Should i be worried???

Question

I was prescribed Accutane by my dermatologist and have been taking it for almost 2 months now. Since it is my summer break, i have been going to the pool DAILY. I started noticing a lot of dryness and redness but thought it was just a side effect from the medication. Until tonight. Prior from swimming, i’ve immediately noticed that both my forearms are as red as a tomato, as well as under my nose. It feels extremely tight and warm, like a bad sunburn in Mexico. I was thinking the mixture of my acne medication and chlorine is the reason but i’m not entirely sure. What are your thoughts?

Answer

I know this post is a few days old but wanted to comment because I am currently on month 5 of accutane. I went through a bout of HORRIBLE burning/itching in month 3 when it started to warm up and I was outside more/in chlorine. It came on fast. Mine was isolated to my face, primarily the sensitive skin around my eyes and corners of my nose. It itched and burned so bad I wanted to take a scotch brite scrubber to my face and scrub off my skin until I bled (obviously I didn’t 😂) because I felt like that was the only thing that would relieve it. I actually had a full blown panic attack, crying and rocking back and forth because it was so itchy and burned so bad.
Accutane obviously dries out your skin terribly. It also makes you EXTREMELY sensitive to the sun. The combination of the chlorine (or salt water at the beach) and sun is very irritating and drying to begin with, but much more so on Accutane. My skin is already sensitive to begin with, so the Accutane, chlorine, and sun was a bad combination.
I called my derm and she had me take a break from the medication for a few days and had me do a couple other things. I don’t think you need to be worried, but I’d definitely let your dermatologist know. I’d be happy to go through the changes I made that helped if you’d like, just don’t want to make this comment too crazy long 😂. I haven’t had any problems since.

Answer

Accutane makes your skin much more sensitive to the sun! Definitely something your dermatologist should’ve mentioned to you. I imagine the chlorine might also have an effect since Accutane already dries out your skin and I think chlorine is pretty drying too.

Answer

I'd call your doctor but Accutane makes your acne get worse before it gets better. You have to CONSTANTLY moisturize. It's very common for hands to get dry and cracked, along with your face getting dry and red. I'd say it is probably the accutane; however I know when I swam everyday my acne disappeared because my face got dried out from the chlorine so it may be a combination of the two.

Should i be worried???

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