emalie 1 Share Posted June 13, 2011 i have really oily skin and i'm on tretinoin cream, .05% i was on the gel at .01% for awhile and it seemed to help, now with the cream i'm breaking out worse. i did research and found a lot of people saying the cream can make oily skin worse, but the cream is .05% tretinoin and the gel is .01%. so how could the gel be more effective when the percentage is that much less? i'm a little confused. i'm just wondering if anyone knows if the cream is really bad enough for oily skin that the increase in chemical percentages wouldn't make it work better. i know there's more alcohol in the gel, so maybe that could be it. has anyone else's skin cleared up more with the gel than with the cream, even when there was more medication in the cream? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bear06 0 Share Posted June 26, 2011 I have heard that the gel is way better than the cream I recommend you to give it a shot. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
asburypark101 41 Share Posted June 26, 2011 This topic has been discussed before and I believe that the one argument agaisnt the cream is that it contains a chemical that may make acne worse, but others argue that the chemical is in such minute amounts that it wont make acne worse. I personally use the cream and I absolutely love it. Still studies show that the gel is more effective at drying the skin than the cream, so if facial oil is a concern for you I would go with the gel. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Valerie44 93 Share Posted June 29, 2011 (edited) This topic has been discussed before and I believe that the one argument agaisnt the cream is that it contains a chemical that may make acne worse, but others argue that the chemical is in such minute amounts that it wont make acne worse. I personally use the cream and I absolutely love it. Still studies show that the gel is more effective at drying the skin than the cream, so if facial oil is a concern for you I would go with the gel. Ive used both cream and gel. Gel in my opinion is much better, the cream made me more oily and i already have extremely oily skin so it just made it worse but i stuck it out for almost a year now, i had my follow up with my derm 2 days ago and asked him to put me back on the gel, ive already noticed just after 2 days my skin isnt no where near as oily so at this point im staying with the gel!! Edited June 29, 2011 by PinkBunny41 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Reeja 0 Share Posted June 30, 2011 The gel is more potent than the cream (at comparable percentages) because they gel contains alcohol which increases the delivery of the active ingredient. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
emalie 1 Author Share Posted July 2, 2011 thanks everyone, i called my dr and had he call in a script of the gel, i'm about to start it again so hopefully it'll help more.The gel is more potent than the cream (at comparable percentages) because they gel contains alcohol which increases the delivery of the active ingredient. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Valerie44 93 Share Posted July 3, 2011 thanks everyone, i called my dr and had he call in a script of the gel, i'm about to start it again so hopefully it'll help more. The gel is more potent than the cream (at comparable percentages) because they gel contains alcohol which increases the delivery of the active ingredient. the script he called in is only .01 though, and the cream was .05. is that a comparable enough percentage where it should still work better? i hope that's the case because he said the .01 is the highest the gel comes in. i did a search and found some saying that it does come in higher forms, and my doctor has been wrong about things before(he told me to use the tretinoin during the day, and then i found out that light degrades the chemicals so it doesnt work as well as at night) so i wouldn't be surprised if he was wrong. anyone know for sure? You should only use trentinoin at night NOT during the day i dont know why he would tell you to do that but it wouldnt be a good idea to use it during the day and yes .01% is the highest in gel form u can get Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nickatnight 0 Share Posted July 6, 2011 How can you tell if it is the cream or the gel? I have something called Veltin. It has tretinoin and clindamycin phosphate. it's kind of white, but clear. looks like semen hahahahah Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bear06 0 Share Posted July 6, 2011 How can you tell if it is the cream or the gel? I have something called Veltin. It has tretinoin and clindamycin phosphate. it's kind of white, but clear. looks like semen hahahahah The cream is kinda yellowish so I think you have the gel. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jdmeg6 0 Share Posted August 18, 2011 I think the strongest you can get in the states in gel form is .025% Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Reeja 0 Share Posted August 18, 2011 I have 0.05% gel form (Canada). It's super cheap too. It`s called Stieva Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cl12 0 Share Posted August 19, 2011 The cream has comedogenic ingredients and I never seemed to get 100% clear on it. I have dry skin and I would wake up with an insanely oily face, so I can't imagine what it would be like on someone with already oily skin! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
lilahv26 2 Share Posted August 20, 2011 You can get .05% aqueous gel in the US (Atralin) but its not available in a generic. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fred Q 2 Share Posted August 21, 2011 The gel is an alcohol based vehicle that delivers the active ingredient better. It is more irritating to the skin.The cream is less harsh on the skin, but isn't as good of a vehicle in comparison to the gel vehicle.A vehicle is something that transports the active ingredient (tretinoin, adapalene, tazarotene) into the skin so it can work.A common misconception that the cream won't work. That is not true, its just not quite as effective as the gel. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
