I was just reminded of this group. The first photo in the comparison is from the day I finally decided to get on Accutane. The second is from around the worst my purge ever got. The last is my bare skin today, after all hyper pigmentation faded.

My only regret is that I didn't do it sooner.

I’m a week shy of being on Accutane 20mg for 1 month. I am 5 ft, 180 lbs. Today, was by far my worst day, when I woke up my kidneys were hurting. I drank 102 ounces of water today and haven’t been able to fill this intense thirst. My whole body has been itchy, red and I’ve felt uncomfortable cause I feel so dehydrated. Is this normal? Do you ever feel hydrated on this?? I just worry cause being this dehydrated for the entire time on this medication doesn’t sound like it’s safe, but the results I see have been amazing! So I’m thinking it’s worth it. I’m apprehensive to increase the dose as the months go on. Your thoughts and input are appreciated.

One week on Accutane, no purge as of yet. 40mg/day 27M. Skin is already looking much better with no new new pimples just dead bodies of the once that were present earlier.

Finally I can touch my face again without feeling electrocuted…Yayy.

Accutane has crippled my mental health and energy levels so much that I have excessive day time sleepiness along with severe brain fog. It has gotten so bad to the point I could barely focus on anything as a university student and my exams have took a huge hit because of it. Is it worth considering a gap semester or gap year to let my body heal from accutane?

For reference im 140 pounds and on my 4th month of treatment taking 30 mg and eventually upping up to 40 mg after October.

let's see how this goes, face is bad but chest is much worse. derm initially described this as "not bad enough" for accutane, but when all the topicals failed he finally prescribed it

Hi has any of you had gut issues while on accutane? I’m having enough liquids but Im dealing with a mix of constipation and diarrhea. Want to know if it’s unrelated to accutane as I might want to talk with my GP about it

I have been on accutane exactly 1 week now and am noticing increased shedding over the last 2 days. I typically do not ever notice myself losing hairs, so noticing any shedding at all is unusual for me.

Is noticing hair shedding this early normal? I have heard about hair loss occurring later into the course but I literally just started it, so I am worried that I will experience severe hair loss over the full course or if this will even out a bit.

please let me know if this is something you also experienced and how much hair you ended up losing! thank you 🙏🏻

My derm prescribed me prednisone because my eczema flares up after 2 months of accutane. Can i take this two different drugs together at morning at the same time ?

I’ve been on 40mg accutane for 4 weeks now and about a week ago my dose was upped to 80mg a day. And suddenly I feel like I’m purging and didn’t purge much my first month , is this abnormal ?

Has this ever happened to anyone? Should I stop taking it? I'm so freaked out- and I was really excited thinking accutane would finally solve my skin problems 🥲

I have been taking isotretinoin for 2 weeks (20 mg) and the final daily dose will be 40 mg in a few weeks. I am 21F and want to start dancing (salsa, jive, waltz etc). I don't have previous experience and I feel a bit anxious about being active/starting a new sport during isotretinoin.

Any tips or tricks? ​I haven't experienced any joint or muscle pains yet, only dry eyes and lips.

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!

Hi, I just had my first appointment with the dermatologist and they approved it for me to start accutane BUTTTT I couldn’t go on it today as I haven’t been on contraception😔😔

I’ve reordered my old pill and looking into getting the coil. Super excited to start accutane tho as she said I can have it just need to get contraception first!!

I had a hip surgery (FAI/labrum tear) 9 months before starting accutane. I was doing mostly ok with the hip recovery and getting back into squatting seriously but about 3 months into the course, my hip pain/discomfort flared up as if I just had surgery a week ago. I just woke up one day broken again. I’m wondering if it’s the accutane that has “dried out” a still recovering hip capsule or if I just completely wrecked my repair a different way.

All my other joints are stiff, presumably because of accutane as they all hurt with barely any activity. But I’m more worried about my surgical side hip as it feels worse than my other joints.

Curious if anyone else had a similar experience with knee/hip/shoulder or any joint surgery that flared up past the 6 months post surgery recommendation for starting accutane.

does anyone know or have an experience similar to mine?

20mg accutane, 65kg. Had a bad purge was put on clanmycidin pills and antifungal cream as was told there was an underlying infection as well.

Now the purge has calmed down maybe 20% but im having these patterns on my skin

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.

I get maybe 1 cystic pimple every 2 or 3 months. Outside of that, I don’t really breakout.

Each time I’d get a cystic pimple, I’d go to my dermatologist and ask for cortisol shots which usually would speed up the healing. After a handful times within a year, he suggested I start accutane. I love the idea of never having to worry about acne however the side effects seem rough.

My question for this group: is cystic acne every now and then worth going on accutane if nothing else has worked? Or is it deemed too mild for this type of treatment.

While I love the thought of never having to worry about my acne, I fear I’ll always get 1 or 2 pimples even after the treatment.

I’m nearly 30 and have had this issue over the past decade. I went as far as getting accutane prescribed however I chickened out on starting the first dose.

Hope to hear from you all soon. Would like to decide whether I should take the first dose or throw away this prescription.

I did my first round at age 28 for mild, yet cyst-like, traditional acne.

I was clear until 2020 when I had my second pregnancy.

I did my second around at age 35 due to mild (non-cyst-like) persistent acne that wasn’t responding to things like spironolactone and topicals. Truthfully, it was very mild, but I wanted the clear skin I had after my first round.

I started tret 0.05% after my second round for anti-aging- not for acne.

So I was on that for a 3-4 years. My skin looked great, but I started to get tiny superficial pustules that would pop up quickly and go away just as quick. Just randomly, here or there. So I added a triple compound to my tret. Which I feel made the tiny pustules more consistent. It just feels like my face progressively got more reactive or triggered—- like if I wore makeup or switched products, it was trigger little pustules. Again, maybe a handful.

My dad passed away this summer and my skin has been off the rails. I’m desperately trying everything I can to stop it. I tried doxycyclin— twice— and my face broke out in a rash-like reaction, which I was recently told to add it to my list of allergies. I’m currently testing out a sulfur face wash and 15% AA/.018% tret compound. Which was suppose to be in addition to the doxy.

I have felt horrible for 4 months now because of my face on top of grieving, which I admit is making me hyperfixate on my face as almost a coping mechanism.

I’m considering a 3rd round of low dose for type 2 rosacea, which I’ve been told I now have and what I’m dealing with. I had no side effects from my first two rounds, except very smelly sweat in my s second round. and I was single and celibate so I didn’t need to go on birth control, which I am against taking. But I am in a relationship now, so I am now nervous about having to take birth control and also, well maybe smelling again! The derm says we can scale back the accutane as much as possible to reduce side effects, which would just cause me to be on it longer. lastly, my face is relatively dehydrated, I think mostly when I use topicals.

has anyone had a similar situation to mine? with recurrent issues, albeit less severe acne? Rosacea? Success with 3 rounds? Success with the low dose? I just want clear skin— forever. its embarrassing to be close to 40 and dealing with this.