Hello, I am sorry that this happened to you. I do want to tell you that Retin A can cause more damage that just causing a purge/more acne. It has ruined my life. Ipersisted for 7 months despite knowing that it was causing damage. My dermatologists insisted thatwhat I was seeing could not be from Retin A and told me tocontinue it.I followed all Doctors instructions perfectly and still ended up like this. My skin never felt irritated or flaky while using it. It has left me with rough, raisedorange peel texture, enlarged/scarred looking pores and a pulling sensation in my face.After I stopped I have been getting progressively worse bouts offacial flushing and burning everyday(like I am on fire).
Now, a new Derm sees what I see, but doesn't really know what happened or how to help. Please, please stop now because it could be so much worse. I know that many people have used this medication with success, but there are a few who have been devastated by it.I am one of those people. I didn't know that it can be worse than just having acne. Trust me,it can be much, much worse. My face is ruined.
Maybe try something else like Spironolactone. That is the only thing that has cleared me of acne.
Good Luck and Best Regards
7 hours ago, sararey said:Hello, I am sorry that this happened to you. I do want to tell you that Retin A can cause more damage that just causing a purge/more acne. It has ruined my life. I persisted for 7 months despite knowing that it was causing damage. My dermatologists insisted that what I was seeing could not be from Retin A and told me to continue it. I followed all Doctors instructions perfectly and still ended up like this. My skin never felt irritated or flaky while using it. It has left me with rough, raised orange peel texture, enlarged/scarred looking pores and a pulling sensation in my face. After I stopped I have been getting progressively worse bouts of facial flushing and burning everyday (like I am on fire).
Now, a new Derm sees what I see, but doesn't really know what happened or how to help. Please, please stop now because it could be so much worse. I know that many people have used this medication with success, but there are a few who have been devastated by it. I am one of those people. I didn't know that it can be worse than just having acne. Trust me, it can be much, much worse. My face is ruined.
Maybe try something else like Spironolactone. That is the only thing that has cleared me of acne.
Good Luck and Best Regards
What percentage of Retin A where you using? I read all kinds of post that it's suppose to make you're skin worse before it gets better but I don't even know what to do anymore. I have a derm appt Friday so I will bring this up. I'm very sorry that has happened to you. I don't get the burning red side effects just the dry skin me huge cystic acne. This is horrible. They shouldn't be prescribing stuff like this 
I started with the Retin A 0.01% Gel every night for 1 month, then the 0.025% Gel every night for the next month, then dropped back to every other night for the next 5 months. 7 months total. I knew that something was wrong, but the Derms kept telling me that I needed to use it every night, they also wanted to bump me up to Tazorac and get chemical peels every week. Boy am I glad I didn't listen to them about the chemical peels or the Tazorac. They told me that none of the things that I was experiencing was related to the Retin A, even though it all started when I was using it. My skin texture got worse and worse. I regret listening to them every day, crazy now that I think about it. I too, got a lot more acne, but the worst part about it is the texture change and flushing/burning, I think these things may be permanent since I stopped using it almost 6 months ago with only little change in texture and worsening of burning. I did everything I was told and was following up with them every 2 weeks, with lots of phone calls sprinkled in there too. Just listen to what your skin is telling you and just know that they will not hesitate a moment in ruining your skin, it is not their face after all. My side effects are beyond horrible, I can't do anything without my face turning bright red and burning, sunlight and heat also bring this about, It makes the horrible texture on my face puffy, like 3-D. It looks beyond alien and it is a part of my daily life now. I am in hell. I can't do anything but stay home. I have been working , but I think I may not be able to do it much longer. The flushing and burning is debilitating. Doctors don't know how to help me now.
I am aware that this is not a common side effect, but I have talked to a few others with this problem. I am not alone. I just wanted to tell you that not all of the possible side effects are on the insert and they are not all "temporary".
Yes, I probably have an unknown underlying medical condition that made it possible for this to happen. But does it really matter? When my life is altered?
Warm Regards
5 hours ago, Ali182 said:What percentage of Retin A where you using? I read all kinds of post that it's suppose to make you're skin worse before it gets better but I don't even know what to do anymore. I have a derm appt Friday so I will bring this up. I'm very sorry that has happened to you. I don't get the burning red side effects just the dry skin me huge cystic acne. This is horrible. They shouldn't be prescribing stuff like this
I'm really sorry that you're going through this I used Retin-A for 3 months before giving up. I started getting the worst cystic acne of my life a couple weeks in (my whole chin would be covered with 3-5 huge cysts fused together) and constantly breaking out on my cheeks (where I never used to break out before using it) even though I never had any side effects like flaking or peeling. The breakouts never stopped in that 3 month time period and when I quit, there was an immediate improvement.
My experience aside, 4 weeks is still fairly early on in an acne treatment, so if you feel like you can stick it out for 6-12 weeks, certainly do so. However, it's also completely understandable if you want to quit. Hormonal treatments or gentler products may give you better results. Best of luck whatever you decide!
Don't give up just yet. Even I am on retin a and on my 40th week.... I guess I can say that it will get much worse before getting awesome. Keep on hanging in there. Even I am now breaking out because I just upgraded my concentration from 0.025 to 0.05 last month. So I am also on week 4 of my new concentration. Let's see what the future has to bring... Also acne has much of psychological effect too. You will feel sometimes that it doesn't work. But overcome that and if any help is needed then this community is awesome. And if your friends are just like mine, they will also ask about it, which will also make you feel down. But keep going and you will see the difference. Go for about 3 months without analysing your skin too much. It will improve. Be positive and keep hoping. 
6 hours ago, BruceWayneIsBatman said:Don't give up just yet. Even I am on retin a and on my 40th week.... I guess I can say that it will get much worse before getting awesome. Keep on hanging in there. Even I am now breaking out because I just upgraded my concentration from 0.025 to 0.05 last month. So I am also on week 4 of my new concentration. Let's see what the future has to bring... Also acne has much of psychological effect too. You will feel sometimes that it doesn't work. But overcome that and if any help is needed then this community is awesome. And if your friends are just like mine, they will also ask about it, which will also make you feel down. But keep going and you will see the difference. Go for about 3 months without analysing your skin too much. It will improve. Be positive and keep hoping.
May I ask, why did you bump up on the percentage? How long did it take to see improvement?
20 hours ago, Ali182 said:On Wednesday, February 01, 2017 at 8:00 PM, BruceWayneIsBatman said:Don't give up just yet. Even I am on retin a and on my 40th week.... I guess I can say that it will get much worse before getting awesome. Keep on hanging in there. Even I am now breaking out because I just upgraded my concentration from 0.025 to 0.05 last month. So I am also on week 4 of my new concentration. Let's see what the future has to bring... Also acne has much of psychological effect too. You will feel sometimes that it doesn't work. But overcome that and if any help is needed then this community is awesome. And if your friends are just like mine, they will also ask about it, which will also make you feel down. But keep going and you will see the difference. Go for about 3 months without analysing your skin too much. It will improve. Be positive and keep hoping.
May I ask, why did you bump up on the percentage? How long did it take to see improvement?
Well it took me about 5-6 months to be fully clear... But I increased the percentage because I thought that 0.025 was very low and 0.05 would be the best for long term as it is neither very strong nor too weak. I am just going to stick to it and will never increase the concentration again if not needed (hopefully such a case will never come ). I just wanted to see how my skin reacts to the newer percentage after 10 months of 0.025... You can see my progress on my weekly log also....
8 hours ago, BruceWayneIsBatman said:Well it took me about 5-6 months to be fully clear... But I increased the percentage because I thought that 0.025 was very low and 0.05 would be the best for long term as it is neither very strong nor too weak. I am just going to stick to it and will never increase the concentration again if not needed (hopefully such a case will never come
I see. It sucks that it takes a long time to see results. Didn't realize that until after I started the gel. Anyway thank you!
no longer taking Retin A. This stuff is horrible. It's been three days I haven't put that stuff on my face. I went to a dermatologist and she even said stop using it and to take doxycycline twice a day. She also prescribed differin cream but I'm not doing that. I'm actually going to try something else.