Day 13: My face got so irritated by the end of the day. I'm breaking out really badly after about a week of relative calm. I'm hoping this is just the initial breakout, which I heard can occur during weeks 3-6. I'm going to stick it out and try to keep positive; after all, acne is just cosmetic, right? Gotta be thankful for that. Nonetheless, it's hard to watch new cysts pop up right before my eyes. I have maybe seven big ones right now - I "drained" a few, but they're still red and tender.

Tretinoin, you better come through for me in the end. :/

Day 17: I'm finding it a little hard to stay positive because I'm seeing very little improvement - in fact, my acne is pretty much as bad as it gets right now. My forehead is broken out in annoying little bumps and my cheeks have a few cysts. My chin is the worst - lots of clogged pores that are turning inflamed. I feel pretty disgusting, but I just keep telling myself that tretinoin needs time to start working.

The problem is I don't know when to expect results... some people say they had results in three weeks, and some people say that they didn't start clearing up until eight months after starting!

I've also been feeling pretty dry lately, and yet oilier than usual at the same time. You're supposed to wait 20 minutes after washing to apply the tretinoin, and my face feel reeeally tight/painful during those 20 minutes. I think I'm going to try mixing the tretinoin with some moisturizer (currently using oil-free Neutrogena for sensitive skin) to help alleviate this.

Is anyone else out there just starting out on tretinoin?

Day 19: A bit better around the chin - still developing new little pimples, but the cysts have mostly calmed down are are really drying up now. My forehead is breaking out a little more than usual though (usually it is just a lot of rough texture with no big pimples). Over-all I would say it's looking a bit better.

I would say the texture of my skin is starting to feel a little smoother as well. I also forgot to mention that I recently started ortho tri-cyclen, right when I started tretinoin, actually. Probably wasn't a smart idea because now I don't know what to attribute my results to. lol

Which gel are you using? I am using Atralin. I have probably been using it for a month and a half. I am still breaking out, but I am hopeful. It is helping with my brown marks from old acne. I def think it is making it worse before it gets better. Good luck!

I'm using the cream, not the gel - and it's just the generic brand. Not sure if that makes a big difference, in terms of filler ingredients and such. I am hopeful as well!

Day 23: Breaking out a lot in inflamed acne, not really cysts. Forehead looks much clearer, however. There are still a couple of small pimples but the texture is coming along nicely. My skin feels kind of thick, like no matter how much I exfoliate it's still not enough. Hopefully this is just everything coming to the surface. Staying optimistic.

Day 25: Blah blah blah acne sucks I hate it etc. etc. Still breaking out consistently, and it keeps getting worse. Yay. lol

This too shall pass. I hope.

Day 28: Still breaking out, nothing new to see here... Gotta stay strong until I hit that 3 month mark! Hopefully some improvement will start by then.

Day 35 - I am definitely noticing less clogged pores. I used to get these little white balls under my skin that never became inflamed or anything, they just kind of sat there looking gross. There were a lot around mouth, so those are clearing up a bit. (:

I am still breaking out, but I feel like my cheeks have improved. My forehead is still not improving in my opinion, since it still has a bunch of clogged pores and poor texture. I feel like the texture improvement is due to the tretinoin, and I'm breaking out a little less because the BC might be starting to work.