it was incredibly painful to the touch. I had bad cystic acne that hurt when I was just putting on make up. But since the acne was so bad, putting on make up was my only choice. I’m not sure if it was CrossFit that changed my complexion, but I’m almost certain it had to do with it because of the changes in estrogen and other hormones.
Anyways, after trying many different home remedies such as oil pulling and oil cleansing, changes to my eating habits, removing fish oil from my diet, consuming cod liver oil, and different essential oils, I decided to try some prescription strength drugs. After trying spironolactone and other prescription drugs as well as topical medication, I was finally at a loss. It had been almost 3 years of fighting this cystic acne that was going to lead to much worse scarring if I didn’t do something about it. So I decided to try Accutane out and my dermatologist immediately agreed.
Accutane is a high dose of vitamin A, that you take on a daily basis. Most treatments, like mine, are around 6 months. Some people have to do multiple sessions, but not everyone. Accutane is taken very seriously by not only the doctor, but also the state. It is a state regulation that you must be on birth control while taking Accutane because the birth defects are so awful. There are also other side effects such as depression, muscle and joint pain, extremely dry skin and eyes, and a whole hell of a lot of other things, but those are the things I experienced. The process is quite tedious. Here’s the process you go through every month: get your birth control (remember, no babies), get your blood drawn so they can check that your liver is just fine, then go to the doctor a couple days later where you have to do a urine test to make sure you’re not pregnant, then you get your prescription, then you have to take a test online all about practicing safe sex, once you pass that test, you can then drop off your prescription to finally get your month supply. Then do this many more times until you are off the medication. Annoying, but so worth it in my opinion.
You may be asking why the hell I’m even writing about this on a paleo recipe blog. Which is understandable. But I want to share my experience with people who are trying so hard to change their diet to fix their body issues, and those things are just not working. The more I’ve eaten paleo, the more I’ve found out how many things can be cured through diet alone. I rarely get sick, I sleep better, I have more energy, my depression went away. So many things can change through diet, but my acne did not seem to be one of them. And if it was, it would have taken me YEARS and many scars to find out those reasons. I’m sharing all this information with you in hopes that if you are ever thinking about taking this prescription drug, you have another opinion. A positive one.
I had a truly positive experience with the drug. Not to say that I didn’t have some ups and downs, but most of my 6 month experience was a good one. Here were some of my symptoms:
- The worst symptom by far has been dry lips. You know when you get a sunburn and it peels? Well imagine that happening every single hour, of every single day, for 6 months. It was miserable. By far the worst thing. Not having chapstick on hand truly felt like a meth addict not having his drug. Terrible description, but that’s seriously how it felt. I rarely stop biting or picking at my lips. I have a new habit I need to break.
- Dry skin and red skin. Mostly my face was the only thing that got dry, but it was also my ears, my nose and my hair. So I exfoliated my face daily with one of those soft bristle face rotating brushes. A cheap one. And moisturized a lot. I didn’t stop wearing make up until my skin settled down after the second month, I was too embarrassed.
- Dry, breaking hair. My hair thinned out and my hair stylist said it seemed to be breaking easily. After 4 months, that passed and my hair got a lot better. Wish it would have affected my leg hair, that would have been cool.
- My joints and muscles hurt A LOT about 3-5 months in. Workouts were much more uncomfortable to the point that it hurt to walk. That passed after 5 months.
- Moody and depressed. I got REALLY depressed about 4 months or so into the accutane. I mean, depressed to the point that I couldn’t get off the couch. I couldn’t figure out why I was sad or what was wrong, but I was so unhappy. I fought some depression when I was growing up, so I was more likely to have some while on the drug. It went away with time.
- Super red face. I’m pale when I stay away from the sun, so my neck and my face were completely opposite colors. Weird looking.
So I’m going to share some pictures with you. Disclaimer: these pictures may be frightening. And I’m sure some mean people out there will leave mean comments that will bum me out, but I want to share with you what a huge difference the medication made. I no longer have any acne, only red scars remain, which should go away over time. If they don’t all go away, I plan on doing some chemical peels and/or laser treatment to get rid of the scars.
In the end, I am incredibly happy with the results of accutane and extremely happy that I went on the prescription. I’m not sure what will happen in the future and if I will have to get back on it, but I know that my acne will never be as bad or as painful as it was in the past. This prescription has done wonders for me and if anyone ever asked me, I would recommend it to them. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it! But remember, this prescription affects everyone differently. Just because I had a good experience doesn’t mean someone else will. Thanks for listening. You’re my favorite. Please feel free to share your experiences, but do not hate on me for sharing my own experience with it. Kthanksbye.
Accutane…auto correct, grrr!!!
The dry lips and Chapstick, lol…I was a teen in the 80’s while on accutane. We wore lipstick…fuschia lipstick. I had to have lipstick on all the time. I have been called the lipstick queen, yay..I still have to have it, though not fuschia! And have to wear Chapstick to bed, A habit I picked up 31 years ago while on accutane 😀
I think it is incredibly weird that you had THE.SAME.EXACT.ISSUE I did when starting crossfit 6 months ago. I never had acne, like one breakout exactly a week before my period, ever. Then once I started Crossfit, my god, the carnage. My right side of my face went bat-shit crazy. My cheek area, along my jawline, and forehead. I have been battling it ever since, I have used Retin-A, proactiv, and ambi cream to fade the red spots because I have extremely sensitive and pale skin and every blemish leaves behind a red/dark mark for a year, no joke.
I am a devout vegan, so I didn’t change my diet to paleo weirdness (even though I subscribe to a blog called paleomg, haha. Mostly because I <3 your attitude and style of writing, I ignore the recipes as a whole, no disrespect, but I've been vegan for 11 years and don't plan on changing that anytime soon, I have successfully put on about 30 pounds of muscle in the past year on brown rice protein shakes by sunwarrior).
I am not glad you have a similar issue, because it sucks donkey, but it is helpful to see how you have dealt with it, I haven't had cystic acne, and I'm so sorry you had to deal with that. I just wish I knew what correlation to crossfit it had, disgustingly dirty gyms/changes in hormones due to olympic lifting, etc. Though I lift extremely heavy on my own for a long time without the breakout situation.
I have monthly breakouts right around when my period starts – when progesterone falls and estrogen begins to rise. I read something a while back that these breakouts can be caused by testosterone being high *relative* to other hormones–progesterone in particular if i recall correctly. Weight lifting definitely increases testosterone – which for the most part is great – more energy, more muscle definition, and a higher sex drive. But acne can be a down side 🙁
Great post Juli. Nice that you shared your story so bravely, and that you have such an awesome community of people around you to chime in to share and support you!!
I join with everyone else in commending you for addressing this topic; acne is very difficult to deal with, and for some people the Rx route is a good option. I’ve dealt with acne since my teens and am now in my early 50s. I didn’t have the cystic type, but have had breakouts forever. Just wanted to let you know that I found some mostly organic products that work well for me — Lerosett by Gunilla of Sweden (some spas carry it and you can order online). They have aloe-based cleanser, toner, and moisturizer and a natural clay mask that really does make a difference when you use it regularly. They don’t dry out your skin like just about every other acne product out there. My skin is in much better shape since using these products. I also used Skinceuticals Blemish+Age serum, but seems like I can do without it when I keep to the Lerosett routine. Good luck! And I do love your recipes!
Thank you so much for sharing! So brave of you to post pictures up! I have dealt with cystic acne myself and was always so terrified to try accutane because the side effects frightened me so I finally found a natural solution I was happy with using raw honey as a cleanser and coconut oil mixed with aloe vera as a moisturizer and my skin has never looked better in my whole life! (I do give a lot of credit to being paleo though) I am so happy to see such good results happened for you! Congratulations! aaannnnd im completely obsessed with your website. you make my day all the time 🙂
I have been on various immune suppressants and noticed that my skin was breaking out more often, worse than previously, and was taking forever to heal. I tried all kinds of remedies that didn’t work or just made my skin burn like fire. Finally, two things seem to have made a difference for me: occasional bleach baths (1/2 cup OR LESS of bleach in a full bath tub) and twice daily showers and shampooing/conditioning. Apparently, I already carried a high bacteria load on my skin but my body had always dealt with it ok until the immune suppressants beat me up. I had cystic acne that came up on my chin that caused my whole face to swell and required a trip to the ER for IV antibiotics. That was scary.
The dermatologist off handedly mentioned the bleach baths but I was skeptical. After research, I realized I could take them only when I felt like the cleansing regimen wasn’t keeping up with the bacterial load. The concentration is no more potent than a swimming pool but you bathe in it. The first time you do, you might be disgusted by what remains in the water when you’re done. I even wash my hair in it and then rinse with clean water and condition it because I get bad breakouts on my scalp–worse than on my face.
The twice daily showers/baths are done with very mild cleansers and I follow with coconut oil if my skin seems to be drying out. I’ve found that the dry skin seems to be uncorrelated with the breakouts and the coconut oil just restores the moisture balance. Plus with its anti microbial and antibacterial properties, the coconut oil actually helps keep the skin in balance.
That’s my two cents on what has worked for me under my unique circumstances. I appreciate you telling your story because I do note that the more I work out, the more my scalp and face break out without following my cleaning regimine–and even still while following it. I thought all along that I must be doing something wrong. Now, I see that it is a quite common occurrence.
Thanks again for sharing!
Juli,
You’ve always looked great! Glad you found something that worked for the acne. I know how much it bothered you because you were honest enough to share it with us here. Thanks for the always honest, usually hilarious stuff.
If anyone ever bullies you, here or anywhere, get me a name, handle, scent, anything and I can make this kind of thing happen : http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1563667-boxer-curtis-woodhouse-tracks-down-twitter-troll-shows-up-at-his-house
I’ve got the resources, abilities and mean streak to make that happen 🙂
I also had a good experience with Accutane. My freshman year of college the acne was very severe (not a fun time when meeting so many new people and dealing with self-esteem issues already). I was so glad to have something finally make a difference. Lately, I seem to be breaking out more which is unfortunate. I’m not sure if I would ever undergo such a harsh treatment again. But at the time it was definitely worth it. I experienced the dry lips/face but not other symptoms thankfully.
Also – You don’t haavvvee to go on birth control. Abstinence is always an option = )
Holy crap do you have a lot of comments or what, I had to swipe my scroll bar on the iPad about 20 times!! Anyway, I took accutane for six months when i was 21… I still remember the dry lips….and I had to get regular liver function tests….but the results were awesome, I am now 36 and can’t recall a bad breakout since the treatment (and often get “what nice skin you have”comments) …so…yay for you!!
I’m new to your site – LOVE it — and this was a great post! I went on Accutane for the first time when I was 15 and then again at 26. Both times I hoped it would last FOREVER but it didn’t but it did help for several years. I am now 47 and still have problems with acne and cysts but not continuously. My dad is 78 and HE still has cysts so I’m sure I’ll deal with it on some level forever. The BEST thing I’ve done for cysts in the last 7-8 years is have a Smooth-Beam laster treatment at my dermatologists office about 2x a year – – for me that has helped me as much if not more than Accutane.
Also I had all the side affects you had too – -the dry skin and lips suuuuuuucks. When I was 15 my mom was more worried about how or if it would affect my future children …. happy to say I have 3 perfect kids (teenagers!) two of which have already been on Accutane as well. Worked miracles on my daughter (she was 16) but my son had to shorten his time on it because it was affecting his liver (ironically he did/has done CrossFit the whole time too!). And truthfully the old-wives tales are true for me – – stay away from chocolate, fried foods and don’t touch your face!!! 🙂