Acne.org Products
I'm a little nervous about this one. My insurance would not cover tretinoin so I went to my derm and asked them what else I can do about my situation. They said that I can actually get the prescription cheaper through this pharmacy that will mail the product to you. For $35 I thought that was pretty fair considering how much I would be getting. Well, I got my package today and the tretinoin was just in a simple plastic jar without any seal. It's the cream and kind of whitish-yellow in color. I was wondering if I should be worried about this...? Usually tretinoin is in the hard tubes that sealed up tightly.
Another disadvantage to this is is that with a jar, it is hard to get that pea-size amount you can easily achieve when dispensing the product from the tube. The expiration date is 10/11/15! Now I really feel like I'm getting ripped off here... I'm nervous about applying it to my face but I went ahead and did it. My skin just feels a little tight but I think that's common... What's everyone's thoughts on this? Thanks!
Question resolved.
I contacted the pharmacy and as it turns out, some pharmacies that specialize in compounding prescriptions can make their own tretinoin. That explains why it doesn't look like it's from a reputable brand of any kind. I literally have a plastic lotion jar chock full of tretinoin cream. It still works the same as retin-a and other tretinoin products. The reason for the short shelf life is due to the pharmacy having to make it so there's no seal and what not to keep from becoming less effective. The representative I spoke to at the pharmacy said that actually this product is good for 60 days despite the expiration date stating early October. I may not be wasting my money in this case.
It's also been a while since I last used tretinoin. Can anyone tell me how long their tubes/jars/etc typically last them?