Low Dose Isotretinoin and Tattooing

[MrGrant]

Wondering if anyone has any knowledge of the time scale after taking a low dose of isotretinoin (20mg a day) before getting a tattoo?

Many sites recommend waiting between 6 months or even a year after a normal course (which may be 80mg or as much as 120mg or so for heavier individuals. Obviously dose varying by body weight.) I saw on one site that a low dose means you can get one after 1 month or so and obviously theres people saying they had no issues even when on the drug but theres lots of potential horror stories about scarring and general bad healing.

Obviously I could just wait, but I dont want to...

 

[Ghoul]

Wondering if anyone has any knowledge of the time scale after taking a low dose of isotretinoin (20mg a day) before getting a tattoo?

Many sites recommend waiting between 6 months or even a year after a normal course (which may be 80mg or as much as 120mg or so for heavier individuals. Obviously dose varying by body weight.) I saw on one site that a low dose means you can get one after 1 month or so and obviously theres people saying they had no issues even when on the drug but theres lots of potential horror stories about scarring and general bad healing.

Obviously I could just wait, but I dont want to...

How long? Cumulative dose matters most here.

 

[MrGrant]

Sorry I did mean to post that, its about 4 or so months (my body weight has been around 80kg for this time.)

 

[Ghoul]

So that is a very low dose.

This is the most comprehensive meta-study on the topic, looking at all sorts of procedures done after accutane treatment and the results of potentially impaired skin healing after x amount of time.

TLDR: Plenty of examples people who were on larger doses than you having skin traumatic procedures like plastic surgery, immediately after stopping, and healed normally,

Personally, I'd give it 6 weeks anyway because it's better to err on the side of caution, and it's not a huge inconvenience, but at that small of a dose, the conventional "wait 6-12 months to do anything to your skin" that's been around for 30 years looks like it's been proven wrong by all this data, which was always in reference to a full course, not low dose (a relatively new way isotretinoin is being used).

https://escholarship.org/content/qt02k9z6qd/qt02k9z6qd.pdf?v=lg

By the way, I'm using 5mg/day for anti aging effects on sun damaged skin, and have seen visible improvements similar to topical tretinoin, with zero sides (not a surprise given this is a microdose).

Unfortunately 5mg tabs were discontinued in the US but you can get them from India pharma. $20 for 400 Accufine 5mg, and no fucking around with tretinoin cream for similar results.

 

[MrGrant]

@Ghoul
Just had a proper look at that paper which I hadn't seen before, very interesting so thanks very much for that.
I've been off around 6 weeks now and can already feel my skin getting oilier so want to get back on soon, have booked some tattoo work for later in this week but for safety I'll let it heal first just because its such a drying process when it kicks in.
Also just looking to order the 5mg dose from India.

 

[MuchoMaguro]

I’ve gotten tatted on accutane. Zero effect on the tattoo. I don’t see how a small dose of 20mg would affect healing. Fuck waiting, just get it done.