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I endured a long list of annoying side effects which began to fade away during the rest of 2004. To read all the details about the experience, visit my Accutane Journal page.

At the beginning of 2005, I was looking forward to a life without acne on my face, chest, back and shoulders.

It was a relief to not have to deal with pimples, monthly liver function blood tests, taking pills twice daily, and pharmacy visits.

My body started to return to normal without that constant feeling of all over dryness.

I'm a guy, and also somewhat of a minimalist when it comes to personal hygiene products so it was great to finally get rid of all those extra things that were cluttering up my bathroom for almost a year.

Once the side effects of Isotretinoin had almost entirely stopped in early 2005, I happily went back to my simple morning routine of shower, shave, brush my teeth, put on deodorant, and go! The only difference was that I left the house with more self esteem and confidence than I've ever had since acne first began appearing on my face back in 1997.

I kept a few of the basic skin care products for daily use such as the Dove brand moisturizing bath bar soap,  the Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser, and Neutrogena's Sensitive Skin SPF 15 face lotion.

I still wasn't able to wear my contact lenses over night as I could before taking Accutane. So far that was the only side effect that didn't seem to be fading away. I had to remember to take out my contacts before going to bed or taking a short nap because otherwise I would wake up with bloodshot eyes and the dried out lenses glued to my eyeballs.
 

Previous Journal Entry # 8 2004        Next Journal Entry # 10 2006

My Skin Pictures 2005

The photos below for 2005 cover the period of time from when I was off Accutane for 6 months at the beginning of the year to 18 months off the drug at the end of the year.

In early 2005, I was still being consistent with the skin care routine of washing my face twice a day and using the SPF 15 UVA/UVB sun protection moisturizer.

If you scroll down to the last few pictures of 2005, you'll see that my face has a bit of damage left over from a sun burn and I got a blemish or two.

I was so happy to not have to worry about acne that again I became lazy and stopped being vigilant about my skin care. But it wasn't a big deal at all. If I forgot to wash my face first thing in the morning or just before bedtime the worst thing that would happen is I would get a small pimple or two.

It used to really annoy me when one of my friends would complain about having a single zit when my face was covered with blemishes. Now I just smile and tell them to not worry about it.

I was also much more confident about taking off my shirt in 2005 as you can see by the couple of chest skin pictures below. Those red marks from the deep acne vulgaris cystic nodules on my chest, back, and shoulders had virtually disappeared.

Forehead - January 2005	Cheek & Neck - January 2005	Neck - January 2005
Cheek & Neck - February 2005	Forehead - February 2005	Cheek - March 2005
Chin & Neck - March 2005	Forehead - April 2005	Chin, Cheek, Neck - April 2005
Forehead # 2 - April 2005	Cheek - April 2005	Forehead - May 2005
Cheek, Chin, Neck - May 2005	Chest - May 2005	Forehead - May 2005
Chest - July 2005	Forehead - July 2005	Cheek - July 2005
Cheek & Neck - August 2005	Forehead - August 2005	Neck - September 2005
Forehead - September 2005	Forehead - November 2005	Cheek - November 2005
Chin - November 2005	Neck & Cheek - December 2005	Forehead - December 2005

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