A Black Girl's Guide to Accutane: Week 3 = Frustration, Embarassment.

It's almost week 3 (day 14) and my face is a mess. I think it's misleading when people call this period the "initial breakout"...it makes it sound like it comes and goes in a few days. No. For me at least, I can tell I'm going to continue to break out for the next few weeks. From now on, I'm calling it the "worse-before-better" phase, or WBB. But the pimples keep on coming and going so it seems that I'm moving through this phase at an okay pace.

Changes to my Skin
My skin has continued to breakout just as it was last week. Most days I wake up with one or two new pustules/white heads, my least favorite kind of pimple because they're so hard (if not impossible) to camouflage or ignore. Sometimes I even acquire a new blemish or two throughout the day. They tend to come to a head within hours, pop within a day when I wash my face, scab over, and stay inactive flat bumps for days and days. They also hurt and itch A LOT, especially along my jawline. My breakouts seem to be moving around my face, one section at a time. Although I have bumps everywhere, the major ones started out on my right cheek/jawline, then those started to heal and I got a bunch on my left cheek/jawline, then those started to heal and they returned to my right cheek/jawline, now my forehead is the most outrageous. I guess I can be happy that my entire face isn't breaking out all at once, but it is really frustrating and embarrassing to face the world looking like this - especially since it's summer and there's so much going on =/

My skin seems a little less oily over the last few days, but still appears shiny a lot of the time. I'm switching to Olay Complete Sensitive Skin Moisturizer with SPF 15, cause I think the Neutrogena lotion I've been using makes me look greasy. I have started to have flakiness on my chin, corners of my mouth and nose, and on the bridge of my nose. When you look closely, you can see that's it's not peeling, it's each and every pore expelling a single flake of oil! Ew. Moisturizer doesn't help. It looks like one of those old school plastic travel brushes that pops in and out! I've continued to wear a small amount of foundation and some concealer most days, but it's starting to not look so hot with all the shit going on. Hopefully I can stay patient and keep my head up as my skin pushes out all the gunk in the next few weeks...

Side Effects
Most of the side effects I spoke of last week are gone. But this is what I'm experiencing this week:

Dry Ass Lips
The dry ass lips continue. I'm still using Aquaphor constantly and my lips have remained smooth and supple, thank you very much! Not a crack or peel in sight. If I get caught up in something and don't put it on for even 30 minutes, they start feeling like straight up crocodile skin. But I've stayed on top of it.

"The itchies"
I have experienced what I call "the itchies." I'll feel like my scalp itches, then my arm, then my side, then my leg, etc. and I can never pinpoint the exact itch or relieve it. Makes you feel like a damn crack head! But I don't get it a lot, so it hasn't been a big deal. My scalp also continues to be mildly itchy.

Dry eyes
My eyes still get mildly dry and itchy, especially when I shower. I don't know why that is...but I've gotten in the habit of putting in eye drops in the morning, night, and maybe once during the day.

Dry Mouth/Thirst
Still drinking as much water as I can. I can tell when I don't get enough my lips feel drier. But it hasn't been hard to drink a lot since I'm always slightly thirsty.

Sensitive skin
The skin where the flaking is feels sensitive and sometimes burns when I wash my face (with the gentlest face wash available, mind you lol). It feels like sunburn. I've started to concentrate on those areas less when I wash my face, but it does hurt a little.

Once again, I have to thank my blackgirl-ness! A lot of people complain of redness/flushing during Accutane. I have a feeling that if I had fair skin, the sensitive areas around my mouth and nose would look irritated and red...but they're not! Just flaky, which is more than enough for me. Plus, I was out in the sun yesterday and it didn't seem to bother my skin at all :) So thank you, chocolate brown skin, for helping me out just a little!

Day 14 (the last photo shows the flakiness...EW)

UPDATE: I couldn't stand the flakiness on my chin and nose, so I went out and bought some gentle exfoliating face wash by Olay. I used it last night and liked it. It has round microbeads that are very gentle so they don't create irritating micro-tears like St. Ives Apricot scrub. I was very gentle when massaging it into my face and concentrated on the flaky areas. It didn't burn or irritate my skin at all. It didn't get rid of all the flakes, but it definitely helped. I also broke down and popped the huge pustules on my cheeks (I did it the "right" way with a hot washcloth, sterilized pin, and verrry gentle pressure, followed by some neosporin) so those are healing and look better. I'm starting to realize that even though I have a bunch of larger bumps, the rest of my skin is starting to look really healthy and nice. Maybe I can see the light at the end of the tunnel...?

Another UPDATE: My skin has been so up and down every day that I decided to take a few pics mid-week to show a particularly bad day. Remember, each of these bumps HURTS, itches, and is way uglier in person they they appear on screen.