Week Five

Day Twenty Nine – Monday 1st April 2013

So, week five already! I am starting this week with most side effects calm; my ears are flaking less at the moment, my neck is better and my face is still behaving the same with its daily dryness and redness. The spots are less frequent and are healing quickly.
The rash on my arms and hands is changing from day to day. At the moment it is dry and eczema like, not so much of a rough grazing anymore. It has its moments during each day where it is itchy and I feel the sunburn like soreness but it is not constant. Vaseline seems to soothe and help.
My dry lips need constantly moisturising. Still no change in the condition of my hair and no aches or joint pain to report. I am still feeling positive and am still looking forward to my new face!!

Day Thirty – Tuesday 2nd April 2013

No real news for today except that if you are following my story as a fellow acne sufferer or fellow Roaccutane user, then please feel free to share your experiences with me via the comments at the bottom of each page.

Day Thirty One – Wednesday 3rd April 2013

Today I rang the dermatology clinic to chase my eight week check-up appointment. A slot wasn’t available for 8 weeks so they have given me an appointment for 3rd June 2013, so long as the dermatologist agrees to extending my prescription without seeing me. His secretary will call me when she has spoken to him. I will email him to confirm that all is going well, to check that the side effects are normal and tell him that I am happy to continue. How cool does that sound ‘me emailing my dermatologist’ as if he’s my personal doctor! I will also make sure I do my blood test at 7 weeks like he told me to, then at least the results will get to him and he can check that everything is ok. I would be very pleased if my cholesterol is at the same level or even lower. That would encourage me to keep on the healthy eating plan and I would feel that my efforts so far have been worth it.

Day Thirty Two – Thursday 4th April 2013

Itching is quite bad at the moment and mainly on the backs of my hands, on my arms and on my back. There are no signs of dryness or rash on my back it just itches! The rash on my hands and arms comes and goes and is unpredictable. At the times when it is worse it feels quite sore and tender. I cannot scratch as I normally would, I can only gently rub it and I have even used some Vaseline when it is really unbearable. As you can see from todays photos I have the odd patch of dryness on my upper arm and just one on my leg which looks a bit different but is apparently totally normal. Don’t be fooled by the picture of my lips; I am plastering on the Vaseline constantly and fighting against the dryness. I have also included a picture of a spot on my face which I feel may have been a bit self inflicted. I had a black-head there that I decided to squeeze thinking that it would just pop out easily and that turned out to be a mistake. I think the pore must have got infected and it filled with puss, the same colour as a white-head but of a different consistency (more solid). I noticed the top layer of the area peeling away today so I went at it with my tweezers and pulled it all away. The pussy bit came off with the skin and what you can see on the picture is what is left. Lesson learnt there!!

Day Thirty Three – Friday 5th April 2013

It seems that I am entering a new phase of Roaccutane effects. I have been itching just about all over my body for what feels like forever but its only really a couple of days. The rash that I have on my hands and arms has started to appear on my legs from the knee to the ankle. I have a few more dry blotches and my skin is red in places probably due to the itching. I soaked in the bath and washed with Hydromol and then smothered some cream all over my arms and legs afterwards. It seems to have calmed it down for a minute and the redness has gone. Note to self … moisturise more often!
I heard from both my dermatologist and his secretary today and they have booked me in for the 15th April 2013 as my doctor didn’t want to wait till June to see me. This has reminded me of how important it is to monitor my progress whilst on the treatment as the doctor has squeezed me in to his already over full clinic schedule. I am so lucky to have such a good dermatologist looking after me.

Day Thirty Four – Saturday 6th April 2013

My skin is drying out all over my body now and the Isotretinoin is really doing its job.
On today’s pictures you can see how my face was this morning when I woke up before I put any cream on. I have new dryness on my eyelids and between my eyebrows. The last time I put some cream on my face was 17 hours before I took the photos. You can see that the inside of my ear is dry and crusted in the mornings too. The inside of my nose has been a bit dry and crusted but nothing too unbearable at the moment. My lips are still dry but don’t seem quite so bad as they have been. I have realised that I need to apply the moisturiser on the rest of my body more often now and that should keep the itching, soreness and redness at bay. It might be that the office I work in doesn’t help as it is very small, the air conditioning is not great and it does get very warm in there.
The body itching was bad again this morning when I woke up, it seems to be worse in the mornings and evenings. My very supportive boyfriend suggested that I use some E45 Itch Relief Cream instead of the Hydromol. I couldn’t apply it myself on my back and bum so I did need a bit of help from him which he enjoyed! It seems to have done the trick. I haven’t itched for about an hour !!

Day Thirty Five – Sunday 7th April 2013

I woke this morning to the same facial and neck dryness, although I would say my chin is slightly worse, it is actually peeling now and did feel sore. The itching all over my body came back around 6pm last night so an emergency application of E45 Itch Relief was needed! This stuff works well as I had no more itching until this morning. Then after my shower this morning I covered myself all over in Hydromol cream (with a bit of help!). This is soothing although my skin is still dry and I know it will be throughout the treatment. I am dedicated to the success of this program and will continue to persist and deal with the effects on my skin as and when they trouble me. Severe dry lips are back, I thought they were getting better yesterday!
End of week 5 and I am still happy, positive and still glad to have been given this treatment. I did think it would be worse than it is! All good x

Click here to continue to Week Six