Tretinoin
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Tretinoin is a vitamin A derivative called a topical retinoid. It helps clear acne by promoting skin cell turnover.

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Tretinoin is a vitamin A derivative called a topical retinoid. It helps clear acne by promoting skin cell turnover.

Tretinoin is usually applied once a day around bedtime.

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Used Tretinoin? Rate It:

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June 1, 2012

Pros:

CLEARS ACNE
eventually fades scars
nice texture

Cons:

dry skin (sometimes)
Sunburns ):

Sooo I've been using it for a couple months now & let me just tell you it is a LIFESAVER. I used to cry over my acne & I thought I tried everything. Differen, Epiduo, Clindimacyn ( I think that's how you spell it) antibiotics, birth control & I seriously love retin a. Let's be honest here, if you have pretty bad acne, nothing is going to fully CLEAR it (except maybe accutane) but with a little bit of make up your skin looks flawless. It has made my skin soooo much clearer. The best advice is to get a good routine & STICK WITH IT! YOU WILL SEE RESULTS I promise!!! Your skin will get dry/ flakey sometimes, but usually it's only if you use too much. Make sure you are only using a PEA SIZE amount. As for the sun, that's probably the biggest con. your face will burn VERY easily, but if you wear sunscreen you should be fine. IT'S SOOO WORTH IT! GOOD LUCK. P.S. my acne used to be moderate to severe, but now it's VERY light. (:
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May 24, 2012

Pros:

clears up acne
clears up any new acne very quickly
face is brighter

Cons:

flakey skin
sensitive to sunlight
red tint to face

I am 19 years old and have never had any issues with acne until i started college a year ago. I also never had any issues with back acne either until college. I was very discouraged about my change of skin and my doctor recommended 3 seperate products. 1) an antibiotic to clear up my acne 2) tretinoin cream .05% 3) and erythromycin mix. I took all of the antibiotic and began the tretinoin cream (night time) and was supposed to take the erthroycin during the day (twice). I began this regimen one month ago but forget after one week of beginning to take the erythromycin. I stopped using the E gel and used tretinoin only. First 2 weeks: worst ever! my face flaked everytime i washed it and looked horrible when i would try to cover it up with makeup. My face also burned and was sensitive (RED all over). I tried several different mosturizers until hearing that cetaphil ultra hydrating worked best (it does!) Week 3: break outs! not very badly (i had light acne to begin with) Week 4: my face is starting to clear up and hopefully will continue. I have many acne scars from my breakouts and hope that the tretinoin will take care of these like it says! Recommendations: stick with it! it is the most embarassing this for the first 2 weeks or more, but the pros outway the cons for me, so hopefully they will for you too!
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May 23, 2012

Pros:

Gave skin a nice glow
Helped control body acne

Cons:

HORRIBLE initial breakout. Left me with scars.
Caused me to grow ALOT of "peach fuzz" and a moustache( im female so it sucks)
stung very badly when I first began
Made skin extremely sun sensitive.

I wouldn't reccomend this for women at all. Maybe if you are a guy. Defenitely not worth the money..takes a toll on self esteem. I would never use it again
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May 22, 2012

Pros:

Initially cleared up acne.
Didn't have drying effect on skin as expected.

Cons:

Broke out badly 4-5 weeks in to treatment.

I have mild acne mainly around my jaw line, but am susceptible to cysts in that area as well as on my chin. Tretinoin cream helped clear up my skin and keep it clear for a few weeks. I didn't break out at all when I started using the cream (as some people seem to experience) nor did my skin become very dry. I thought - finally - I had found a product that worked. However, about 4 weeks in to using the cream I started getting smallish pimples - especially in areas I didn't normally get them (on my neck and on my cheeks). It just seemed to get worse and worse until I stopped using the cream. I haven't used the cream for a few days now and my skin is beginning to look much better. I used tretinoin every evening for exactly 6 weeks. Some people report that tretinoin didn't start working for them for some time. What confuses me is that it worked for me for the first few weeks - and then stopped. Perhaps I should have persisted for longer, but I just couldn't face weeks more of bad acne.
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May 16, 2012

Pros:

Cleared acne

Cons:

Initial breakout
Takes time to work
Oily skin

I am 23 and had adult ance for nearly 2 years. Lots of deep cysts on my jawline and pimples on cheeks, along with constant black heads all over the face. I have been using the 0.025% cream along with clindamycin and minocyline for 4 months. I have had completely clear skin alomost 3 weeks now. There was a pretty bad initial breakout and I continued to break out daily up until a few weeks ago. It was frustrating but worth it in the end.
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May 13, 2012

Pros:

makes skin healthy
prevents breakouts (sometimes)
doesn't dry skin out

Cons:

can make skin oily
inconsistent results

I have been using this at 0.025% for 7 months. I didn't really get a bad initial breakout, and my skin started clearing up. However, after it'd clear up, I'd get break outs again. In the winter, it can be a bit drying, but in warmer weather, it makes my face really slick! It may have even caused breakouts. I have always used this with Cetaphil products because they're so gentle, and at one point, I stopped using this and was getting great skin. Right after, though, I started breaking out HORRIBLY and thought I should go back on this. This did nothing for the current breakouts, and these pimples weren't like the usual ones I get. They were hard, painful, and lasted for weeks. I still have some of them. When I went back on this, I think I got a real IB. I'm going to the derm tomorrow to discuss it, and maybe I'll go up to 0.05 or try Retin-A Micro. All in all, this works OK, but it will not totally clear your skin, especially if you have teen acne. This doesn't really help hormonal acne.
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May 6, 2012

Pros:

Inexpensive

Cons:

Didn't work
My acne got worse and never got better
I believe it worsened my scarring and never made it better
I was red and peeling the entire time I used it with no improvement with my PIH

Not for me
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May 6, 2012

Pros:

acne reduced within the first week
smoother skin
tighter pores
reduction of fine lines

Cons:

initial break out---only 2-3 days for me
minor skin flaking
hard to spread pea size on face

I have been through two 6 month rounds of accutane in the past 4 years. I love my skin when I am on it, but when I stop, about 1 year later my skin's oil production kicks into high gear. I knew I needed to find something post-accutane to control the oil and therefore the break outs. I went to my derm this past week after I woke up with face full of bumps and white heads and over unbecoming complexion. He suggested the folllowing: Clindamycin 150mg oral twice a day Ziana gel before bedtime (clindamycin phosphate 1.2% and tretinoin 0.025%) In addition, I use a the white dove bar soap and Aveno ultra-calming lotion (oil free!) in my skin regiment. (Tip: to get the pea sized amount of gel to spread, mix it with your moisturizer....only use pea size of the gel, using more will cause severe irritation! Start with a low percentage and go slow.) When I began this treatment,the first 2-3 days my acne did get worse, but this morning (day 7) I woke up to much reduced acne and silky smooth skin with decreased oil. My suggestion to everyone that read this board is to have an honest discussion with your derm about each treatment you are on. I had been on Differin for a while before this regiment (it wasn't working at all!!) and he had to explain to me that retinoid treatments are very patient specific. While they act with the same mechanism over all, each med hits a slightly different receptor. If one gel isn't working for you, go back and ask for a different prescription! My receptors didn't respond to Differin, but they did to Ziana. :) p.s. Ask for samples if you are going to do this treatment...enough to try for 1-2 months. Then you can decide if that gel/cream is the best for you. Good luck!
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April 28, 2012

Pros:

It worked after a long time of waiting ang dark days
Slowly gets rid of the marks left behind

Cons:

The largest con would be the waiting time, I waited entire 3months to stop breaking out.
My acne has gotten more severe than what I started with
Dries my skin a little
Would be a little expensive without insurance coverage

I started it (0.025%)with minocycline 100mg in November, and the initial breakout started one week after that. Every breakout had left a red deep mark after that, which was very esteemcrusher!!! I almost cried every week, and avoided to look into mirrors anywhere I go,it was an extremely frustrating and horrible period. Until the end of my second month and entering my third, I realized that the breakout frequency is slowing down, even though it was still a lot! I was very aware of my diet at that time and drank lots lots lots lots of water!!! And at the end of January, the breakouts stopped all of a sudden!! Oh!i was using retin a with neostrata level 3smoothing cream during the day And all the until now, I only get small bumps when I eat junk food or pull an allnighter..and these do not leave any marks and has no heads, they just come and go in 2-3days at most. So I believe my acne is under co ntrol so I asked to drop minocycline to 50mg.and everything worked well until now. I be still got the red marks that are fading slowly but at least I have not gotten even one major break out after January, not even my menstruation, I do think diet is a factor but I sometimes eat unhealthy food and no reaction shown :)so just don't eat too much and drink water and eat veggies and fruits!!and relax as well cuz stress is the beauty killer!! And be optimistic that it will work!!i came to this site almost everyday during the breakout stage and wished to see some encouraging words, and because of that I toucghed through that awful time and now enjoying the skin I have now:):):) Btw,I have been having acne since 13 yes Los, and it is our privilege to have acne as teens:) I'm 19, and I guess I can still call myself a teen:):) Hang in there people!!!things will turn out beautifully!!u have to believe in that to make it happen!! U r beautiful no matter what:D
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April 20, 2012

Pros:

Cleared 98% of my ance
Dark spots are fading
Brings back confidence

Cons:

Dries your skin out bad
Flaking & burning for the first month
Acne gets worse before it gets better

Morning Regimen -Wash face with Neutragena Fresh Foaming Cleanser - Moisturize with Cetaphil Daily Advance Ultra Hydrating Lotion. -Sunscreen Water Babies SPF 50. Night Regimen -Wash face with Neutrogena Fresh Foaming Cleanser - Wait 30-40 minutes then apply Trentinoin Cream. I had really bad acne for a year or two & it was horrible. I went from being the most confident to having low self esteem, I hated taking pictures & people would alwasy reccomend something I could use. I tried almost everything! At first my doctor wouldn't give me a prescription, he told me to cut out sugar & drink only wat.er After a month of no improvememnt he gave a prescription for trentinoin cream 0.1%. The first night I read all the directions for about an hour contemplating if this was something I wanted to do. I was scared that my acne was going to wprese before it got better and what people would say or think (I'm in high school). Finally I decided to try it & for the first few weeks it was horrible! Yet, I kept pushing on. I was atleast going to try it for 12 weeks (3 months). It ACTUALLY TAKES 12 WEEKS TO SEE IMPROVEMENT. I broke out in week 6-9. My break out was horrible but I kept telling myself that it was pushing the impurities to the top of my face. Finally after 12 weeks I saw lots of improvement. My pimples werent there and my scars were fading. I am still using this product (4 months and counting) & still seeing improvements. Now, I feel so much better about myself. I'm going to continue to follow my dreams as being a model. I get compliments on my skin all the time & many people have told me that my skin has improved A LOT. I am so glad that I tried this product, I really don't know what I would do with out it.
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Finding a Doctor

The right dermatologist can make a big difference to your patient experience and the success of your acne treatment plan. Here are the steps to find a dermatologist who is a good fit:

  1. Use the search feature on the American Academy of Dermatology website to look for board-certified dermatologists in your area, and filter the search results for doctors with a special interest in treating acne.
  2. Read online patient reviews of any dermatologists you are considering and ask people you know whether they have any experience with these dermatologists.
  3. Do your research and go to your first appointment with questions prepared.
  4. Listen to what your gut feeling tells you once you see a dermatologist in person. If you are not completely comfortable, try a different dermatologist.
Find a Doctor Using The American Acacemy of Dermatology Website

Finding a Doctor

Only a select few plastic surgeons specialize in acne scar revision surgery. Be certain to find a provider who specializes in acne scar repair and who is passionate and experienced in this area.

Be sure to:

  • Look at before and after photos, the more the better, especially patients with similar scarring to your own.
  • Be realistic about results. Look for improvement, not a cure.

Questions to ask a potential scar revision specialist:

  • Are you board certified? Be certain that they are board certified.
  • How long have you been performing these procedures? Normally, the more experience the better, however, some younger surgeons may be more on top of the latest procedures.
  • Can I speak to some of your other patients? Ask for references for several patients who had similar scarring and speak to them about the process and their satisfaction with results.

Red flags:

  • Their story changes: As you discuss different treatment options, if they tend to change their mind easily, or agree with whatever you say, consider this a red flag. A confident, experienced surgeon will possess strong, unwavering opinions.
  • Your gut tells you "no": Trust your gut. If you just don't feel that the doctor is the right fit, trust that and move on. On the other hand, if you feel they are the perfect specialist for you, trust that feeling.
Find a Doctor Using the American Society of Plastic Surgeons Website