Worst. Advent calendar. Ever.

Misc

Worst. Advent calendar. Ever.

At least, that was my first thought when I saw the packaging for this medication. If you’re wondering what this is, it’s Claravis, aka isotretinoin, aka Accutane. As you may have realized from some of my FOTD pictures, I don’t exactly have the world’s best skin. After several years of going through the alphabet of prescription acne treatments (Aczone, birth control, benzoyl peroxide, Clenia, Cleocin, clindamycin, Differin, doxycycline, minocycline, Retin-A,  Tazorac, etc), I’ve finally caved to my dermatologist’s recommendation to give Accutane a shot. I know it’s one of those medications that gets a lot of crap because yeah, there are risks involved. I tried to go through as many other possible options as I could first, though. Not because I buy into the whole “Accutane will destroy your life” thing – I think a lot of that is fear-mongering and a lack of understanding the science behind it – but because the side effects (slow healing, sun sensitivity, dry skin, fatigue, joint aches) would be really inconvenient when I’m trying to do things like marathon training or spending every summer weekend on a boat. Alas, it’s at the point that the potential benefits are at least equal to the risks, and now is as good a time as any.

What does that mean for the blog? Well, I fully plan to keep on truckin’ along, but I expect that my skin will cause some major makeup-related annoyances. So I’ll keep doing reviews & such, but it may not be pretty – and I mean that in the literal sense! On the bright side, one of the common results of Accutane is having less oily skin, so it’ll be great if that happens and I can try out a bigger range of face products. I’m also going to try to hurry up and get some of my planned lipstick reviews done, since by all accounts my lips will be a lost cause here in a couple weeks.

Even though this is a really ugly advent calendar (and the stuff inside isn’t nearly as tasty as chocolate), hopefully by the end of it I’ll have reasonably normal skin, which would be every bit as awesome as christmas. If anyone has ever done a course of Accutane and wants to share your experiences, feel free to leave a comment – it’s always nice to have an idea of what to expect :-)

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