Take Two: Accutane ... again.

As planned, I met with my dermatologist and she advised me to take accutane for a second round.

She was very quick with my appointment, which I didn't appreciate, so I don't know if that means for the full 6 months again or not. She reassured me that having to take accutane more than once is not rare and is sometimes expected. A part of me knew this, as I came across someone in my program in university that was in the process of her second round.

My skin has been up and down lately. One week my skin isn't so bad and another week I have pimples coming up left and right. More recently, they have gotten bigger and hurt more. Below are some quick pictures I took of my skin today. I know, I know, "A second dose of accutane for just that?! It's nothing!". But remember how I said my skin is up and down lately? The past two days I've been at home working away at a paper, so I've been able to get enough sleep and not put any make up on. So my skin has been on ... "vacation" if you will, from it's normal routine. But you can see some of my pimples that have been healing over the past week, those dark red marks are not blemishes but are pimples. My camera just couldn't properly get a shot of them. You can also see some redness in my skin.

I also know that the accutane is wearing off because my skin is reacting to certain things the same way it did before I took accutane. For one, I'm getting huge pimples and my skin has gotten more oiler. Another thing is, I can no longer eat whatever I want and not bare the consequences. To be honest, aside from having my skin cleared, being able to eat the greasiest of foods and dairy rich things and not worrying about getting a pimple the next day is the best. I experimented and reduced my intake of greasy foods and milk, and low and behold, my skin began to clear up.

So, it's set. I will go for another round of accutane and hopefully it will get rid of my acne. FOREVER.

But there is one set back...
I am going on a mission trip to the Philippines for three weeks. I'm so excited for it and can't wait to do God's work and come across so many wonderful people. But i'm scared for my skin. I have oily skin, which never does well in heat, and extra oil, sweat and possibly other factors such as dirt, food, etc. will not be good for my skin. But, I do need to keep in mind the strong side effects of accutane - sensitivity to the sun, dry skin, lips and mouth, higher need for water and not to mention, the drug is strong and needs to be monitored.

Needless to say, I've decided I'll take my chances and hope I don't break out so much and wait to begin my accutane treatment after my trip. Accutane is no drug to mess around with and I know it would be much safer if I waited and started it when my dermatologist/doctor is only about 20 mins away from me, not 20 hours.

xoxo

P.S. You are beautiful, even if you have a pimple on your face.