May 20, 2002
This was my very first dermatologist appointment (you would think I would have gone long before today). I've had a couple of boyfriends w/ baby-butt skin who've told me they took accutane, and you seriously would never believe they ever had trouble with breakouts. So I told my dr. thats exactly what I wanted to be put on, side effects and all! She agreed that I could definitely try it. She then brought out about two-hundred pages of forms I needed to read and sign, told me where to get my blood work done, and explained that I needed to come back two days after I started my period (luckily I'm on birth control, so I knew exactly when that was so I could get off work).

June 3, 2002
As you can tell, my period was a whole two weeks after my first apointment, but my blood work came back great and so did my pregnancy test. So today will be my first day taking my daily 40 mg, little yellow pill. I've read other peoples journals and a lot are taking 80 mg, but I guess they have more extreme cases, or maybe there is a certain body weight you would have to have. who know...

June 10, 2002
Well I must admit that this week wasn't all that earth-shattering. I've been so pumped about getting put on this medication, I went out and bought all the products I've heard others rave about. I bought 4 different Cetaphil products at 10 dollars a product, but I swear this stuff is so great. I've already got my mom and sister washing their face w/ it too, it just makes your skin really soft. I also bought Head & Shoulder Dry scalp.
So far: I'm such a hypochondriac, I'm trying hard not to see imaginary symptoms. But seriously its been fine so far. I can see my skin getting a little bit drier. I know I'm not supposed to tan on this stuff, but I'm a tanning bed addict! So I figure I better stock up on tanning before this medicine kicks in too much. (Its June so I can't be all pasty) I've also gone out and drank socially, and so far so good. Other than dry skin, my lips have been slightly dry, but nothing a little lip gloss won't fix!
Acne wise: I had a bad breakout right before I started this medicine, accutane hasn't made it clear up any faster! Its just on my chin, but its like a million little & big zits! yuck!