Thinking of trying Roaccutane? I have been on this medication twice in my life as I suffered from severe acne in my teens, which unfortunately found its way back to me in to my twenties!
The media that surrounds this drug is daunting, to say the least, and of course my mum wanted it to be our last resort, so after numerous (and expensive) trips to beauty therapists (which left me with a skin care cabinet to boot) and naturopaths (who gave me more herbs then you would find in an hippies garden) I finally went to a doctor who referred me straight to the dermatologist.
My acne was so severe that even sitting on a wooden chair was painful. I had cysts the size of 10 cent pieces all the way down my back, arms and chest. I was so embarrassed about the way I looked that I refused to do swimming classes at school and I had convinced my P.E teacher that I had a rare condition where little miss red riding hood was always visiting me (my period) and water was just out of the question! I was bullied and called ‘pizza face’ more times then I care to remember and when it came to wearing casual clothes, I would always be in Polo’s as a singlet would only show off my red, swollen, yellowish lumps (sorry to all those eating whilst reading this). The one comment I remember the most was a girl said to me, ‘what do you use on your skin?’ and with excitement I responded with the current skin care regime I was using, as I thought she had noticed the improvement in my skin, until I received her response: ‘Good, I now know never to use that then’ …girls can be so cruel.
Roaccutane changed my life, I know they say it causes depression, monster babies and dry skin; however I was already depressed, I wasn’t in a position to be considering babies at 16 yrs of age and dry skin was the least of my problems! To be safe, when I started the medication my mum teamed me up with a psychologist (who I always booked appointments with during maths class) and just having someone I could talk to who wasn’t a family member really helped and I don’t believe I suffered from depression whilst on the drug as my skin was improving so quickly that I started to enjoy life …and looking in the mirror.
At the end of my medication course, my skin was amazing. I still have scars now (8 years later) and I wish I had started the medication earlier, however I understand how scared my parents were with putting me on such a strong dose of medication, especially when I was living so far away at boarding school where they couldn’t monitor me.
Ultimately though, I am thankful for my past. After going through all the pain of bullying and insecurity it taught me how to be more compassionate to others. I studied Beauty Therapy in 2007 and I have since educated many young teens about the use of skin care and telling them to go see a doctor when they needed to, unlike the beauty therapists I had, who would just sell me more and more products when they knew deep down that the acne I had needed to be treated internally as it was so severe. Just so you know, whenever a beauty therapist sells a product, she gets commission.. this means I probably paid for my beauty therapists house…
The main message I want to get through to you all is don’t be afraid to see a dermatologist and discuss Roaccutane, don’t be mislead by all the negative media as each case is different and you need professional advice that is tailored to your skin.
No comments:
Post a Comment