My Roaccutane Journey – The End Result

Goodbye Roaccutane – it’s been real.

It’s almost 28 weeks since I started this journey and although I have another prescription waiting for me at the pharmacy, I just couldn’t bear to do another month.

Don’t get me wrong.  Going on Roaccutane was the only thing that has worked for my skin.  I mean, you’ve seen the before picture…

Something had to be done.

The way I was feeling about myself before I started and how that’s completely changed was enough to make this process more than worth it.

But even though I was on a really low dose (only 20mg a day) the side effects were becoming beyond tiresome.  And concerning.  In fact Seth insisted that I don’t do the last month.  The side effects that I suffered with are:

• Severely dry lips.  Without putting on my Lansinoh the moment it got dry, it would lead to the sides of my mouth cracking.  I looked that up – only people with immune deficiencies get it.  Like HIV kind of immune deficiencies.  Clearly my body was suffering more than I was truly aware of.
• My vision has consistently deteriorated.  Even now typing this, the words are blurry and bright light makes it feel like my eyes are on fire. Even though the eye drops are working to help it not to keep getting worse, I am still going to go and do that eye test (damn myself for not making these things a priority).
• Going out in the sun, even for a few minutes, makes me terrified that I will now get skin cancer.  Applying sun block all the time is a flipping lass – even though I know I should be doing this anyway.
• Do I even need to mention how I can’t enjoy more than one glass of wine more than once every two weeks??  Do I?
• Even now that I’m off, the new side effect is crazy withdrawal headaches.  Although that could also be because of my eyes.

One thing I haven’t suffered with was depression, even though my Dad passed away while I was on it.  This poison/medication obviously affects everyone differently.  No one mentioned anything about eye issues yet here I sit, not depressed but partially blind.  (Only sort of joking)

Anyway.

I feel like there should be a bit of a drum roll here, even though the results don’t look exactly like Quazimodo to Super Model, that’s how I feel.  And darn it, that deserves a drum roll.

*insert drum roll here*

This is me now.  With no make up on.

And while I still won’t be running around town without my protective layer of “clear skin” (that means make up – old habits die hard), the pizza delivery guy has seen my make-upless face and that counts for something right?!

So without waiting to see how my skin reacts to no longer being reigned in, I’m going to weigh in my thoughts about Roaccutane/Oratane as a whole.

If you have tried everything and nothing has worked, let Roaccutane be your last option.  Make sure to look after yourself, listen to your body and don’t persevere if you feel that you are doing long term harm to yourself.  Stock up on products that will make this process easier to deal with – this is what I was using.  DO NOT GET PREGNANT (not that I did, but be extra careful).  Then sit back and enjoy your clearer skin, because unless you are doing some serious long term harm to yourself, I’m still going to say that it was definitely worth it!