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. 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
Adapalene is available in strengths up to 0.3% by prescription. Have a dermatologist? Make an appointment to get this medication. Don't have a dermatologist? See The American Academy of Dermatology Physician Database to find one. Adapalene is also available over-the-counter in 0.1% strength. Here are some places you can find it online.
Used Adapalene? Rate It:
Choose from 1 to 5 stars
October 8, 2009
Cons:
Dryness, peeling (gone after about 2-3 weeks)
Initial breakouts were horrible for me.... my acne got so much worse
It eventually will clear it up after a few months, my doc prescribed me 100mg minocycline along with night time differin gel, im on my 4th day of both, and things are looking pretty good... If you can get past the initial breakout, you deserve an award, its terrible but its worth it, All the crap is flushed out from deep in your pores.
October 1, 2009
Pros:
Acne Vulgaris under control
Cons:
Intial flare up of acne at the begginning.It gets worse first and then slowly the acne disappears.
I am bown skin.So my face looked terrible with the peeling and subsequent tanning.
It works well with acne.
But on brown skin , you need to avoid sun (flouroscent indoor lighting) completely.My scars were very visible while I was using it. I used it for 3 months and stopped because my scars were getting worse.
September 29, 2009
Pros:
has made me get a few less pimples. I'm barely seeing a difference, and ive been using it for 10 weeks.
Cons:
its working really slow. i also just started with tetracycline, and a 10% benzoil peroxide face wash, and thats been for 2 weeks, and my face is worse.
I hear it takes 12 weeks to see full results, so maybe a miracle is going to happen in the next 2 weeks. I also heards its supposed to flush all the stuff deep in your pores, and i hope im all flushed out! I'M SERIOUSLY THINKING ABOUT QUITTING THIS PRODUCT!!!
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.
September 10, 2009
Pros:
My skin didn't peel off as horribly as with some other topicals.
Cons:
It did nothing for my acne, dried my skin out somewhat, and was expensive for some reason even though I have good insurance.
This treatment was worthless for me.
September 1, 2009
Pros:
A little goes a long way
Cons:
Not much improvement, red, peely skin
It cost too much and doesn't work
August 20, 2009
Pros:
Um...none?
Cons:
Didn't work for 2 months, then made my skin worse for the 3rd month.
I have moderate acne, with lots of whiteheads on my forehead (cysts on cheeks, but that's another story). I was told by my derm to use differin 0.3 on my forehead where the whitehead were. Differin 0.3 did absolutely nothing for my forehead for 2 months except dry it out a bit. Then in the last month, my acne became HORRIBLE. I got tons and tons of legit pimples on my forehead, where basically every single whitehead used to be. I'll take the whiteheads thank you very much. I thought maybe this was the "exfoliation" process of Differin, as it will "unroof" whiteheads to make way for clear skin but clearly I was wrong. Thankfully every prescription I get is covered by my insurance.
I'm going back to Duac....hope it helps.
August 13, 2009
Pros:
-Reduces severity of acne.
Cons:
-It does not prevent future breakouts, so I still constantly have acne.
-The side effects are intense.
-It's expensive.
I've been on the 1% gel for about a year now and it STILL burns- it burns when I cry, it burns when I'm out in the sun, it burns to put on face lotion, it burns to put on sunscreen, it burns to sweat, it burns ALL THE TIME. Also, my skin is red and flaky, especially around my eyes, nose, and chin. I still have at least 3-4 zits on my face at all times. Granted, they aren't as big and inflamed as they were before I was on the gel- but they're still a constant problem. As I stated above, it did *somewhat* reduce the severity of my acne, but in my opinion, the consequences far out-weight the benefits.
August 12, 2009
Pros:
Well, it didn't make it worse...
Cons:
It just didn't work for me. I have very deep, painful cystic acne, and this did nothing to clear it up, nor did it help the lighter breakouts. And it burned like a fiery pit of hell
Not for me, maybe for you
Pros:
Slowwwwwllllyyy clears up acne,
easy to use