Acne.org Products
Topical Retinoid
Efficacy
54%
Based on All Available Studies
Strength of Evidence
Note: Prescription and over-the-counter adapalene share the same efficacy percentage due to non-specific research, but prescription strength likely performs better.
Topical Retinoid
Acne.org’s Real World Take
This topical retinoid medication provides partial relief at higher prescription dosages, but don’t look for complete clearing, especially at over-the-counter strength. Relatively affordable and comes with less side effects than tretinoin, the other affordable topical retinoid. As a bonus, it improves the look of skin and reduces fine lines and wrinkles a bit too.
Topical Retinoid
How to Get It
This is an over-the-counter treatment. Here are some places you can find it online.
Used Adapalene (Non-prescription)? Rate It:
Choose from 1 to 5 stars
September 5, 2012
Cons:
initial breakout... i was 80% clear besides the red spots and now its almost as bad as when i had inflammed acne...
... i always use benzoyl perozide creame which always worked for me.. but i got inflammed acne a month ago and it left hyperpigmentation ..i start school in another week and i was clear before summer.. only now i broke out.. so im gonna use benzoyl peroxide in mornin and differin at night to see if it helps...i will leave another review after a few weeks of use
August 30, 2012
Pros:
Makes my oily face not SOOO oily .. But it still is on my nose .
Works on mild acne and popped acne
Cons:
Skin turns into a Sensitive skin!
flaky skin .
Used it for 1 month now. I used to get like one spot at a time b4 but i recently just started getting a lot acne,m 18. It works for mr since my acne is probably considered mild since it's mostly around my cheeks and a lot of whiteheadson my forhead . It worked on my bumpy acne only cheeks but for my small white heads, idk ... I take lymecycline with the gel so im thinking my whitehead decreased Caz ov the pill and not the cream . Sadly I still get some ocational acne and have acne pigmentations on my face .. But I feel like it's ok Caz the cream helped me to get rid ov the bumpy pussfilled acne on my cheeks it only take 2 over nights to dry up my my new fresh pimples :D Will recommend for teens with mild acne ! Tho it works , i got it off a pharmacy so it was cheaper then asking a doc for it . :)
November 3, 2011
Pros:
Clears Skin
Causes Confidence - lol - seriously
Cons:
Takes a while to Start Seeing Results
Acne Gets really bad before it gets better.
I have always had Acne but it was always moderate, however earlier this year I began breaking out with cystic acne. (It was terrible) I Stopped going out and tried everything I could to get clear. I started using this and got the scare of my life. I didn't think my acne could get worst but two days after starting this it did. I was told that It would get worst before it gets better so I continued. Today is a little over two months and for the first time I can actually touch or scratch my face, lol sounds weird but if you have acne all your life scratching your face is a strategic mission. I will continue using it because I'm not COMPLETELY clear but I hope that I will be soon. TIME, please give this time, it really makes you break out the first two months I'd say. After that things get better. I'm giving this a rating of 4 because I'm not finished with the treatment so i don't know if it will work completely. So far it has given me back my confidence. Make sure you Apply Every Single Night!
Don't use Soap. Find one good wash and ONLY use that with the treatment.
October 5, 2011
Pros:
- slightly improved cystic acne for a little while
- made skin smooth
- didn't experience flaking/dryness/irritation etc.
Cons:
- did not completely clear acne
- slight redness
- took about 3 months to see results
- bad initial break out
- stopped working after a few months of slightly helping
- not worth the expensive price
i used this for just over a year in combination with Minocycline. there was a bad initial break out with it, and it took about 3 months to see any results at all. in terms of the results i did see: my skin was slightly improved for several months, meaning that my pimples were less inflamed and painful. the Differin did also help my pimples go away more quickly. key point here is that i WAS still breaking out. after a few months of this slight improvement, however, it stopped working at all. i continued using it with the Mino for several months afterwards, and my cystic acne went back to being just as bad as it was before beginning this treatment. eventually i gave up and stopped using both, switched to something else. bottom line, don't waste your time with Differin; it doesn't clear acne, and you only get a slight improvement that doesn't even continue for the entire period of time you're using it.
September 9, 2011
Pros:
none
Cons:
make my acne way worse, and easy to get scars. Be careful with this product, it will not work on some people.
I only had little problems with acne, nothing major. I tried this product just to get my face completely clear, but I believe it was a big mistake!!! the first few weeks, this medication worked wonderful. make my skin looks smooth and clear. Then, the nightmare came. I began to have break outs all over my face which I never experineced in my life. Also, this medication doesn't help your skin heal that well. I am left with few depressed scars after the acne was gone. Now, everytime I look at my face, I feel like crying, I really should never use this medication. It may work on your skin, but be careful, there maybe side effects you do not want to face.
August 14, 2011
Pros:
Didn't make me breakout (or if it did, I had too much acne to notice)
Helped to prevent breakouts
Cleared my skin
Cons:
Had to use with Clyndoxyl and Diane35 (I can't REALLY say that it's a con since it worked for me)
I used this product with Clindoxyl gel and I was also on Diane 35. I know that Diane 35 didn't clean my skin alone, because I started to use it a long time before I started to use Differin and Clindoxyl but it didn't really help. Clyndoxyl alone could'nt do it because it is a spot treatment so it doesn't help to prevent other pimples. I must say that it's not only Differin that helped me, thought. While Clyndoxyl was treating my actual pimples, Diane 35 was stabilizing my hormones and Differin was preventing another breakout. Those 3 products cleared my skin, ALL OF IT. I only have a few pimples sometimes (and acne scars too, but I think that it's because I used too strong products on my face), but those pimples totally normal since I'm 17 :P
July 21, 2011
Pros:
only thing that ever worked
Cons:
none
A+
April 8, 2011
Pros:
may help if you have light acne
Cons:
did not work for me
some days were good, most weren't, but then again my acne is hereditary so i get cysts and my face is pretty pumpy. i used it for a year and did not notice any improvment. BUT if your acne isn't so bad then try it. now im on Retin-A, uses it for 3 months now and my face is hell!
September 24, 2010
Pros:
-worked very moderately
-okay with antibiotics
Cons:
-ages to work
-sensitive to sun, peeling etc
please please please, if you are concerned about your skin, concerned enough to be on an acne site looking desperately for solutions, forget all this bullsh*t and go on accutane, it saved my life 3 years ago and is now doing it again. Bite the bullet, just f**kin do it. PLEASE.
September 9, 2010
Pros:
No breakouts
Cons:
Area around eyes (eyelids/under eye) EXTREMELY dry and red
I went to my dermatologist last week for a prescription medication to treat my teenage acne breakouts. He gave me some samples of Differin and after only a few days the area around my eyes were very red and dry. Any sort of moisturizer or healing ointment made the area burn unbearably. I was crying, my eyes hurt so much, even though I was sure not to get any product close to my eyes. I've been told to wait it out, but it's too much for me at the moment.
Pros:
it got my hyperpigmentation and red spots a bit lighter within a week.. no other pros so far