Before Tazorac starts working, there is a HUGE breakout period that happens almost immediately. This breakout was the worst breakout of my life and was emotionally crippling, but having faith in the product, I continued through. It took me 7 weeks to obtain "clear skin" with Tazorac. I say "clear" because the initial breakout caused INTENSE scarring, scarring I'm still dealing with today 5 years later. On top of that, I started breaking out again a few months after Tazorac made my skin "clear", even though I was still using the product. Did it clear my acne? Yes. But the initial breakout left horrible scarring and gave me extreme anxiety, and in the end, the results did not last.

I started this medication with about 8 pimples on my face at any given time. I've been on this medication for 3 months now. Today I counted my pimples and I have 61 of them along with a golf ball sized cyst on my chin and a marble sized cyst in between my eyebrows. I look like a monster. I will be left with the permanent scarring from this medication for the rest of my life. Do not use this horrible stuff. I only hope I can get back to where I started. My face is so painful and this medication has ruined my skin forever. Please don't use this.

This stuff is horrifying. It wrecked my skin after only two uses. I dont know if I will ever recover and I can barely even function now because of this crap. I used it for a small amount of pimples I got from not washing my face for awhile and it did the following: -Blotchiness -Itchiness -Crepe like skin bunching up like cellophane -Pores/pin pricks everywhere -Fine lines and wrinkles that look very abnormal -Dents and shallow marks of all sizes and shapes out of nowhere (more continue to come) -uneveness In color and in thickness of skin -Burning to the point it felt my face was used to put out a fire -Turned my porcelain skin to a reddish yellow mottled mess with texture issues galore -made me breaks out like nuts after a week or so had passed -made my skin sensitive as all hell -made my skin mushy and "mesh like" especially the forehead..it's like parts of my face are a partially deflated helium balloon, my skin no longer sits flat against my face -Made me depressed to the point that now I contemplate leaving this earth if my skin doesn't go back to its pre-tazorac state ...I am now in contact with others who have been damaged by similar retinoids..crazy enough their damage is similar to those who have been damaged by laser and chemical peels..i now have to visit the IPLaser damage and support forum thanks to only two tiny uses of this cream (.05)..I'm devastated I hope for my own sake as well as the sake of others that I am able to update with news of fully healed skin with time..if anyone had similar reactions or is prescribed this, don't hesitate to contact me WARNING: JUST Don't use this stuff unless you want to risk potentially permanently damaging your skin, if you think acne is bad, wait until the day comes where it feels and looks as if someone has transplanted your entire facial skin with someone else's...like that of an 80 year old man who has labored in the sun and the elements all his life..and your acne will be 1000 times more like to SCAR if you have a bad reaction to this cream..my advice..if you've got bad acne, go in on Accutane, and if you have good skin, don't try to make it better with something as harsh as this chemical is. All its positive effects are temporary while its negative effects are seemingly permanent. So really there's no reason for ANYONE to use this stuff, unless you want to risk your happiness and quality of life completely. And even if you have good results..it's all fake..it gives the appearance of helping some people's skin..it does not ACTUALLY permanently improve your skin. It's gilded dog poo as far as I'm concerned. And as one of the 3 dermatologists I visited labeled it.."Paint Thinner"

Only used it for 2 nights around 6 months ago. As soon as I woke up the next morning I had broken out like never before! I decided to give it another day and I developed around 3 unsurfaced pimples and many whiteheads. I didn't experience dryness or irritation although the pimples that came up were red. It surely left some skin discoloration but as of now my skin is looking great using Epiduo and taking 10,000 IU of Vitamin A and 1,000 IU of Vitamin D3. This product was definitely NOT for me.

I locked myself in the bathroom and is crying because of what this stuff did to my face

After 3 weeks of the medication, I experienced worse acne than I've ever had in my entire life (I'm currently 21, and I've had moderate-severe acne since age 17, but this was HORRENDOUS). Thought it was just an "acne purge"... but it lasted and worsened all the way up until week 12 of the medication. It was SO painful, itchy, and made me not want to leave the house. If you are still experiencing worse acne around like week 7-9, call your doctor... don't finish the course like I did. Now I'm going to try Spiro and Retin-A micro. Here's hoping this nightmare is soon over.

I just tried to get a script filled for my daughter. $500. These people should be ashamed of themselves.

Tazorac was prescribed to me by my dermatologist back in June, and oh how I wish that this stuff never touched my face!! My dermatologist never warned me about the initial breakout, but I discovered that it was common through doing my own research about the medication. Well, the initial breakout lasted about two months and worsened everyday! My skin had became much worse and there were a couple days, I didn't want to leave the house because my skin was so horrific. One awful morning I woke up and my skin was bleeding and peeling. I immediately stopped taking the Tazorac and contacted my dermatologist. Tazorac may work wonders for some teenage acne but not for cystic adult acne. I have since than found a new dermatologist who has me on Aczone and Niacin. So far so good! My skin immediately cleared up(some) but enough improvement for me to feel confident again! If you have hormonal acne like I do chances are Tazorac won't work for you.

Sweet Jesus PLEASE AVOID this product. My derm never mentioned an initial purge. If she would have, I never would have agreed to use this. Think about it, what other time time are you told to use a medication that will make you look and feel horribly worse before it gets better? Good medications shouldn't have a "purging" period--at least certainly not to such an extent. I should have stuck with my normal regimen. Yeah, I had some acne, but at least it was under control. This product blew my forehead up. It is the single most amount of acne I've ever had before. I've never even seen acne like this on my face. It's everywhere. It's so depressing. I'm stopping this immediately and going back to my old regimen. Looks like I'm going back to growing my hair out and hiding my forehead again. :(

So I have always had bad acne but never any whiteheads anywhere just crazy blackheads and many of them all over my face, neck, chest and back. My doctor told me that tazorac had less side effects than retin a so I decided what more do I have to lose because my face is already disgusting. Unlike everyone else I did not experience the initial purging at all. In fact it all cleared up within a week. As weeks went on, it would progressively get worse and worse and in places that I have never ever had gotten acne in my life. And they were mostly pussy gross whiteheads. They hurt, they were big, and out if the ordinary. I am currently on week five of this medication and to make matters worse I am starting to get scaring like crazy. My chest, neck and face have never looked worse in my life. I am told to keep using it but I'm afraid that it will leave terrible long term effects. I would not recommended this at all, i don't ever go out because makeup doesn't even cover it and I am depressed and withdrawn from everything. Save yourself the depression and just go on accutane if you can, those are my future plans and my last glimmer of hope.