I don't think I can continue accutane - this sucks!!

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Smartpants

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ok, i spoke too soon a few posts ago when i said after ten days i had no side effects from accutane. a couple months into the treatment now im happy to say there was no initial breakout, but the dryness around my mouth is killing me. i expected and could accept dry lips and dry skin - no problem - but as i explained in another post, i have dry/red/peeled skin all around my lips, making my lips look twice the size they are (not in a good way). it is so bad it even bleeRAB at times. this does not seem normal. i was taking 70mg/day, then cut back to 40mg/day and it isnt any better.

has anyone else experienced this?? not just the usual dry lips, but dry peeled redness all around the mouth? im seeing the dr friday, but i cant imagine continuing like this...this really sucks because i loved everything else about this drug!
 
My 15 year old son is going through the same thing. I ended up calling the dermatologist. (he has only been on accutane about 2 weeks, and wants to stop taking it now) she said to lower the dose from 80mg a day to 40mg, and at night put vasiline on/around his lips. I am going to go and get vasiline today for him and give that a shot. gooood luuuuck,,,,,,,
 
if i can offer any worRAB of advice it is to NOT stop taking accutane...it sucks i know it does...everything about it sucks. i would miss work because my face was so awful. you have to have to have to carry around lip balm at all times...my lips were so dry all around them..skin was peeling off. my nails were very brittle, hair was thining...it sucked, but once it is over its over. STAY WITH IT! use cetephil face wash and moisurizer. and just carry around lip balm in every pair of pants...that is the tips i would pass on to you guys. good luck.
 
thanks for the responses...i dont want to stop it, its just so bad i cant imagine continuing like that...like i said, i could live with dry lips, but when the skin around my whole mouth seemed to be peeling off, that is just too much! ive been reading a lot about low dose treatment and hoping my dr goes for that...as long as i reach my goal cumulative dose, i think thats all that matters. my face was never that bad in the first place so its so hard walking around like this when the treatment is making me 10x worse than the condition itself!
 
finally saw the dr today and he lowered my dose back down to 30mg/day and gave me two creams - hydrocortisone acetate and elocom cream - anyone ever used these?!?!
 
Hi Smartpants. I'm not writing with any ideas unfortunately just some sympathy! It seems we started on accutane around the same time and I'm starting to get this redness around the mouth too. Except mine is less Ronald McDonald and more sorta glue-sniffer blotches!! Im sure my colleagues are concerned...lol. Good luck with the creams, let us know if they help!
 
just as an update, things seem to be getting better...ive started back at 40mg/day and using the creams and extra vaseline on the lips as well and redness seems to be minimal...i thought it was coming back for a day or so, but then seemed to go away, so keeping my fingers crossed things stay this way!
 
The best you can do is before you go to bed glob on as much vaseline and/or nivea as you can. Even wake up once during the night to glob more on. Try and sleep on your back or side as to not wipe it off your lips while you sleep.

During the day I used carmex for my lips and although I was applying every 20mins and my lips were extremely glossy all the time it did the trick.
 
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