I was on relatively low dose Roaccutane for 8 months, best decision I ever made and it was not a horror story like a lot of people make it out to be, you just have to be prepared on how to handle some of the most common side effects. I had a big purge at first, crazy dry skin, very dry and cracked lips, dry eyes, it was uncomfortable to start with but once I found the right products it really wasn’t that bad considering at the end my skin was the best it had ever been in my life.

My advice whilst on Roaccutane is to BE GENTLE, so so gentle with your skin. Strip your skin routine back to basics, just a very gentle mild cleanser. At night time I would smother myself in Diprobase or Aqueous cream a few hours before bed. This is a night time only thing because Diprobase is so sticky and you could never ever wear makeup on top of it! I would walk around the house with this horrible sticky white face but I didn’t care because i was like “ahhh my skin is just soaking up all this moister haha’.
Vasline won’t cut it for Roaccuate level dry lips, Carmex and Blistex worked for me.
DONT WAX.
Don’t put anything else on your skin, wash, moisturise, and then probably more moisturiser, but that’s it.
If you can avoid wearing makeup, do it. Makeup did not sit well on my Roaccutane level dry face. I am a mega oily gal, and at the start of the day I would do my makeup, within 2 hours my skin was peeling, flaking, my foundation had cracked and sunk into all my dry creases, it was not pretty!! So in the end I gave up.
Be patient, it took about 1.5 months before my skin started to chill out with the dryness and the purging and I started noticing massive changes in my skin really quickly after that.

You hear all these horror stories about “Roaccuate ruing your body”, yes there are more series side effects like reduction in bone mineral density, or that its extremely harmful to an unborn baby. But the reduction in bone mineral density is only really and big concern if you are on Roaccuate as an adolescent, as this is when you acquire much of your bone mineral density for the rest of your life. Also if you take part in regular high, impact exercise/resistance training, you’ll be fine. Its not going to crumble your bones if you take Roaccuate as an adult. Also the whole pregnancy thing wasn’t an issue for me, I was already on the Depo injection and had zero intention of getting pregnant.

If you and unsure, I SAY DO IT, and invest in a shit load of moisturiser and you’ll be fine 🙂

Michelle, aww thank you! So glad to know my blog has helped you.

I agree. Sadly, doctors are trained to automatically prescribe meds. And yes, sometimes you need meds. But often, looking at the root cause of the problem and making a few lifestyle changes can fix the issue.

Becca, thanks for sharing your experience. I hope the tips here help you. I’m glad you found a few products that work for you. Who said you need to spend a lot of money to get good skincare? Cheap products can work well too.

Been on accutane for a bit over a month and the desertification has begun! Though I still have spots healing from moderate adult acne leaving “icepick scars” facially and at times black marks deep in the skin for the more cystic type ones on my legs and chest, as well as more blood blister types on my back and sides that turn red, purple then black. For my face’s new Saharan Adventure I’ve taken to blistex daily conditioning lip balm and the old classic Ponds Cold Cream Cleanser and Ponds Moisturizer. I thought to try it remembering how oily it made my skin as a teen once, and said hey, I could use that right now! lol. It’s a bit fragrant, but so far its the only thing hydrating enough, hypoallergenic, and it’s only about $5 a pot. I’m pretty low income, so all those blogs about using 5 different $50 skin stuffs were not very helpful for me personally. Thanks for the tips here!

Renee, thanks! I hope this post can help your friend make the right decision for her. The side effects are scary indeed but, if you’ve tried EVERYTHING without results, it’s the less of two evils. Still, I’d look into changing diet/lifestyle (if she hasn’t done it yet) first. 🙂