Like over 20million people in the world, I’ve been on acnotin (or as the westerners call it: roaccutane). In fact, I’m on my third dose of acnotin because adult acne started to rear its ugly head (quite literally) in my late 20’s. I couldn’t pin-point the cause because I was neither stressed nor excessively stripping my skin of sweet, sweet moisture. I was also not bodybuilding and as the gym bros call it — bulking. It might seem excessive to take acnotin as an end-all-be-all treatment (it is a high dosage of Vitamin A after all) but I was desperate enough to ignore the side effects that came with taking it as an adult.
Taking acnotin as an adult really dries you out — the lips, eyes and body parts you never knew could dry out. Sometimes, I even wake up feeling like a dusty reanimated corpse unwillingly brought to life. The worst part would be that it has completely killed off my alcohol tolerance but that’s not the point of this story. Here, several products that have soothed the dryness that comes with an adult dose of acnotin but as per usual, I highly recommend you patch test them.
Pictured Above: The creative director at my previous magazine mentioned before that acne really proliferates when you’re dehydrated and her solution was to use a Vitamin C sheet mask every day for a week. The HEURE AGELESS Facial Treatment Mask does it even better — Vitamin C and E, seven soothing plant extracts and a technology called SPHR™️ that makes sure the ingredients are really delivered into the skin.
The Clé de Peau Beauté Micellar Water works wonderfully if you’re an adult on acnotin because on some days, your skin will refuse to tolerate cleansers especially of the foaming kind. Mine couldn’t even tolerate a milk which is why this cleansing water was a go to — hyaluronic acid that hydrated, a rosemary infusion that calmed purging and most importantly, it removes traces of dirt and oil.
Frankly, the Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Intense Reset Concentrate didn’t work for me prior to my adult dose of acnotin. Sure, it could hydrate and balance but I didn’t notice a dramatic difference. If I could be frank again, I think it works the best if your skin is severely sensitive and dehydrated because you’ll notice the difference after just one use. I would even recommend using it after a toner and calling it a day.
Again, taking acnotin as an adult means you’re more prone to effects like sun damage. I know some people don’t top up the application of sunscreen (the golden rule is every two hours) but the MT Metatron MT Protect UV Gel makes it very fuss free. It’s a gel that sinks in so quickly and soothes away the dry patches that comes with taking the drug.
One of the four limited edition Philosophy Made Simple One-Step Facial Cleansers that my skin could tolerate was the goji berry one because despite it being scented, its base formula mimics the original — a low-foaming one that even the most sensitive of skin types can tolerate. A tip would to be cleanse for at least 20 to 30 seconds.
Another side effect of an adult dose of acnotin I didn’t expect? The shedding of hair like an Alaskan Husky. However, the Ryo Root Strength Treatment managed to halt it due to the nine ingredients used in it (whole ginseng being one) that strengthened the roots of my hair while volumising it. It feels a little too strong for everyday use but results are more noticeable within two to three uses.
You might be tempted to cover the purging up with a heavier duty foundation but such formulas usually cake on drier patches. To be honest, I would tell anybody on an adult dose of acnotin to not give a care and just use the Sisley Phyto-Teint foundation. It glides over even the driest of patches (particularly useful when acne is drying up), provides light to medium coverage and is transfer resistant.
On some nights, I realised that my skin couldn’t tolerate anything except the SU:M37° Water-full Bluemune Essence, a pleasingly simple formula of skin strengthening peptides, bluemune (a marine microorganism that boosts immunity) and Ewha yeast that increases the absorption rate of the product itself.
Once you’re done with this story about the best products for an adult dosage of acnotin, click here to catch up with our September 2021 issue!
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