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.
I had minor acne as a teenager. It cleared up for a few years, for the most part, and then at the beginning of this year, I started working out. Like 5-7 days a week. I lost weight and was in great shape, but my face suddenly looked (and felt) horrible! I got it on the sides of my cheeks, just like your photo shows. It looked pretty much exactly like yours. I would wash my face after veery work out and started applying OTC treatment, to no avail. It made me so depressed! I remember actually choosing to stay home instead of going out because I felt so low about it. And like you, I used globs of make-up to cover it, which only seemed to make it worse. Well, I fell off the work-out bandwagon about 3 months ago. The good news is that since I haven’t been working out (pretty much ever), my face has cleared up COMPLETELY. Bad news is I’m starting to gain back that little bit of pudge that I had before my work-out addiction. =( I have no doubt that there has to be a correlation. So, either be skinny/in-shape or have a clear face. Apparently, I can’t have both. Stupid body doing stupid stuff.
Thank you for sharing your struggles with acne, especially adult acne… I have battled the same blemish issues for years, years, years and more years. I too have tried EVERYTHING, dermatologists, paleo, expensive acne solution kits, oil cleansing method and NOTHING was able to keep the acne at bay. It’s been just as bad as a 40 something adult as when I was 15. I too talked to my dermatologist about accutane but never tried it. About 10 years ago, I discovered proactiv, it changed everything. Acne disappeared in days and about once every two years I get one pimple, not bad! Every now and then I go through a thought process that I should worry about wrinkles, buy some expensive wrinkle combatting kits, break out and go back to proactiv. It’s not natural, not paleo friendly but it works for me. It even controls the acne for my teenage son!
This is awesome! I love that you are willing to put yourself out there so that other people can benefit from your experiences. Glad it’s over for you, Juli!
Hi Juli!
I just wanted to thank you for your courage and sheer honesty with this post. I personally haven’t experienced sever acne in my life, but I have used prescription anti-depressants and can relate to worrying about the Paleo stigma around Western medicine. While I too have been able to solve so many issues merely by diet and lifestyle changes, I think it is an important message to put out there, that sometimes for some period of people’s lives it is necessary and completely OK to make an educated decision about using pharmaceuticals.
Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for all your incredible posts. You are so much fun to read! I love how it seems like your personality really shines through your posts. I’m always laughing out loud when I stop by your blog (which might be a daily basis…!) Keep up the great work!
-Rosie
Wow, what a journey. Thanks for sharing. I suffered bad acne when I moved from Australia to Canada (not much sun in Vancouver and lots of clouds). It can be so miserable. I have found the absolute best thing for dry lips is papaya ointment (caricature papaya). I use Lucas’ Papaw ointment as does almost everyone you have ever met from Australia! It is cheap and hands down the best stuff! It can also be used for diaper rash, scalds, sunburn, all sorts! Good luck.
You’re awesome! I have never struggled with acne but I have stuggled with our health issues and it takes a lot of courage to keep trying things when all you want to do is give up hope and curl up into a little ball! It is amazing how diet choices affects things! I just discovered a soy intolerance that has been reeking havoic on so many things that I never even thought about.
Congrats on your victory and moreso your courage! Love reading your blog! I feel like if we met randomly at Starbucks or Zumba class we could babble about broccoli and how to find cream of coconut in a small town that thinks organic means eating the feed you give your livestock 🙂
Congratulations on your clear skin!! So liberating! I also was on Accutane, worked for me but I still had acne following, just not as bad. Birth control was my next fix, until I decided birth control is not a life long fix. I went to my naturopath and he fixed me up, I am pretty much acne free and I’m taking liquid vitamin A and spectro gel to wash my face. Sugar is my biggest enemy, I break out like a teenager. I totally suggest a naturopath for a healthy fix if needed in the future. Thank you for sharing your story! 🙂
Thanks for sharing, Juli, and congratulations on finding something that worked for you! I, too, tried to fix my increasingly troublesome adult and cystic acne with diet and, if anything, it got worse as I got more and more stressed. Finally, I sought help from a dermatologist. I’ve had great success with spironolactone and Aczone gel/cream (non-irritating and good for redness/rosacea-type acne). Hope things continue to go well for you!
I did it in 2007. My skin wasn’t that bad, but I was sick of waking up everyday with a new zit or 3, usually on my chin. I also had incredibly oily skin. This was all before even thinking about Paleo, so perhaps I wouldn’t have done it, but who knows… It was a great decision, even with all the bs that went with it. Shh..I got my prescription for birth control but realized no one checked if I took it so I stopped that after a couple of months (condoms alone always worked fine for me before and they have continued to). Just wanted to say that if you’re looking for a lot of good skin info (though I disagree with a few things), check http://www.paulaschoice.com . That website vastly improved my acne before Accutane, and there’s nothing else like it out there. I find it’s mostly it’s good for knowing which ingredients really aren’t helpful for skin (like essential oils, harsh cleansers, etc) and understanding basics. Really enjoyed your post.
Hi Julie,
Thanks so much for posting this. I struggle with Psoriasis and take Methotrexate for it. After being Paleo for 5 months my health was so improved and my head full of Practical Paleo medical advise, that I decided to go off my meds–only to have my entire body break out in psoriasis the worst ever, just totally disgusting! So I gave up and went back on meds. I’ve been feeling ashamed like I’m not doing my Paleo correctly. But sometimes Western medicine is the way to go. Thanks for sharing