Accutane Month 4

I just completed month 4 and I'm still alive! My skin is doing well, as is my general health.  Not to be gross, but I did have some umm... "bathroom troubles" from not drinking enough water. This is why it's SO important to drink enough water in life, as well as when you're on Accutane. My doctor said that the average human should be drinking 6-8 cups of water a day.  Since I've been taking this medication, I feel normal (read: not like I'm made of sand) when I'm drinking 9-11 cups, depending on the day. So when I was only drinking around 6 a day-- problems started happening.

Another complaint is one I spoke about before-- extremely dry lips. I'm only bringing it up again because they got even worse and cracked in the corners. The corners also were a tiny bit swollen and tender at times (this is probably partially due to my horrible habit of peeling my lips DON'T JUDGE ME!!). Something that has been helping is plain old Chapstick, probably because it's so thick.  I'm getting ahead of myself, BUT when I saw my dermatologist to start month 5, she suggested using 1% hydrocortisone cream (found at any drug store) to help with the cracked corners. So far, it works but I'll talk about that more in next month's post.

Like always, I'm not wearing the any makeup in these pictures. I'm a little shiny because I JUST applied my moisturizer.

I had one of the most stressful weeks in a while, so the guy on my chin came out to let me know. Gr.

Accutane Month 3

I finished another month of Accutane and haven't died yet!  Ok, not that this medication could be fatal, but all of the super horrible side effects that i read about (that initially made turn down taking it) haven't happened to me. Yet. (knock on whatever my desk is made out of)

I am sure I've mentioned this before, but the 100% worst thing about being on this medication is the dry lips.  It's something called "chelitis," and it's just annoying.  My lips peel and sometimes hurt, and sometimes whatever lip balm I'm using stops working because too much dead skin has built up.  These are the regular products I've been using:

+ Jack Black lip balm

+ Clinique Black Honey superbalm 

+ A&D ointment - I use this at night, or if I'm home and my lips are particularly chapped and terrible.

+ Aquaphor - If i don't have A&D on my lips, or if it has already been absorbed, I'll slather this on    before bed.

I didn't mention this in my last post on the subject, but my doctor added another medication (Spironlactone) to help make the accutane work more efficiently. This is because my acne was hormonal, and I was still breaking out significantly after being on accutane for two months. I've definitely noticed a change for the better since I've been on the combination of meds. My fear is that, when I stop taking these, my acne will return. For now I'm trying to stay positive and enjoy my clear skin!

All natural, baby! Sorry for not brushing my hair.

These marks are from an old breakout that happened before I began taking spironlactone.