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
November 2, 2010
Cons:
dry skin, peeling/flaking.. doesnt prevent new break outs.
ive been on this for over 4 months & has yet to do anytihyng.
December 3, 2009
Pros:
NOTHING!!!
Cons:
My skin is turning into a slab of pepperoni pizza being pulled out of an oven at your local Pizza Hut. I've been using it for one month and my skin is breaking out like crazy. My old acne has been lost in a sea of beautiful new red bumps. Which ma
I guess I'll keep slapping it on every night. Hopefully things will get better during the next two months. Thank God I'm not still in high school, then this would REALLY suck!!!
October 21, 2009
Pros:
Help to clear up pimples faster.
Cons:
Doesn't help to prevent new breakouts.
I've been using it for a little more than 4 weeks and I can notice some slight difference.. It does help to clear up my acnes faster but doesn't prevent from getting new ones. I'll stick with it and see what happens in the next 3 months. hopes it works!
October 6, 2009
Pros:
the gel had my face glowing. everyone said your skin look good.
(one person stated he liked my texture)
Cons:
face peels, sensitive to waxing
it worked for me. at first i didnt like it, i thought it was making things worse, so i stopped uing it. Then months later i decided since i spent my money i might as well use it. I now am glad i did. I love what it has done to my face.
October 3, 2009
Pros:
It did help a little bit for a while. I managed to keep my complexion relatively clear for a few months with it.
Cons:
It took forever to start working, about 3 months to see any improvement. The first month to two months the redness and peeling is awful. Then, after a year it stopped working and my acne is much worse than it has ever been before (I am 23).
While I have not found anything that works better than this yet, I would not necessarily recommend it. Taking 3 months to work is ridiculous, and the amount of improvement I saw with it was minimal. The fact that it took so long to work makes me question if it ever did, or if my acne just responded to my stress level being reduced. Even after 3 months I still had frequent pimples. The peeling will continue for about 4-5 months and can cause your skin to look horrific. After a year, my acne became worse than ever before. So I would not recommend this, it isn't worth the trouble and the wait for minimum improvement.
October 3, 2009
Pros:
Seems to work well with drying out pimples and making them go away.
Cons:
I still do get one or two pimples weekly.
I have been using Differin gel along with minocycline (a smaller dosage tetracycline) for around four months now. Many people say that at the beggining of treatment acne gets worse but that was not the case for me. I guess it's just how it initially reacts with the individual. I did though notice that for the first couple of weeks using Diffrin, my skin got dry and flakey, but that went away after a while. Overall the product works fairly well for me. It dries out the pimple very well and makes it disapear within about one week (depending on size of coarse). I still do get pimples however, but for me it is pretty minor. Just use the gel every night on the affected area only and it should work fine. If you are dealing with the fact of not seeing results from Differin right away just give it some time. It will start to noticably make your face better, but you just have to be very patient
September 29, 2009
Pros:
goes on clear, doesn't leave residue
Cons:
no immediate gratification. need to be very patient
This stuff really works but you have to be super patient. It is my 10th month and my skin is glowing and really smooth. In between I still had some breakouts and controlled it with BP 2.5 and sulfacetamide (the higher concentration, I think 10%). The differin has noticeably reduced the acne scarring to the point where I can no longer see them. Breakouts are virtually gone.
September 24, 2009
Pros:
pimples are smaller
Cons:
dries skin out really bad
everything burns my skin now
my face is more scarred
i hate it !! It was a waste of money my skin wasn't this bad before and its noticeable my friends tell me how my skin looks much worse i didnt have as many pimples as i do now !! but now my skin is peeling and drying out really bad and everything burns.
i don't recommend this. My pimples may be smaller but now my acne has spread to places where i didn't have any. Now my self esteem has gone done really bad
September 21, 2009
Pros:
None.
Cons:
Made me beak out SOOOOOOOOO bad. Did not help at all.
I have stopped using this cream after 4 months. IT just made acne worse thatn EVER. It is the biggest rip off ever. I threw the tube in the garbage.
August 31, 2009
Pros:
- Cleared up my acne in 2 months, after having had persistent acne for 10 years
- Made the texture of my skin nice and smooth
- Easy to use cause its not a spot treatment
Cons:
I really thought about cons and I honestly can't think of any. My skin has been a bit more oily but I think that is because of the cetaphil/clindamycin lotion I have been using as well.
Worked well for me, although I can see a lot of people have had problems with dryness and redness and the product not working so I guess I am the exception to the case. I'd had acne for about 10 years, mainly due to PCOS, that was unrelenting and never cleared up in that time. I tried pretty much everything and this is the only thing that has worked.
Pros:
helped a little?