I’m just over eight weeks into my Accutane treatment, and the most persistent (and the most irritating) side effect is dry lips. It seems to be the side effect that nobody avoids, and something that hit me on just day three of taking those little 40mg pills.
I’m pretty obsessive about using lip balm as it is. Ever since I first discovered Carmex in my local Topshop back in my school days I’ve been well and truly hooked. So one thing I was determined to keep on top of was keeping my lips hydrated. I’m sure you’ll have the seen the horrific pictures online of people’s lips cracking, peeling and even bleeding during their Accutane treatments, and I was so scared by those images that I raided my local Boots and stocked up on tons of lipcare in preparation. I love to keep my lip care inside an old (and very pretty) Birchbox right next to me on my desk so I can dip in and out whenever I need to.
For the record, to look at my lips with or without lip balm you’d have no clue that anything was amiss. They’re not cracked, they don’t look dry and they certainly aren’t peeling or bleeding. But I constantly have this really weird feeling if I don’t have balm on that feels almost like a peel off mask across my lips. It’s such an uncomfortable feeling and leaves me feeling completely gross and dry if I don’t slather the balm on immediately. It’s not painful at all but it does feel uncomfortable.
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The best lip products to use whilst taking Accutane | Rachael Divers
For around three weeks on my treatment, I was more than happy using my beloved Carmex, but after week three I noticed that it just wasn’t cutting it for my lips anymore. I needed something more soothing and something that would really soak into my lips and leave them feeling much more comfortable.
In came the Blistex Relief Cream! I hadn’t used it for absolute years, and being a person that’s never had a cold sore or severely dry lips, I never really felt the need to use this type of product. As soon as I applied it, my lips felt amazing and so soothed and calmed. The medicated formula tingled which felt so refreshing and reviving. I’ve since been through around four tubes of the Relief Cream and I absolutely love it!
The other product that’s worked wonders for me is Dr Paw Paw’s Original Balm. I use this on an evening doubled up with the Blistex Relief Cream and use it as a thick lip mask to sleep in. Nine times out of ten, I’ll wake up in the night and need to apply a little more but my lips always feel much better the next morning.
I’ve also tried Eucerin Aquaphor Soothing Skin Balm and Vaseline (the Cocoa Butter version is my favourite and smells divine!) which were okay but I much prefer Dr Paw Paw. In the meantime, if I want a light balm over the top of a lipstick for example, I’ll use my Dr Organic Virgin Coconut Oil Lip Balm which is okay, but definitely wouldn’t suffice on its own, or Polaar’s Genuine Lapland Cream Lip Balm which is almost like a lip gloss texture and looks gorgeous over lipsticks.
My ultimate favourite lip product is without a doubt Blistex Relief Cream, but just make sure you don’t apply too much and rub it in well or you’ll end up with very white lips which definitely is not a great look! I also make sure to include my lips when I apply my E45 Intensive Recovery Body Lotion to my face on a morning and a night, and of course, I also use a good SPF to protect them from the sun too. My ultimate favourite is La Roche-Posay’s Anthelios XL Tinted Fluid which is SPF50+.
© This post is copyright of Rachael Divers 2017.