My Accutane Journey: Skin Update Two Months After Finishing Accutane

If you’ve followed my blog and YouTube channel for a while, you’ll know that I took Accutane (or sometimes also called Isotretinoin) for eight months. I finished my course just before Christmas and I was absolutely blown away with the results. Every single spot and blemish had cleared up and I was no longer ashamed to bare my skin sans makeup.

I wanted to write an update to let you all know how my skin has been coping since finishing Accutane. I’ve had a few people ask how I’m getting along, so today I’ll show you how my skin is looking!

I have to say, I was terrified that my skin would bounce back to how it was the moment I finished taking Accutane, but I’m thankful to say that so far, it hasn’t. Let me take you back to my final Accutane check up first. I was told by the nurses that my liver levels were higher than they’d like so I’d need to go back once again in a month to have a final blood test to check my levels and make sure they were back to normal. I was apprehensive about the results but thankfully my levels had returned to normal. What they did show however, was that I was very anaemic and needed iron tablets to help boost me again (that explained the extreme tiredness I’d been feeling for months!) After that I was discharged with the option to return immediately if my skin begun to revert back.

Fast forward two and a half months since finishing Accutane and I couldn’t be happier with the progress of my skin! I’ve only had one tiny spot since finishing the medication (I won’t lie, I freaked out!) but it was gone within days and I’m happy to say my side effects disappeared almost in days too. The dry lips? They were almost back to normal in a few days and the body aches quickly begun to fade away in no time too.

I was given a tube of Differin 0.1% w/w gel to use after my last appointment that the nurses said could be applied once I saw the first sign of a spot, however, I’ve used it every second night since receiving it without problems (no skin drying etc). It’s basically a topical version of Accutane that contains Adapalene which is a common retinoid prescribed by dermatologists.

I couldn’t be happier with the progress of my skin both during and after Accutane and I’m so happy that I took the medication. My experience has been a positive one and I can’t thank the lovely nurses at Barnsley Hospital Dermatology unit enough for their care during my treatment.

© Rachael Divers 2018.