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
December 19, 2009
Cons:
Makes my skin greasy overnight
Very good product...had bad acne but cleared it up within 8 weeks
December 17, 2012
Pros:
Finally cleared my acne
Stops breakouts
Cheap w/ insurance
Improve texture of the skin
Cons:
Takes forever to work
Does not work on acne marks
Makes your face itchy
Must use it forever
To all the acne sufferers , please stick with it for at least 6 months.It takes forever to work and it will break you out crazy during the process but 100% worth it. WEEK 1-4:Little whiteheads keep showing on my face
WEEK 5-6:Worst break-outs of my life!
WEEK 7:Feel clear for the first time on this thing!
WEEK 8-10:Break-outs again
WEEK 11:Face is clear
WEEK 12-14:First cysts of my life
WEEK 15:Cysts are healing
WEEK 16-.....:Clear and happy
June 29, 2011
Pros:
(Used with Lymecyline)
My skin is completely clear of spots for the first time in my life- the first thing friends who haven't seen me in a while comment on is how great my skin looks. I'm so much more confident too :) Before staying the night with anybody, I used to put on more make up before going to sleep, terrified anyone would see my horrible skin underneath it all. Now I'm the first one to whip out the face wipes, and hardly wear foundation at all.
OH, AND IT'S FREE ON MY PRESCRI
Cons:
Oh gosh, I genuinely find it hard to write bad things about it!
The first few weeks I did have some nasty break outs and my skin peeled a bit, but it settled down so fast that I can't really complain.
Oh, I've also still got a few scars on my cheeks, but hopefully through following my course of Lymecycline and Differin gel, they will fade too :)
My skin is great for the first time in my life, and it makes me feel so much happier and more confident.
November 9, 2010
Pros:
Less acne
Cons:
Makes me scar, a lot!
I'm using Differin for 4 months and I recently discoverd that every zit I get while on this product, creates an indented scar! Aargh! I don't like acne... but scars are worse! Please let them go away... :-(
October 14, 2010
Pros:
It works
Cons:
May take awhile; like 6 months. It works from the deeper levels of your skin, not superficial.
People...this product is a very slow working product that is intended to be used long term. You have to slowly start using it...a small amount every other day or every other other day. Use a light moisturizer to combat dryness and DO NOT apply it and then go in the sun without sunscreen. In fact apply it at night, in the morning wash your face and apply a topical antibiotic then sunscreen. If you experience a horrendous break out in the begining ask your Dr. for a short term script of oral antibiotics.
January 4, 2017
Slow but effective
After almost a year of this it cleared up my severe acne by 99%. The initial breakout was real bad tho, however, worth it 100x in the end. This product continued to bring out my acne from deep within my skin so it took about 2 months to actually see any results. If you're using it keep on it, your gonna have to power through it!
June 7, 2016
DONT DO IT!!!
Ok so for the past two weeks I have been addicted to this forum and I fee like I've learned a lot and feel motivated to help others. I went off of birth control for the first time in 12 years and my skin went CRAZY!!! Me being me, I immediately went to see a doctor and then a dermatologist. I was prescribed Differin 0.1% and it made my acne SO MUCH WORSE. I have very sensitive skin and am prone to post inflammatory hyperpigmentation. Every time I used this product it either gave me more acne or caused such severe redness that it made my mild acne look like severe acne. I'm a nurse and PhD student and thus have a medical background. As a result, I always lean on the evidence based approaches. But holy sweet jesus I am learning SO SO much about diet and natural remedies and how they are so much better for treating acne than any harsh topical chemical. I do 100% believe in birth control for the management of hormonal acne and am also giving doxycycline a try. In my opinion, the best approaches to treat acute acne are a) GREEN TEA- I've only been using it for 2 days and already my skin looks less red. Although this could also be due to the fact that I've ditched the Differin, there are legitimate scientific studies that reveal why green tea is great for acne and skin in general.... b) ICE- please try icing inflamed pimples before putting harsh chemicals on your skin...especially if it's sensitive like mine. This has drastically helped to reduce my inflammation and can even reduce the size of the pimples. c) ELIMINATE DAIRY- eliminate it completely for one month and see what happens. I am only on day 3 of this so I will post an update. I know that this may not work for everyone, however, if you have a dairy intolerance or are willing to give it up for a month to see what happens PLEASE give this a shot before spending tons and tons of money on useless topicals and shedding lots of tears. I ate a bowl of ice cream and had a slice of cheese on Saturday and by Sunday morning I woke up with three more HUGE pimples. There are also various scientific studies on how dairy aggravates acne. Just type in Google Scholar: "Acne and dairy". I will be posting updates over the next few weeks. d) TRY CETAPHIL- gentle cleanser, not many ingredients, cheap. e) EAT LOTS OF VEGETABLES, FRUIT (but not an excessive amount due to the sugar), and foods with a LOW GLYCEMIC INDEX. Again, I only just started this and will post updates with my progress....but as mentioned, I've been obsessively researching this stuff and these are the safest, most cost effective, and healthiest ways to tackle this problem. So to summarize, YES birth control helps acne (especially Dianne 35 but you'll eventually want to transition to a less harsh birth control once things are under control because it is an intense birth control with risks) and MAYBE oral antibiotics like doxycycline can help SOME people. The key is to not only treat the symptoms of acne but to get at the underlying cause. Hormones, stress, genetics, and food intolerances appear to be the main culprits. From my own experience and from a lot of the reviews I've read, AVOID DIFFERIN AND TREAT YOUR SKIN AS SENSITIVE AND YOUR ACNE AS A WARNING SIGN THAT YOUR BODY IS OUT OF BALANCE. Don't make my mistakes by going the harsh chemical route right off the bat! I had to go to the hospital last week because my face was so inflamed!! (I combined Differin, Retin A, and glycolic acid.....ya dumb, I know. Don't make my mistake!) If anyone needs some moral support plz feel free to shoot me an e mail at [Removed]. I know how depressing and anxiety provoking this can be and it's important to get the social support you need! Good luck beautiful people! xox
April 24, 2012
Pros:
cleared severe acne
stopped breakouts
can wear under make-up
Cons:
takes 1.5 - 2 months to see noticeable results
Adult acne is not easy to deal with. I was always embarrassed as a professional having to meet with senior executives and could never stop thinking about my skin.
I tried everything from accutane, minocin, proactive. Nothing worked as well as Differin.
I would normally not even take the time to write a review on anything.
I didn't notice any results after a few weeks so felt discouraged. I remember the dermatologist saying the most important thing to remember with this cream is to keep using it for at least 2 months.
I followed his advice and am finally confident with my skin. I'm getting married this year so I was so worried about what I would look like in pictures and in front of a hundred people.
This was over 10 years of struggling trying different birth controls (very harful health-wise), minocin and accutane (extremely harmful to liver) and proactive (long process that stops working after a while).
Differin is amazing. Please stick with it for at LEAST 2 months!
February 28, 2012
Pros:
-Prevents Acne
-Like Retina-A, slowly fades light acne scars and wrinkles.
-Can be used in Conjunction with Aczone, BP or Climydycin(sp?)
-Absolutely works
-15 dollars with insurance
-Skin adjusts to the Differin within a week
Cons:
If I wanted to nitpick...
-Makes sun sensitive to sunlight
-Initial Breakout
-takes 3 to 5 months to take full effect according to my Doctor.
Dare I say the majority of the people who reviewed how terrible this product is, did NOT give it at least 3 to 5 months. Yes, it has been widely stated that it takes 3 months to take effect but my Derm (who is ranked on a list of America's top-docs) mentioned that it can actually take closer to 5 months to take full effect. I definitely had an initial BP but it was not THAT bad. I broke out for about 1 week, but really, just 3-4 days of bad cystic acne. It is worth it in the long run. The 1st week or 2 my face was rather red and did peel. It would be wise to avoid the sensitive skin directly around your eyes, the cracks on the sides of your nose as your skin will really peel there. However, by the 2nd week my sensitive skin has adapted quite well. My mild to moderate acne has gone from bad to very good over the period of a year, I did see results within 2-3 weeks. But it just continued to get better... with some breakouts here and there but by week 12 my skin was looking a 100 times better. As an ex smoker it even diminished any very light wrinkles. Great stuff.. and cheap... just be sure to STICK WITH IT. Fighting Acne is about patience. You can't try almost any prescription acne drug without giving it 3 months. For differin, give it 6! Good luck!
June 20, 2011
Pros:
cleared my large painful cystic acne
did not dry my skin
Cons:
takes a long time to work
IB is really bad
I started taking this product only after reading all the reviews so I new what to expect. My acne was pretty bad in the beginning but this did make it worse at first. I started out taking this with minocycline (which I'd been on before, but in my experience all the antibiotics work less and less each time you take them) but only stayed on that for maybe two months because it didn't seem effective. I started the Adapalene the beginning of January and it's just been in the last month or so that my face is finally clear. I do get the occasionally zit, maybe even once a week, but compared to the 7-10 I would wake up to daily this is a huge improvement. So for me this product really took quite a while to work, but because of what I'd read I stuck with it and am really pleased with the final results. Also, I am still using the same tub I started with and I'm guessing it will go for another couple months. That is how little you need each day. Now I also use a couple other products and I think this combo really works for me. Particularly, I don't know if it was the timing of when I started using Dan's AHA lotion that made a difference but the combo of the Adapalene and the AHA seemed to really work for me. I think the most important thing to realize is that it works for some and not for others, but at least try it. And for someone like me who has used all the prescription meds short of accutane, I had nothing to loose and so I stuck with it. My routine: AM: wash with olay regenerist daily scrub (with glycolic acid) and use dan's bp- i usually don't use a moisturizer, in the past i was always so dry but for some reason I'm never dry with this routine. also, i know i should use sunscreen but they all break me out so i don't PM: wash with neutragena clear pore (with bp), drop of Adapalene, and dan's AHA moisturizer
Pros:
Really cleared up my skin. Clearing up redmarks