I'm making my last stand.

[Highlander]

There's nowhere left to run. I've exhausted all options. Accutane is my final chance to achieve physical perfection. Without perfect skin I've refused to get plastic surgery or a HT. My skin is step one, and without it my plan can't move forward.

What I'm saying is, this cycle is going to have to both fix my skin and avoid further hair loss. If I suffer further hair loss I would risk a significantly reduced hair quality / NW3 - both of which are not options in my plan.

If the cycle is a success then the plan shall move forward.

If it fails then that will be where it all ends. The fight will be over.

---

I've lost faith in Retin-A, and shall be seeing my derm next week in order to organise getting on Accutane. It'll be a dose of 20mg per day for about six months. I'll taper on in order to further reduce the chance of side effects on this already low dose.

I ask that everyone on this forum prays for me. Failure is not an option.

[Dan26]

Never give up the fight brother. You never know what the future holds. Think about it, if you could be guaranteed a full head of hair and healthy skin, but you had to wait 5 years for it, would you? Would you spend 5 years of your life with imperfect skin and losing your hair if you knew it would get you what you wanted? No one knows for sure what the future holds, but I'm telling you man you gotta just devise a plan, execute it, and live your life as if you don't have these problems. I'm happy to see your taking action, like I said before, I have skin problems and they are my top priority as well as they effect comfort/health and aesthetics. Good luck man.

[Davey Jones]

You ought'a try changing your diet before you lose all your hair on Accutane. Everyone wants to say that diet has nothing to do with acne, but in a study commissioned by the dairy industry they admit that the insulinotropic nature of dairy products causes acne. Essentially, they found that anything that is insulinotropic causes acne, but they can't really make that generalization with the study.

The only people still pretending that diet doesn't cause acne are the ones trying to sell you Accutane.

Reference on that study:
Melnik BC (2011). Evidence for acne-promoting effects of milk and other insulinotropic dairy products. 2011;67:131-45. Nestle Nutr Workshop Ser Pediatr Program.

[Highlander]

Originally Posted by Davey Jones

You ought'a try changing your diet before you lose all your hair on Accutane. Everyone wants to say that diet has nothing to do with acne, but in a study commissioned by the dairy industry they admit that the insulinotropic nature of dairy products causes acne. Essentially, they found that anything that is insulinotropic causes acne, but they can't really make that generalization with the study.

The only people still pretending that diet doesn't cause acne are the ones trying to sell you Accutane.

Reference on that study:
Melnik BC (2011). Evidence for acne-promoting effects of milk and other insulinotropic dairy products. 2011;67:131-45. Nestle Nutr Workshop Ser Pediatr Program.

I don't want to live in a world where I can't consume dairy.

[ThinningB420]

I took Accutane three different times for mild or moderate acne and I still have acne. I'm telling you to try topical Clyndamycin first. I really thought it worked well for me. I'm considering talking with my derm about it when I go in for my 6 month Rogaine checkup.

I'm thinking about asking her to go on Fin.

[Davey Jones]

Originally Posted by Highlander

I don't want to live in a world where I can't consume dairy.

Aesthetics < Cottage cheese?

[NJhair]

Originally Posted by Highlander

There's nowhere left to run. I've exhausted all options. Accutane is my final chance to achieve physical perfection. Without perfect skin I've refused to get plastic surgery or a HT. My skin is step one, and without it my plan can't move forward.
[/B]

I took Accutane a few years ago when I was 24-ish, and at the time I had absolutely no sign of hair loss. I had mild acne with oily skin that would always look messy so I decided to finally try the strongest product out there - Accutane.

It's a ridiculously strong drug. Within 2 months, my skin was glowing and perfect. But then the acne came back. I also lost SIGNIFICANT hair during that time because Accutane is just a crazy, strong drug. I didn't notice the hair loss at all. It was the last thing on my mind at age 24 with a full head of hair but one day I saw my reflection in a mirror and I saw my scalp in plain site. My hair fully grew back afterwards though.

Make sure you're conscious of depression symptoms, because I never had depression or even knew what it felt like - but while on Accutane, it subtly creeps up on you. I had to remind myself that it's not ME, it's the damn drug that's making me feel down. Also, it gave me dry lips, something I still have till this day.

Would I do it again? Nope, unless my acne was extremely SEVERE.

Otherwise, my latest findings prove to be more promising - with Acne, start taking probiotic supplements and more importantly - foods. Learn how to make Kefir and start taking it regularly. Clean up the good/bad bacteria within your gut.

And also - Davey Jones is spot on about avoiding Dairy products. You may not want to give up Dairy products, but you should google Factory Farming and get a better understanding of how cows are raised/treated/slaughtered to make dairy products. It's no wonder that dairy products cause so many inflammations in so many people but much of it goes unnoticed.

Good luck.

[Benzzro]

Dude no need to go on Accutane, buy some generic tretinoin off ADC, and get some GA chemical peels off ebay (Although if you do get peels, make sure you learn how to do it properly and start on a low %), I did a few years back when my skin wasn't to good. My skin is practically perfect now. Plus tretinoin has long term benefits to stops wrinkling etc

[Tracy C]

Originally Posted by Highlander

Failure is not an option.

You need therapy...

Lots and lots and lots of therapy - with a rather large team of shrinks.

[BaldinLikeBaldwin]

Originally Posted by Highlander

I don't want to live in a world where I can't consume dairy.