hey everyone..well I have been using tretinoin .05 percent gel for about 2 and a half months now..at the second month I saw my skin improving and now its seemed to go back to being congested with comedones especially on my cheeks. my left cheek especially. I also notice a pitted type of pockmark on my cheek which I never really noticed before. my pores also look bigger to me. this is honestly depressing me as I never really has a problem with scarring have minor acne..mostly comedones but by them continue to come on my cheeks and face..im noticing its causing ice pick or enlarged pores type of scarring. is this normal with tretinoin as it is shedding layers of skin..and if so will the scars possibly fade a bit? im devastated
Yep, Retin-a did that to me. I NEVER had the type of skin that scarred, despite going through severe cystic and nodular acne. My derm prescribes me Retin-a and all of a sudden, I'm spontaneously developing indented scars and large pores. I thought "what the fudge is going on here?". I did some research and found that tretinoin increases the scar forming protein TGF-beta 1 (or something like that) which can actually cause scars to appear out of the blue. I was pissed off and through away the tube. For some, they never have this problem and it seems that you're not one of them. I would stop now before if causes anymore permanent damage if I were you.
I had a similar experience when I first started using retin-a, and it does go away. My scarring looked so much worse and my pores looked huge, but now that I've been using it for a while my scarring is almost gone, and my pores are much smaller than they were before I started retin-a. Just give it some time, it will be worth it.
Hmm, I don't really remember when I first started seeing a difference, but by 6 months the scars were almost gone and I remember noticing my pores were a lot smaller. I know it seems like kind of a long time, but it goes by quickly. I think most people who quite using tretinoin because they think it's messing up their skin have either not used it long enough or are not using it properly. Good luck, and try and hang in there!
Hey Savy..when did u start seeing the pores n scars fade..like how long did it take?