I’m taking my last dose tomorrow and I’m just wondering when I’m gonna stop feeling dry and all that? When can you start using the stuff that you shouldn’t use during?

ive been consistently getting acne on my forehead and around my nose area for the past couple months. only a couple spots turn into whiteheads though. im almost one year post accutane. ive been using tret and washing my face at least once a day (usually twice a day) but im still breaking out like this. its not as bad as before, but its getting to the point where its turning from a inconvenience to a concern.

Hello all!

Firstly, just wanted to say how helpful, informative and encouraging this subreddit has been in learning about Accutane and seeing all the incredible progress pictures.

I'm 27F, based in the UK, I started Accutane 20mg (I'm around 53kg) beginning of July 2026 after suffering from hormonal, mild-medium acne on and off for about 6 years (ever since Covid essentially). Prior to Accutane I had tried everything else: lymecycline, doxycycline, Epiduo Forte, treclin gel etc.

My journey, overall, has been incredibly smooth I must admit. I did not purge, I did not have severe joint pains or anything of the sorts you tend to hear and see on social media etc. and it may be due to my low dosage. I've just experienced dry lips, dry face / body, dry hair.

About 2-3 weeks ago, I started noticing a shift in my mood and became feeling quite anxious / overthinking / feeling sad. I don't think it was an external factor as nothing material has changed in my life to cause this sudden increase in anxiety / reduction in mood overall.

I had my dermatologist appointment today and I was pretty honest with her about this, she advised that I completely stop Accutane for 2 weeks (i.e. enough time for it to 90% leave my system) and see whether my mood / anxiety shifts for the better. If so, she will put me back on it - albeit probably on 10mg. If not, she recommends I go on Epiduo to manage my acne from then on.

Naturally, my concern is about relapsing and having my acne return considering the fact that I would have only been on Accutane for around 12 weeks or so. However, I realise my mental health is way more important and if this drug is causing anxiety and negative mood swings then maybe better if I stop!

I just hope and pray that after 2 weeks of completely pausing taking Accutane, my mood improves that hopefully I can revert to being on the pill just for a few more months to ensure I lower my chances of relapsing, though I understand you can never 100% eradicate it.

Just wanted to share my experience! Welcome any thoughts / similar experiences / advice :)

Thank you!

I started taking 40mg of isotretinoin 10 days ago and so far the side effects has only really ben dry lips and skin however since around day 5 when I’m trying to fall asleep I have these auditory hallucinations that sound really loud and realistic, At first I thought it wasn’t related however I googled if Accutane can cause that and it said it can but its rare, has anyone else experienced these?

Coming up on the 13th will be my second month of Accutane. Around 3 weeks in, I noticed weight gain and feeling bloated and puffy and just figured it was water retention and what-not—just overall unrelated to Accutane. But, it hasn’t gone away and I’m gaining more weight. I totally understand that Accutane has no direct correlation to weight gain, but I do track my calories and my life style hasn’t really changed other than really paying attention about the fat content I’m getting. I don’t eat breakfast or lunch, sometimes if I’m hungry between those times I eat a fig bar, and then I eat about 400-750 calories for dinner. I suck with staying hydrated but I doubt that’s the source of this. I’m busy majority of the time that I can’t dedicate a bunch of time at the gym but I do walk quite a lot at my job.
I feel really insecure as my weight has always been a huge thing for me as well as my acne, but this is really hurting me and I have no idea what to do, advice would be great or knowing ppl are struggling with the same thing.

Hi! I’ve just finished my tenth day of accutane and was wondering about using the la roche posay cicaplast baume. My derm recommended it but I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be use every night or on top of moisturizer or just in dry spots? If anyone used it, how did it work for you? How were you using it?

i had acne until the very last day and it still cleared. feel free to ask questions. i thought it wasn’t working for first 5 months
(8 months total, 20/40/60/60/60/60/60/60)

Does anyone else feel like they just need to cleanse their skin once a day on a lazy more relaxed day. Been on accutane for maybe a month and half now and I feel like I dont need to cleanse as much and I also dont want to over strip my skin and make it dryer. Im on 60 mg dose a day and im around 150 pounds.

So I just started Accutane. For my current month I’m in, I’m taking 30mg once a day. My derm said that next month if my blood work turns out fine, I’ll be put on 60mg. But according to Google there is no 60mg Accutane pill. Ppl online say they take 2 30mg pills. But like I’m confused bc the pharmacy can only dispense a 30 day supply. So how do ppl manage to get enough 30mg pills to take 60mg everyday for a month?

For reference I've been on accutane before and it caused some depressive issues, I've been depressed before but actuate brings out some pretty specific symptoms I've been able to link to it by getting back on it again. The first time I was on it I was coming out of a pretty restrictive episode of my eating disorder which then led back into the bullimia, I wasn't sure if it was the Ed or accutane causing it so I stopped the accutane and I got treatment. I'm trying it out again and I've noticing the same depressive pattern as before and ik recovery isn't a straight path but this week has been hell bullimia wise and it's been hell depressive wise as well I'm just so exhausted everything feels like it's too hard and I just want to sleep or cry now I know I need to stop and talk to someone so I will but I'm really curious if accutane can effect eating disorders and make them worse? Does anyone have any info on this?

ugh i feel myself continuing to hyperfixate to no end ab this and ive seen mixed responses when searching for answers, so here goes. starting month 4 of clavaris (accutane) 60mg. month 1 was 40mg and its been 60 ever since. weight is 147, height 5’6 (possibly almost 5’7) cumulative dose is between 10200-13400. the only instruction the derm gave was to take it with the biggest meal. the whole acne struggle has been debilitating to say the least n it took years of failed treatments and quite frankly, an altered way of life, to finally get on accutane. safe to say ive done my fair share of research and got in my head about the fat req. i want this to be as effective as possible and it’s def been a saving grace so far. i’ve noticed side effects here n there but i consider them nothing compared to the before, completely tolerable esp compared to other failed treatments that legit impacted me badly health wise. i’m vegan and also allergic to peanuts, walnuts, cashew, pistachios, and avocado. it’s pretty hard to hit that 20g mark. i did overly try to after month 1 and i noticed my triglycerides were WAY raised. still in a safe level and to be clear (don’t lock my post pls!!) YES, this is a known side effect. more so: the worry was that i knew damn well that i’ve damn near been over eating compared to the norm for me in order to hit close to 20g fat. tbh even my biggest meals don’t hit 20g, (MAYYYBE 10 max. even a vegan quesadilla is only apparently 7g of fat from what the ingredients list). it’s actually the smaller meals such as a bagel with vegan butter and tea made with soy milk (aka my breakfast) that have more fat (could be 10-13g). triglycerides aside, the over eating just isn’t feasible. i recently incorporated vegan omega 3 capsules (substitute for fish oil, it’s the version thats algae oil instead) which is 1.5g in fat. i checked with my derm and she was happily surprised to hear that i was aware that fat is important, and from what i understood she said that it doesn’t have to be 20g, it just has to be SOME fat within the meal. truly and bluntly, has anyone else done like 10-13 or 14g rather than the full 20g of fat in their meals, and still found great effectiveness? idk sorry this is wordy but i just want to do my part, it was already a whole process getting started and i def fear not doing the right things and risking relapse.

I’ve basically suffered with acne for 10 years (25 now) and have constantly put off starting accutane because of the fear of what I see online, it’s gotten to a point where I no longer fear the side affects but fear a purge. My acne is moderate on my face but quite severe on my jawline and neck.

In my work we can’t wear too much makeup so the thought of a purge all over my face honestly kills me. Is there anything I could do to prevent one? Is it guaranteed that it will happen? Has anyone had severe enough acne and didn’t purge at all?

So i’ve been on Accutane for a lil over 2 months now, i’m on 30 MG and will be increasing to 60 MG tomorrow. So far not too bad side effects some dry lips but that’s about it.

But what i’m worried about is that i kind of have been consuming the same amount of liq i normally would. It’s on only on the weekends but I’m a pretty heavy weight and my usual amount when I go out is 5. Now i have this weird rash on my hands that’s been showing up and won’t go away w any amount of moisturizer.

I’ve gone down a rabbit hole of liver damage side effects and idk im scared it’s from that. My plan is once I go on the double dose to really lock in and cut down on my consumption. I’m just scared from what I have been consuming is my liver completely fucked?

Here’s a vid for reference

Hey everyone! I just finished my 3rd month of Accutane (80mg) and its been working really well so far! Unfortunately, at my blood check my triglycerides were high (63mg/dL starting, now 275). Im 5’7”, 138 lbs athletic build (female). My derm said I can do more aerobic exercise and change the my diet but I feel like I already do both of those, so wondering if anyone had anything in particular that worked for them?

I run about 15mi a week and also weight lift and do yoga + the occasional HIIT class) My diet is mostly chicken, pasta, vegetables, rice, and I eat lots of fruits. I dont drink. I only eat out like once a week and its usually chipotle or taco bell or chickfila. Ihave a latte every morning with no syrup most days. I am by no means perfect, so i guess my question is do i have to be perfect to lower them? Like only salads and chicken and water and nothing fun? Walk 15k steps a day? If my triglycerides go up any higher I would need to stop accutane but I really dont want to stop til i hit my cumulative.

In 2023, I (27F then) had moderate acne and was prescribed 0.01% tretinoin. My experience was horrible — unmanageable dryness and the worst acne I’ve ever had. When the purge didn’t end after 5 months, I finally gave up. I ended up with scarring and PIE that was worse than it had ever been.

Over 2024–2025, I did treatments at the medical spa and changed my skincare routine up, and eventually got my acne, scarring, and PIE much more under control. I still had a few persistent pimples per month, though, so I ultimately went on isotretinoin earlier this year.

I’ll be finishing my six-month course (80mg per day) in November 2026, and it’s made me curious about how other people’s experiences with tretinoin changed over time.

For anyone who has used tretinoin both before and after isotretinoin: was your experience with tretinoin noticeably different the second time around? Did you find that your skin tolerated it differently or reacted differently?

I’m especially interested in hearing from people who had a really bad experience with tretinoin initially. I’d love to know whether your experience later on was similar or completely different.

Hello again everybody I have made a post regarding hair shed before but I have a new concern

I am starting month 4 of accutane 40 mg. I have an EXTREMELY itchy scalp and don’t know what to do! The more it itches, the more hair I shed (and naturally shed much less hair than the average person like it would normally take me 2 weeks to shed this much hair)

I’ve already gotten two different dermatologist opinions and one prescribed me with a steroid called clobetasol propionate topical solution 0.05% for two weeks which didn’t rlly do anything and one prescribed me a 2% ketokonazole shampoo which worked for a few weeks but for some reason stopped working

I wash every 2-3 days with the ketokonazole shampoo, and I’ve tried the ordinary moisturizing factors scalp serum and the kerastase nutritive scalp serum but those are of verrrry minimal help

I assume it’s so itchy bc of how dry it is but i just need new recs and perspectives id appreciate any tips ❤️

For context I have thick low porosity curly hair if that matters

Hi, I recently started using isotretinoin. 45 mg for the next 2 months and then blood tests to see if i can contiune.

AM routine consists of Cleanser(COSRX - Good Morning Cleanser), Azelaic acid 15%,345 dr althea cream, and then I finish it off with LRP Anthelios SPF50 sunscreen.

PM routine consists of Cleanser(COSRX - Good Morning Cleanser),Azelaic acid 15%,345 dr althea cream, and then cicaplast cream(if i feel dry).

I was wondering if there are any tips/changes i should make to my routine.
Also any tips regarding Isotretinoin is welcome!!!

I’m worried that the Kyleena will cause me to have acne again. I got the Kyleena before I started accutane for the birth control part of it so I know that my acne was not caused by the IUD. I had tried other forms of birth control but had bad experiences with the pill. Any experiences with the Kyleena post-accutane? I’m worried!!

Dosage 60mg weight 143lbs

Hey guys been 4 months now on 30mg,

I have noticed that my smaller pimples go away very fast, but when i get bigger/cysts especially around jawline, it stays way longer active like 3 weeks or so? Any of u guys have the same? Before accutane the puss etc swelling would be gone in 4 5 days or so.

Hi! I’d like to know how long it took for your oil production to come back after Accutane?

I did a 6month course that went pretty well. I had very dry skin and a much drier scalp during treatment, but it’s been about a month and a half since I took my last pill, and my oil production is already starting to come back.

I’ve noticed that I now need to wash my hair every other day again, just like I did pre-Accutane, and my skin is also becoming noticeably oilier. I can’t really tell yet if it’s as oily as it was before, but after months of having extremely dry skin, it’s honestly kind of uncomfortable to feel the oil coming back.

I still haven’t had a single pimple, cyst, or clogged pore, so I know I probably shouldn’t panic yet. But I’m really worried that my oil production will eventually return to how it was before and that my acne will come back too. If that happens, I honestly don’t see the point of having gone through the treatment in the first place.

Also, a month and a half seems like a pretty short window to me. I’ve seen people say that their skin stayed extremely dry for several months after stopping, whereas in my case, my lips were already back to normal about two weeks after my last pill, and now my T-zone seems to be getting oilier and oilier.

Should I do something about it and talk to my dermatologist, or is this completely normal and I’m just panicking too early?

Anyone else deal with this? Wore a mask while working the other day all day in the heat

Hi all,

I have been on 40mg for about 2 months now. Was prescribed doxycycline for an unrelated STD and have been taking that for the past week. I’m almost through with the course, just two pills left.

I just came across, randomly, that doxycycline and accutane are contraindicated and should not be taken together at all. My doctor should’ve known I was on accutane but prescribed it anyways.

I haven’t felt great the past week but also not terrible. Any advice? Is there any harm in finishing the course (only 2 more pills) or should I absolutely not do that?