Continue accutane story-usage

As I have mentioned before..... I was an accutane user for 6 months with a daily dosage of 40mg.
 
You might be wondering how do dermatologists decide what is right dosage for you and how long should your treatment last for.   Since the side effects of Accutane could be
pretty serious, doctors want to give you the minimum amount that would work without acne relapsing.

The main principle here is for patiences to accumulate enough drug in his or her body for keep the drug working for at least a year.  ( side note: if you have been given the right dosage for the right amount of time... you acne should not come back for at least a year....and if you are lucky.... it should never come back).

You might be thinking... enough rambles... get to the business please.   What is the magic amount I should be taking if I am considering this drug.  Here is is... you need to take 120-150 mg of drug /kg of your body weight.  If you are 50 kg,  then the higher cumulative dosage is 150mg x50kg, which is 7500mg.  If you are on 40 mg a day, 7500mg/40mg a day=187.5 days which is about 6 months and 7 days.  But if you are on the lower cumulative dosage which is 120 mg/kg and you are also on 40mg a day then you would only need to be on it for 5 months.

Regardless of low dosage for a long period of time or high dosage for shorter period of time... I think most studies do suggest being the pill for at least 4 to 5 month is better at preventing relapses.  But don't think being on this drug for a long time is good for you as if you are on this drug for long term.... you might have alter bone density.  As you need regular liver function test and triglyceride level test done while you are on this drug as well as pregnancy test if you are girl...you know this is a powerful drug that you don't want to be taking it long term....

In conclusion..... I think accutane is the best acne treatment available ( at least for me) as long as you are not allergy to it and you are a responsible individual while you are on this drug.....

If you are thinking about accutane...I would say give it a try... It might just end up changing your life.  

accutane----------my face saver........chapter 1: why it works

If you have read my previous post, you would have known that I had suffered a really really bad case of acne.  My acne journey was no fun.........I tried many many things including Proactive, prescribed benzoyl peroxide topical treatment, topical vitamin A derivates with antibiotic cream, oral minoxycycline antibiotic, birth control and finally Accutane.

Birth control was the first thing that have calmed my acne down a little bit, but nothing worked like the magical Accutane.

It took me 6 months of trying everything I have mentioned before I was prescribed Accutane.

Accutane is a monthly prescription.  It comes in 20, 40 and 60mg dosage.  I was given a 40mg daily dosage per day for 6 months.  Accutane is a vitamin A derivates that helps to regulate oil secretion and cell turn over rate.  As I have mentioned before, the three main cause of Acne is having excess oil, blocked pores, and having P.Acne bacteria within the clogged pores.

Accutane works by decreasing oil production by somewhat permanently or semi permanently decreasing the sebaceous ( oil) gland production.  Since Vitamin A is also known for regulating skin cells turn over rate, it also helps the dead skin to not blocks pores.  Without oil, and having a healthier skin cell turn over rate, you have pores that are free of oil and free of blockage.........yay.............. how beautiful........and how magical.......no more happy homes for bacteria.....( how sad this is for the little bacteria though) .  The exact mechanism for how accutane works is not clear with the best of my knowledge.  But who cares... it works right?!!! I just want a face clean of acne.

On the side note..... since Vitamin A helps to regulate cell turn over rate, it is used by many dermatologists as an anti-aging regimen. ...... If your doctor won't prescribe you topical Vitamin A cream, there are some options in your local makeup/skin care store.  If you like drug store brands, Netrogena makes a good one (Neutrogena rapid wrinkle repair serum..or other products in this line).  If you have a little money to splurge ...RoC retinol correction deep wrinkle daily moisturizer SPF 30  is also a decent choice.  If you are a high end skin care gal...or men....DDF retinol energizing moisturizer is also a good one......Lastly EAT YOUR CARROTS .......GET YOUR VITAMIN As internally too..... :) 

the magics of birth control pills

BBBBBBBirth control :) topic of the day.....

Here i am.......talking about the obvious right.........no you are wrong........I am going to talk about the benefits of birth controls pills other than the obvious that it can decrease your chance of having a BABEEEEEEEE by lotsssssssss.................

are you READY!!!!! !! YEAH !!!!

LAST YEAR, as a major acne female sufferer .... one of the treatment i received to treat my annoying ACNE is birth control........previous studies have suggested having a hormone in excess (androgen )can cause acne.  This androgen is called testosterone.  WHY? you might ask.... TESTOSTERONE is a hormone in abundance in male compare female.  Testosterone not only can give you more power we normally see in male, it also contribute to sex drive.....  (MY MALE FRIENDS, maybe it is true that you guys think about sex more... but now you can blame it on the hormone :)   Male friends, don't be too happy about have loads of testosterone running in your blood stream to give you more power is a good thing.   One down side of having testosterone running around your blood stream is it can add stress to your blood vessels making it last not as long.  Hence there is a tendency of males having a shorter life span cause their blood vessels get harder faster....contributing to higher chances of having a stroke or brain storm.

You might be asking... why are you talking about testosterone? i thought the topic is about birth control pills........... So testosterone is also found in female, and it is is produce at a higher amount in female during her ovulation period, giving her a higher sexual drive....to try to get pregnant (Our body is always trying to get pregnant to produce the next generation despite our mind might not agree to this :)  Don't blame nature.  But the increase in testosterone, also contributes to a higher oil production.  ( I think this also explains why guys normally are oilier than girls ).  So the higher oil production, if not properly secreted outside pores, as the pores are clogged by dead skin cells, it is the perfect home for bacteria.  and dun dun dun........ here comes the annoying pimples :(...............

haha you might be making a link now for why you get acnes during certain time of the month... smart

So why taking some birth controls help with acne you might ask?? Because some birth controls have ingredient in it that blocks the testosterone acceptors in your body or just lower androgen production overall in your body.  By decreasing the amount of androgen available to function in your body, you can become less oily and hopefully have less acne.  Birth control also regulates female's hormone cycle  making it more uniform.   This is also beneficial for minimizing acne formation.  

On the side note.... the birth control I took that helped to decrease acnes on my face is called...drum rolls please........ YASMIN.......