General skincare with aging.

[OldGHGuy]

Androgens, especially steroid use, causes sebaceous (oil) glands to grow, a lot.

This makes your pores larger as I'm sure most of us have noticed.

They also grow larger with age.

Accutane shrinks sebaceous glands, and pores shrink with them.

On my third month, of now "high dose" accutane, I'm astonished by how much smoother my skin looks.


I don't think the anti-aging effects of accutane was appreciated until recently as the vast majority of patients are young.

It's also been confirmed in the last few years to rebuild collagen, and I have little doubt my skin's more elastic.

The difference is so significant I'm surprised when I see my face, smoother than I can remember it ever being as an adult, and non sun exposed skin areas seem to have no signs of photoaging at all. Ridiculously smooth.

How are you using the accutane, @Ghoul ? I have no acne but anti-aging does interest me. Do you fear long-term reduction in skin oils resulting in dryer/faster aging skin for the long haul?

 

[Ghoul]

How are you using the accutane, @Ghoul ? I have no acne but anti-aging does interest me. Do you fear long-term reduction in skin oils resulting in dryer/faster aging skin for the long haul?

I didn't realize my perpetually oily skin and hair, I've been a two shower a day guy for my entire life, was a condition called "hyper-seborrhea" until I started using accutane, and experienced "normal" skin for the first time in my life.

I finally appreciated why most people use moisturizer and hair conditioner.

On the bright side the excess oil kept my skin in much better shape than my peers, on the other hand it was likely an avoidable accelerator of androgenic alopecia, since sebum blocks pores cutting off oxygen to hair follicles, making them more susceptible to damage from DHT.

So for me, I'm hoping the reduction is permanent, at least in part, but research isn't really clear on this. In younger people hormonal (test) surges induce the sebum glands to grow (hence teenage acne), and they often go back to producing as much oil as before within a couple of years of stopping accutane treatment.

Women in their mid 30s+ seem to be the ones who experience permanent drying the most (from high dose courses only). My guess is a rapidly declining level of test to stimulate sebum gland growth.

I suspect being on TRT, high physiological levels, means I'll have some degree of rebound, which is why I'm going to the high end of daily (170mg/day) and cumulative (20,000mg or 220mg/kg) dosing, in the hopes I never go back to previous levels of sebum production.

After a recovery period, I'm going to go on a low dose regimen for skin maintainance, primarily the benefits of rapid turnover and collagen synthesis that appear very efffctive.

So the answer is, if you're not starting with excessively dry skin, and sticking to low doses, I doubt you'll have a problem. I haven't seen any documented cases of anyone using sub 40mg daily having an issue, and that's way more than the low dose anti-aging regimen. It seems to take a LOT of accutane to really bring sebum production down permanently.

 

[PenguinPiss]

How are you using the accutane, @Ghoul ? I have no acne but anti-aging does interest me. Do you fear long-term reduction in skin oils resulting in dryer/faster aging skin for the long haul?

I believe the "anti-aging" dose to be 20mg 3x/week. Google up "photoaging accutane" for the studies - the ones I've found in the past were mostly older females.

 

[Ghoul]

I believe the "anti-aging" dose to be 20mg 3x/week. Google up "photoaging accutane" for the studies - the ones I've found in the past were mostly older females.

It's kind of all over the place. 10mg a day, 10mg a week. Unfortunately the documentation and high quality studies lag years behind what's happening behind closed doors of dermatologist's offices. But there's definately something to it. I know of at least one high end practice where all the female employees are using 10mg twice a week at the derms urging. (somewhat risky given the birth defects if they get pregnant).

It's like where Ozempic was a few years before the media caught on.

 

[AlexDavis43]

Is there any reason why I shouldnt put ascorbic acid on my face? It comes free with my needles, so I may as well use it.

I don't know about plain ascorbic acid but some form of vitamin C is in a lot of face serums and skin creams. I think it's vitamin C ester like ascorbyl palmitate or something.

Edit: some Perricone products seem to have plain vitamin C.