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
May 16, 2017
Its not bad
I used adapalene for about a month and honest opinions here...it worked FINE. My acne did go away, but an occasional pimple showed up here and there. My scarring looked faded, but the problem is as soon as I stopped using this product, my face broke out, BUT not as bad as it did before. Therefore, good for temporary fixes and decrease of acne
pagiepooh
July 20, 2017
try using this product every other night over a moisturizer. i was recommended cerave daily moisturizer by a dermatologist and it works fantastic. it has ceramides in it that help rebuild the skin barrier function. people who suffer with acne have been shown to have weakened skin barrier function, allowing harmful bacteria to enter the pores and cause infection. without a healthy skin barrier, we are doomed for breakouts and inflammation.
July 24, 2016
So far so good
I suffer from hormonal acne, and have for a couple years now. It's probably one of the most stressful things ever, I hate looking at myself in the mirror and I would LOVE to be able to walk out of the house with no make up on and feel completely comfortable. However, that is not the case. I went to see my dermatologist a little over a month ago and she recommended this to me. I started off using it every other day and only in my problem areas because I read that it can be extremely drying and cause breakouts in the beginning and I wanted to avoid this as much as possible. Luckily, I did not experience any drying and only had about one or two more pimples show up. Now, a month and a half later I'm pleased to say I experience far less breakouts than before, and most of them occur around my time of the month. My advice is to start slow with this, only apply in problem areas, and do not use too much! Most importantly, moisturize when using this product to help offset some of the drying that can occur. The only reason I did not give this product a full five stars is because I wish I could see more progress now, but I know that it takes around 3 months to see any real improvement. I will update again then. Sidenote, I am also taking spironolactone once a day, and applying Aczone in the mornings after washing my face.
March 30, 2016
Teenage acne
I am a 17 year old female and I stared using differin 0.1% gel over a year ago now. The first 2-3 months were terrible. My skin was flaky and red and my skin got worse. This was all part of the process however. After my skin purged, I had amazing results I really couldnt believe it. I had been so self conscious about my skin for so long and I could now go make up free and still feel confident! I continued to use it on my face every night for about 6 months but then stopped because me skin was so good and I thought I no longer needed it. This was a mistake. It was fine for the firsts few months but after a while my acne slowly started to come back. Little bumps on my forehead came but as well as cyst ance on my chin. I was devastated. My skin is definitely not as bad as it was when I first started, however it has still affected my self concious tremendously and I am back to covering my face with make up every day. I thought about using it again but I really didn't want to have to face those first few horrible months again. It has now been at least 8 months since I last used it. It really did recive amazing results but I should not have stopped using it. However, it was also quite costly ($45) for a very small tube and I would run out quite quickly. I also made a mistake of getting my eyebrows waxed when I was using it and this caused awful burns underneath and on top of my eyebrows due to have sensitive it makes your skin. - so be careful of that. Overall it worked quite well but I am disappointed it did not have lasting results.
December 15, 2015
Not entirely impressed
I started using this ointment after my dermatologist recommended it to me. I started having mild acne in the sixth grade but it just got worse as the years went on. The one thing I can say about this product is it takes ALOT of time and patience. I was using benzoyl peroxide beford using Differin but it didn't seem to work. When I started using Differin I was so fustrated because I wasnt seeing a difference at all. It got to the point where 5 months passed and still nothing was happening. I would put this cream on before I went to bed and still wake up with MORE pimples than the amount I went to bed with. To this day I've been using it for about a year and half and only see slight progress. I think it damaged my skin rather than helping it. I less acne but now im suffering but REALLY dry skin because of this cream. So I WOULD NOT reccomend this product. P.s another thing, do not go out in the sun if you are using this product. You will get extremely painful, bright red sunburns! Ouch....I have alot of exprience with them :/
December 18, 2015
Once stopped, did your acne get worse or better?
October 10, 2015
Still breaking out-updated version
Update on 26th Dec:
It's almost been 6 months since I used this product. I would say it makes my skin more smooth and the new pimples are much smaller and go away fast. However, it somehow makes my skin red very easily and the hyper-pigmentation keeps emerging...
I figure out that my acne is most likely hormonal, so I plan on going birth control. I still use this product (but with very little amount) whenever a few spots appear, as it definitely helps them go away faster. I also eliminate dairy and minimize my sugar and meat intake since August, but the effect is very insignificant.
Overall I would say it's an okay product. if your acne is caused by bacteria or something, then this might be a good solution. But if you still break out after 6 months, most likely it's caused by other factors. Nevertheless, be gentle to your skin and a good combination of healthy diet and low stress level never hurts. Previous review on October:
Okay so I am on my 10th week, while it definitely makes my skin smooth, overall this product still makes me break out like crazy.....though
the new pimples are small and go away faster. Also it makes my skin very sensitive to the sunlight. I will update my review after 2-4 weeks. I would give it a full 6 month to see if it works for me. Red marks suck
September 15, 2015
Awful
Ive been using this for about 3 months now as a last resort. Ive been to dermatologists and theyve plamed me off with this as i have seborrheic dermatitis as well as this patch of pigmented skin. I can honestly say that this product has done nothing, hasnt made it better and hasnt made it worse so its pretty pointless.
November 17, 2014
Didn't work
Didn't work for me. Made it worse. Caused skin to be too dry and red.
September 26, 2014
Couldn't deal with the instant purging
Tried to switch from Zineryt liquid lotion to Differin due to how difficult the Zineryt was to apply. The idea of an easy, one a day cream was great. However, unfortunately after just two days I switched straight back. My skin was redder than ever, covered in spots and white heads were popping up so fast it was unbelievable. However, I have no doubt that this product would work in the long time. I just couldn't take my skin getting in worse at that time. Try Zineryt lotion for instant drying of spots.
September 16, 2014
1 month in...
I took Accutane and my skin stayed clear for 1.5 years. During this time I was just using normal face wash and Aczone prescription, exfoliating, etc. About a month ago my skin just went nuts. It started getting really oily and I started noticing a considerable increase in "congestion". I had lots of blackheads and absolutely riddled with closed comedones. My skin overall and had an extremely oily and bumpy look to it, but wasn't breaking out into inflammed zits. So like I said, about a month ago I went back to the derm and she suggested Differin. She mention Aczone will not address the bumps under the skin, but Differin will. She suggested I continue using Aczone during the day, but Differin at night. The first week my skin went nuts with large zits and some cystic acne, which I have not had since pre accutance. Now that I am in what I think is week 4 or 5, the big zits are gone, but it's like every single bump on my face is red. Red acne scars have also been taking FOREVER to fade. It's absurd. I've read Differin "purges", but is this normal?
August 2, 2014
2 weeks in
im 22 years old. I've now been using this product for 2 weeks using it once every other day before bedtime. I first wash my face with a foaming cleanser cerave, then benzoyl peroxide, then Adapalene 0.1% gel (differin). Every day from starting this product I noticed more and more white bumps coming to the surface of my skin. Kind of happy because I figured its working, but now on my second week there's a lot of white bumps on my cheeks and want them to go away already because my birthday is in 3 days and don't want to be seen with so many white heads on my face. How long after they start coming to the surface do they actually go away? I prefer whiter bumps over red pimples but neither is better. I will stick to it of course although my skin doesn't appear to be smoother as other reviews I've read. also I don't use a moisturizer in my routine only after washing my face in the morning before stepping out as it also contains sunscreen spf30. Am I also supposed to be moisturizing after using this product as well? Well hope this is working for the rest of you, good luck everyone!