Hi there Sashamarie! I'm sorry you're having such trouble with retinoids, but hang in there! I've been on them for almost a year now, and have had on-off success. I counted 70 closed comedones on my face last June, and decided to put my foot down with my dermatologist who was prescribing me all sorts of silly things that were doing nothing. The comedones are almost gone, but sometimes I have the odd breakout, usually around The Time of The Month as per usual for most ladies. The times where I don't fiddle with my face, and do nothing but take my makeup off with a gentle cleanser and moisturise in the day, my skin has cleared up very quickly. The times where I have exfoliated too much, I have broken out in both closed comedones and open whiteheads in sensitive areas. It's very tempting, I know, and last week I did a DIY facial on a few very benign comedones and am still suffering the consequences in three big cysts. So yes, the clarisonic could definitely cause you problems, and I would stop using it pronto, at least until your skin has calmed down. Also don't squeeze, I can't stress it enough. I know you will probably, because I still do a year later, but if you can stand to just not touch your face and try not to look too much in the mirror, it'll honestly be so much better. I started out on the same prescription as you, and it was wayyyy too high for me, so I dropped down to 0.025 - which was great, but stopped working after a while - so I've gone back up to 0.05, and have experienced the same purging again.

What you're experiencing now is referred to as The Uglies, and you're also having purging. This is normal, and also horrible, and makes you feel like a pizza. Your comedones have to open up to heal, and your skin will get very dry as well. I understand, but it does get a lot better! In a sense, it gave me a lot of confidence to just stop caring about my appearance at this stage, and when it got better, I felt awesome about myself! Anyway, the key is moisture and minimal fuss. You're not going to be able to make foundation or powder smooth anything out at this point, so just stick with your regimen and keep calm through The Uglies, nobody's even going to notice. And if they do, they can shut right up. My boyfriend was the only person who did comment, and he begged me to stop for a while, saying I was doing more damage than good. Ha! He was wrong!

What I'd suggest is being very gentle with your skin, using lots of sunscreen throughout the day, and altogether stopping wearing foundation, which is awful at the beginning but you get used to very quickly. As a former makeup addict, and self-professed androgynous looking girl sans makeup, I actually completely stopped wearing eye makeup for a month, too. Alongside the gentle handling that you'll have to start, as you're experiencing lots of peeling, mix your tretinoin in with the same amount of moisturiser, or moisturise 20 minutes before, then apply the recommended amount. You're only at the beginning, so you'll have to work up to using it without moisturiser. The other option is to only do it every other night, but it's annoying to have to wait to see results. I can send you a stunning picture of my entire chin covered in a gray filmy peely flake mask if you want, I was pulling off inch-long pieces of skin at the beginning because I wasn't moisturising enough. Also, at the beginning, 15 minutes post-washing isn't really long enough, try to wait a full hour. I was like you, super eager to see results, and would apply more than a pea-size and exfoliate all the flakes off. It doesn't work, and many tears ensued as a result of staring at the flakes and constantly erupting spots in the mirror.

Obviously it's tempting to exfoliate, but try to resist it and just moisturise loads. I do exfoliate maybe twice a week, very gently, but only because i like the feeling, not because it's necessary at all. It'll be sensitive enough that you can actually exfoliate by getting in the shower, steaming up your skin and just rubbing it in little circles without any soap at all for a few minutes. This will create disgusting gray pills of skin between your fingers, but you'll have removed it in a gentle way, and then you can wash it!

As a tip, I use an oil-free moisturiser by Aknicare, but there are lots of others on the market; I think Cetaphil does one too! If you stick with it, you'll be surprised that one morning you'll wake up, and almost all of the spots and comedones will be gone. You'll have good days and bad, and if you're anything like me, it may never be perfect, but it should improve a LOT. As a plus side, it also stops ageing in its tracks, so you'll be forever 18 . I had a sun-damage wrinkle on one side of my face (my parents live in the tropics and for a year, I sunbathed recklessly), that just magically disappeared over the course of this last month.

Good luck lovely! xH

I need help too. I started using retin a micro I put it under my eyes to avoid getting wrinkles. So I started noticing chalazions developing but just on one eye. I stopped putting retin a micro under my eyes to see if this went away. In August it will be a year that I stopped doing this stupid practice. But the chalazions have not stop coming up. I have stopped using eye makeup because that will clog my meibomian glands. It's like the retin a activated my meibomian glands to the point they are sprouting thick oil that clogs them. Please don't put retin a under your eyes like I did. I will have an Ophthalmologist visit pretty soon, I will totally ask him about that.

Retin-A is definitely not a picnic and it is really a trial and error process. You WILL be broken out anywhere from weeks to possibly months and it is an uncomfortable process. No exfoliating, moisturize diligently and above all, be patient. If by 6 months you are not seeing more peaks than valleys, it may not be for you.

Hi there Sashamarie! I'm sorry you're having such trouble with retinoids, but hang in there! I've been on them for almost a year now, and have had on-off success. I counted 70 closed comedones on my face last June, and decided to put my foot down with my dermatologist who was prescribing me all sorts of silly things that were doing nothing. The comedones are almost gone, but sometimes I have the odd breakout, usually around The Time of The Month as per usual for most ladies. The times where I don't fiddle with my face, and do nothing but take my makeup off with a gentle cleanser and moisturise in the day, my skin has cleared up very quickly. The times where I have exfoliated too much, I have broken out in both closed comedones and open whiteheads in sensitive areas. It's very tempting, I know, and last week I did a DIY facial on a few very benign comedones and am still suffering the consequences in three big cysts. So yes, the clarisonic could definitely cause you problems, and I would stop using it pronto, at least until your skin has calmed down. Also don't squeeze, I can't stress it enough. I know you will probably, because I still do a year later, but if you can stand to just not touch your face and try not to look too much in the mirror, it'll honestly be so much better. I started out on the same prescription as you, and it was wayyyy too high for me, so I dropped down to 0.025 - which was great, but stopped working after a while - so I've gone back up to 0.05, and have experienced the same purging again.

 

What you're experiencing now is referred to as The Uglies, and you're also having purging. This is normal, and also horrible, and makes you feel like a pizza. Your comedones have to open up to heal, and your skin will get very dry as well. I understand, but it does get a lot better! In a sense, it gave me a lot of confidence to just stop caring about my appearance at this stage, and when it got better, I felt awesome about myself! Anyway, the key is moisture and minimal fuss. You're not going to be able to make foundation or powder smooth anything out at this point, so just stick with your regimen and keep calm through The Uglies, nobody's even going to notice. And if they do, they can shut right up. My boyfriend was the only person who did comment, and he begged me to stop for a while, saying I was doing more damage than good. Ha! He was wrong!

 

What I'd suggest is being very gentle with your skin, using lots of sunscreen throughout the day, and altogether stopping wearing foundation, which is awful at the beginning but you get used to very quickly. As a former makeup addict, and self-professed androgynous looking girl sans makeup, I actually completely stopped wearing eye makeup for a month, too. Alongside the gentle handling that you'll have to start, as you're experiencing lots of peeling, mix your tretinoin in with the same amount of moisturiser, or moisturise 20 minutes before, then apply the recommended amount. You're only at the beginning, so you'll have to work up to using it without moisturiser. The other option is to only do it every other night, but it's annoying to have to wait to see results. I can send you a stunning picture of my entire chin covered in a gray filmy peely flake mask if you want, I was pulling off inch-long pieces of skin at the beginning because I wasn't moisturising enough. Also, at the beginning, 15 minutes post-washing isn't really long enough, try to wait a full hour. I was like you, super eager to see results, and would apply more than a pea-size and exfoliate all the flakes off. It doesn't work, and many tears ensued as a result of staring at the flakes and constantly erupting spots in the mirror.

 

Obviously it's tempting to exfoliate, but try to resist it and just moisturise loads. I do exfoliate maybe twice a week, very gently, but only because i like the feeling, not because it's necessary at all. It'll be sensitive enough that you can actually exfoliate by getting in the shower, steaming up your skin and just rubbing it in little circles without any soap at all for a few minutes. This will create disgusting gray pills of skin between your fingers, but you'll have removed it in a gentle way, and then you can wash it!

 

As a tip, I use an oil-free moisturiser by Aknicare, but there are lots of others on the market; I think Cetaphil does one too! If you stick with it, you'll be surprised that one morning you'll wake up, and almost all of the spots and comedones will be gone. You'll have good days and bad, and if you're anything like me, it may never be perfect, but it should improve a LOT. As a plus side, it also stops ageing in its tracks, so you'll be forever 18 . I had a sun-damage wrinkle on one side of my face (my parents live in the tropics and for a year, I sunbathed recklessly), that just magically disappeared over the course of this last month.

 

Good luck lovely! xH

Thank you so much for the long and detailed answer!

I didn't use Tretinoin for 3 days while I was on vacation with my best friend and her family, and my peeling went away. I started using it as soon as I got back and I now put on a thin layer of moisturizer before the Tretinoin, and I wait 20 minutes for it to absorb. This has helped significantly. I know I'm not going to be seeing clear results for a while, as this is only the beginning of my third week (and remember I skipped 3 days) but my skin is much calmer now. Before, I was freaking out because of the over-exfoliation breakouts and redness that made my face look 10x worse than it actually was. That was a nightmare. But once I stopped using my Clarisonic for about a week and gave my skin a 3 day rest from the Tretinoin, my face returned to its natural color and my acne isn't inflamed at all. Tiny skin colored bumps, yes, but they are less pronounced and I'm a little less stressed out about it. Obviously, I want them all gone eventually but this is a nice step in the right direction. I started using my Clarisonic again last night, this time with the Delicate brush head and it does feel much softer than the original one. However, I am only going to be using it nights and only around 3 times a week, just in case it irritates my skin again.

I've heard that micellar water is a good alternative to washing your face with soapy washes that strip the skin of its natural oil and, in effect, may make you break out more in the long run. It's also supposed to clean your face better than a face wash ever could, I guess. I have no experience with micellar water, but I was wondering if anyone else did? I'm really curious about it, and I've heard its a skin care staple for French women (and as we all know, French women have amaaaaazing skin).

Yes, unlovely2011, I agree my face needs a break. However, I'm worried that using the retinoid only 3 or so times a week will significantly slow any incoming results down.

my biggest problem is with redness and uneven skin tone. I noticed when i stopped using the retinoid for 3 days my skin color balanced out to normal, in effect taking the spotlight off of my skin troubles. But ever since i started up again (a week ago) my skin is back to being red and blotchy and terrible looking. It makes it look worse than it actually is! And the redness is harder to cover up with makeup than the acne itself.

Is the retinoid inflaming it or what?

UPDATE:

I read your blog post and gotta say your situation sounded identical to my current one. I'm interested in the aczone gel... how does that work? Do you think that would be right for me?

Retin A can be very difficult to adjust to, and some people are too sensitive to it and never adjust. I tried it a few years ago and could never get out of the red blotchy stage. Didn't matter if I used it only a couple times a week, buffered it with moisturizer, etc. No matter what I did, my skin looked terrible. After months of this I finally gave up on it. I got fed up with my skin looking so bad all the time and decided it wasn't worth it.

That's where I'm at, pinkberry.

just nasty redness no matter what I do and I've been on it for almost 4 weeks now.

Am i just being impatient or is my skin not adjusting?

You're still in the early weeks...I was fighting irritation for months, almost a year. I would try to stick with it a little longer, maybe until 8-12 weeks. That way you'll know if your skin can adjust. And I would highly recommend just using 3 times a week for now and building up slowly. Even though you may think you're slowing your progress, you're actually helping things by building up tolerance to it gradually. If after a couple months you're still irritated I'd try something else.

You're still in the early weeks...I was fighting irritation for months, almost a year. I would try to stick with it a little longer, maybe until 8-12 weeks. That way you'll know if your skin can adjust. And I would highly recommend just using 3 times a week for now and building up slowly. Even though you may think you're slowing your progress, you're actually helping things by building up tolerance to it gradually. If after a couple months you're still irritated I'd try something else.

Thanks, I think you're right and I'll definitely try that!