I went to my final dermatologist appointment with the happiest smile on my face. It sounds like complete madness but I feel like my days of roaccutane seem like a life time ago and having acne seems like it never happens. Even typing that sounds so surreal as I can vividly remember in an instance how I felt starting roaccutane and how I wasn't that hopeful. I had lived with acne for 11 years and it was just a part of me. Sometimes I sit and look back at my photos from February and remember how I felt on that first day of my dermatologist saying he would finally start me on it.
I took these photos on day 2 of roaccutane and I am so glad I did as you can clearly see the scale of my acne and that underneath all my pretty makeup, my acne really had taken over my entire face. I remember for the first time being really determined that this was going to work for me.
These pictures were taking in Jersey when I was on my holidays with my parents. Seeing as this was was 2 months into the treatment I remember feeling like my skin was possibly improving and then all of a sudden I got this row of large spots on my forehead and they were huge. I felt like I had taken about 10 steps backwards.
I took this picture in June and I remember looking at this and being able to pinpoint that this was the time when I was starting to actually feel as though my skin was getting better. I went to my month 4 appointment and I feeling great and determined to carry on. However, this was when all of the side effects had well and truly kicked in and my lips were like the sahara desert. I was getting headaches and my skin was so dry nothing was helping. My chin has always been the areas where my acne has been the worst and that was the area where I was seeing improvement. However, I was still getting a collection of pesky spots across my forehead and around the edges of my lips.
I couldn't find a close up picture from in August but after being on the treatment for 6 months my skin was so much better. Out of my 14 days on holiday in Madeira I think I only wore makeup twice. I remember going on this day out to this these beautiful botanical gardens and knowing I would want some insta-worthy pictures, but also knowing it was a boiling hot day. I remember at this point I had not had any new major spot in weeks and my skin was just holding onto the left over rough reminiscence of old spots that were not for leaving. I did have to wear factor 50 this entire holiday as my skin could not take more than an hour in the sun. I felt like I was continuously burning no matter how much suncream I applied.
I took this picture the day before I went to my last appointment on roaccutane. I went into the room with the biggest smile and as discussed in my last post I had three weeks left of roaccutane. However, I had been very emotional and was not feeling myself at all so on the 10th October 3 days after this picture was taken I decided to stop taking roaccutane all together. I was scared but the dermatologist said I had had a good period of time with being happy with my skin and not having any breakouts so it was time to see how my skin now coped. As expected I was so nervous and the last time I took a tablet I also stopped taking my pill which I had been on for the entire 8 months. I felt as though I wanted my body to completely hormone free for the first time in what felt like forever.
This photo was taken on the 23rd December, and I am soooooo happy to report that since finishing the treatment I have only had one tiny pesky red spot which has now disappeared. I know it sounds silly but I was convinced that my spots would return and I would be back to square one. There is no denying that my 2018 had pretty much been consumed with roaccutane but wow am I glad I finally took the plunge.
If you want to catch up on my entire roaccutane journey you can read my before, starting, month 1, months 2-3, months 4-6 and finishing posts to see the entire process.
Lucy
xoxo
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