Winter. My skin is lovely today. No actives, no noticeable red marks, and no noticeable scarring.

I got the dry eyes, nose, and lips they talk about in the packet. I got the rash on my hands. My healing slowed to a halt (you can still see a purple mark from a blister I got in November). I'd get stiff if I sat in the same place for too long, and my fingers would hurt if I spent too much time thumbing away at the video game controllers. I was always thirsty, my face flushed easily, and for some reason I became really sensitive to cold weather. Weird. So I had a handful of side effects, and when I write them out, it looks like a big fat paragraph...but I didn't find them upsetting or surprising, and I was never in enough discomfort to think about stopping the course. In fact, I thought they were kind of interesting. It was a nice excuse to pay attention to my body and really take it easy.

My main issue was being tired. I started taking what I call "Accutane naps," which is when you lie down for a 20 minute nap and you're completely gone for 3 hours. I was always tired by midnight, which for a college kid is embarrassingly early, and I felt like I could sleep and sleep and it would never be quite enough.

Results

I started out with severe cystic acne, the kind that hurts to the touch. On my first dermatology appointment, she counted literally hundreds of lesions on my face and took a "before" picture that would frighten children. I also had shiny, oily skin and a lengthy list of antibiotics and topicals that hadn't worked.

My skin is lovely today. No actives, no noticeable red marks, and no noticeable scarring. My skin is even and smooth to the touch. For someone who wanted clear skin as desperately as I did, this is an unspeakably wonderful gift. I haven't been this happy in years.

I was fortunate to have a knowledgeable and sympathetic dermatologist. She was very cautious about my dose and always made sure I was feeling ok. I was also fortunate that my body handled Accutane well throughout the course. I'm hoping for continued good health and gorgeous skin in the years to come.