This product is legit, it took about 6 weeks to see noticeable changes, from week 1-4, it was hell. like HELL. I was near depression and could not look at people in the eye from my purge. But from about week 6 onward, it got better. I'm on week 10-11 at the moment, and my skin has stayed pretty good, no new white heads or any inflamed acne, just left with a dozen red/brown marks. Again, I'm being patient on the marks and do hope over the next couple of month I will have smooth and clear skin. I also took minocycline (50mg) and BP 2.5% (morning) as side treatment. Overall, highly recommended, makes you a stronger person too by testing your patient.

I have mild acne that I have been managing for about 8 years with BP. With BP I consistently had about 3 -12 zits on my face at any one time. So I decided I might try and get a prescription for something else and give it a try. After reading lots of reviews here and other forums I was terrified about looking like a pizza for a couple weeks after starting this cream. But here is the breakdown of how my results looked: Week 1: (Personally) Noticeable smoothing of areas that did not have acne. (Probably not noticeable to others) Week 2: Continued smoothing of skin without acne on it, some reduction of acne Week 3(My purge): My purge looked like a pretty regular outbreak, I got about 5 new zits that were of pretty average size and duration. Definitely nothing that would be extremely noticeable to those around me. Weeks 4-5: Acne fading continued smoothing of all skin. Weeks 5-16 (Present): Rarely have more than 1 zit on my face at any 1 time. Zits that do appear are MUCH smaller than average, usually clear up within 1-3 days. How I use this product: 0.25% Tretinoin nightly - followed by lotion 2.5% BP in the morning - followed by lotion If you've been using BP for a while I don't think you'll find this treatment too drying, I have a feeling that complaint comes from people who are generally new to acne treatment. This is not an overnight solution, it took about a month for my skin to be noticeably clearer to my girlfriend and people I hadn't seen in a while. At 3 months I was getting comments from lots of people about how clear my skin was. Finally, DON'T FEAR THE PURGE. Remember, most people who post on the internet about something like that are only posting because they had a horrible experience, the people who had average symptoms or no purge are unlikely to come back and post about it. My doctor assured me that most people have very mild worsening of acne at first if at all. So If I were you I wouldn't do it in a month where you have any special ceremonies like graduation or something like that. Otherwise, I'd say your safe to give this a go. My skin has never looked clearer, softer or more healthy.

Everyone, seriously. Stop using: -Tea tree oil (guess what? It's an irritant, regardless of it's anti-bacterial properties. Stop buying into all the marketing, and applying full-strength tea tree oil to your skin is a big no-no) -Toners (ANY kind, you don't need this anyway- Retin-A is going to take care of all that) -Foaming cleansers -scrubs of ANY KIND (INCLUDING WASHCLOTHS) -Salicylic/Glycolic Acid (because NO, these are not antibacterial, they are exfoliants. DON'T USE THEM AT ALL WITH RETIN-A) Start slow with Retin-A, every 3 nights at first. Ramp up slowly, and avoid applying directly near your eyes and around your mouth. These areas get the most irritated, and once the rest of your skin adjusts you can start applying it there. Those areas slowly start to adjust via cell communication, so wait for the cells to communicate and adjust before you start applying it directly to those areas. Retin-A is a miracle for deep, painful cysts. If you don't want to use Retin-A religiously all over, keep some on hand for the painful ones. It's a more effective spot treatment for those. However, if you are a female with deep cysts, talk to your dermatologist to see if these are more hormonal; birth control (or spironolactone) might be really effective for you. I've been on both Accutane and Retin-A, which if you are informed know they work in a similar fashion (but Accutane works systematically from the inside out). Your skin does not actually "thin", but it gets delicate on either drug. And as much as people talk about initial "purging" you can avoid most of it by just moisturizing your skin- BUT REMEMBER- IT'S BETTER TO MAINTAIN YOUR MOISTURE BARRIER THAN TRY TO REPLENISH IT. THE OIL ON YOUR FACE IS NOT THAT BARRIER. Any time you rub/exfoliate/dry out your skin, it takes a lot of time to get back to where you need to be. That's the "purging" you're experiencing- when your skin is delicate, dry, and irritated, guess what? That gives you acne and rashes. I prepped to take Accutane by keeping my skin moisturized and not being aggressive with it. And guess what? No "purging", no irritatedness. Flakiness only happened when I didn't use moisturizer. My skin was nearly perfect in 2 weeks and remained that way for the 6 months I was on it (and after). I wish I had listened to my dermatologist instead of buying into the fear people perpetuate on these threads about side effects. I shouldn't have waited until I was 30 to do it. DRY SKIN WILL HAPPEN, DONT WAIT FOR IT TO HAPPEN. BE PREPARED AND SAVE YOURSELF THE TROUBLE. Products you SHOULD use: -Vaseline (won't clog your pores, do your research) -Products with mineral oil (it doesn't clog your pores; that was a marketing trick in the cosmetic industry to get people to buy their products by creating fear over using mineral oil; but it's bull. Do your research, mineral oil is actually one of the best moisturizers for dry (and damaged or irritated) skin. -I would avoid Cetaphil gentle cleanser. Why? It has sulfates. Yeah. Read the ingredients, people. You can, however, use a micellar water (I really recommend Sensibio H2O, its non-irritating and you can wipe your skin without force, no need to rinse. Cetaphil requires that you wipe it off (or rinse it off, which frankly leaves a bit of residue) It's all I use to clean my skin. Bam. Thank you, France. You gotta treat your skin like you're a burn victim. Oiliness or not, okay? Are you guys listening? Please stop with the crap products (even the "natural" ones, which are frequently so poorly formulated I can't believe they're on the market) EVERYONE should educate themselves regarding ingredients- Go to [link removed] and go through the ingredient dictionary. LISTEN TO SCIENCE, NOT HYPE, and certainly not teenagers on this thread. Sorry for all the shouting; I'm worried you guys aren't listening to your dermatologists, or your dermatologists aren't informing you at all. TRUST SCIENCE NOT HYPE I can't stress that enough. //end rant/review

First off I'm a 16-year-old female with mild to moderate acne. I've been using Tretinion cream .025 since August of 2015 and went up to .05 in October, I've been using the 0.5 for over three months now and my skin has gotten a lot better although I'm still breaking out pretty bad before I get my period. So I went to my derm again today and she told me I have hormonal acne and put me on doxycycline and birth control. I heard birth control could make it worse.. But I was just wondering if it would for me, considering the fact I'm on Tretinion cream. And how long doxycycline would take to see results. but anyways yes, Tretinion cream does work. The first month is brutal with purging, redness, dryness, peeling etc. but once u get over the first two months it does get a lot better. :-)

Review: I had acne in highschool and it cleared my sophomore year of college, via differn gel (accutane helped to clear me in hs). After the accutane i was pretty clear and really didnt do much to fight the acne. It eventually went away 100 percent with differin. when i was 25 I noticed i was developing a few pimple here and there which blew up into full blown acne. I tried over the counter BP gel and this absolutely made my skin worse. I think my skin is too sensitive for bp. After this i tried doxycycline and ziana for my face. the ziana definitely gave me an initial breakout pretty bad, it was very hard to get through. After a month of that i swithched to bactrim and retin a micro .08. Immediately i noticed a difference in my skin (2 days). the bactrim made my skin look almost tan and it definitely helped dry out pimples. I retin a was much better on my skin than ziana which gave me a sticky feel. Retin a micro made my face feel smooth the next day, although there was some sensitivity the next day it was nothing compared to 10 percent BP. After 2 months on this regimen i can say that i am 100 percent clear. i give it 4 stars bc the initial breakout is vey difficult. My thoughts on acne: Acne is a seriously challenging monster to battle, don't let anyone convince you that just because it is common that it isn't serious. I dont know if I will ever go through anything as traumatic as acne. I've told a friend before that i would trade a hand or foot to have clear skin and i'm sure some of you out there would do the same. Acne is on your face everyday and in the way of every face to face interaction you have. A friend of mine from high school just got in a car wreck and is having facial reconstructing surgery and i'm sure she will be dealing with a similar challenge as an acne sufferer goes through. The reclusiveness, the tears and anger at her situation. She will atleast have one thing an acne suffer doesn't have, she will have the full compassion and understanding of all of her friends and family. Because acne is so common, acne, even server forms often get down played and or ignored by our friends and family. Also people will even blame our acne on us being unsanitary or not properly washing our face like 'they' do. as acne sufferers we are traped in this tug of war between being a victim and being at fault. We are told it is normal and nothing to worry about, but we see the scars forming and we see the picture of those with more serious acne. I can say i understand how confusing it is to be in this living hell. Just know you aren't alone, and you can get 100 percent better. And for now know that people will love you,and jesus will love all the same. Maybe we go through these events in our lives and can create positive outcomes from them. Maybe we will be that inspiration for someone who is on the verge of suicide and they see your positive outlook despite having acne and decide not to take their lives. just know we live and a broken world with car wrecks and acne and evil all around us but we can have peace and love and satisfaction with jesus in our hearts. And ironically our struggles are our best tool to spread the love we find to others.

i tried 5 month long period before, it worked for my back and chest acne (not completely gone, really more better than before), but it was partly good on my face. especially around my chin and nose area it did nothing. so i ended for my face. then two weeks ago, i decided to use it again (now with vaseline for moisturising and imex soap for cleaning). today i have two deep and persistent ones and a couple of smaller. everybody knows that tretinoin can develope plenty of them at the first weeks of the treatment (i experienced before). i think if this treatment is working for my body, it can work on my face as well. maybe it needs longer time. i hope. WEEK 3: i decided to use tretinoin with clindoxyl for only initial breakouts because it helps to heal persistent and deep acne faster. 2 more huge and deeper breakouts in this week and so far the total number is 5 huge/deeper (3 gone), lots of (8-10 maybe more) smaller (all of them around my chin area and left side of my nose -right side no problem). the smallers are ok, they don't disturb me, nobody notices. the initial breakouts started with the second week. a little bit peeling and no redness so far because of vaselin. i use tretinoin (%0.1) every other night. i will try to write the stiuation every week. WEEK 4: this week i have no more huge and deep acne. they have been nearly cured, some dark areas remained. three medium size (papules) around my chin and nose and a couple of smaller acnes recently. i hope initial breakouts have just started to calm down. within next weeks i will see the first result i hope. i'm still using clindoxyl gel but not everyday. there have been lots of minor, non-infectious white spots which come to surface since the treatment began. WEEK 5: i had 3 medium-size and 5-6 small-size acnes in this 5th week of tretinoin treatment with vaselin and clindoxyl gel. as i said before, i'm using clindoxyl for only breakouts for quick results. no more deep and huge breakouts in this week as well. but my skin remains uneven after breakouts. a little bit peeling no redness. note: when i edit, helpful votes disappear ;) WEEK 6: only one medium size pimple and lots of fast-growing small white heads around my bottom lip and nose (maybe 12-14 totally). sizes are decreasing which is good but breakouts are increasing so far. at the same time there are lots of non-infectious white spots around my chin, the most problematic part. uneven skin appearance is not good at all, some darker spots, pimples... WEEK 7: medium size pimples (5-6) around chin and more small size white heads. nothing better. WEEK 8: last week i was in holiday and i discovered that it is better to use bepanthen plus cream with tretinoin and vaseline. it is good for redness and also pimples themselves. the pimples become less visible. so this week it was a bit more better than last week. less medium size pimples and white heads, but not a big difference. WEEK 9: only one middle-size and a deep cystic one in the right side of face, close to my ear but it is hardly noticable because it is really deep. i think this is not related to tretinoin because i didn't use it in this area regularly. except this, this week was relatively better. WEEK 10: best week ever! no new huge or medium-size acnes, just some tiny whiteheads. i hope this is not temporary. WEEK 11: better than last week! just a few whiteheads... WEEK 12: a few whiteheads, one bigger (not too big) deep but hardly noticeable acne around my chin. WEEK 13-14: no new bigger acne, just a few whiteheads and i completly quited using vaseline. BEPANTHEN PLUS is the best for acne problem and also good for moistrizing.

I'm writing this review because reading reviews of retin-a, the side effects and the trials and tribulations helped me stick at it & get where I am today. Retin-a does work but yes, as everyone else says, it takes a serious commitment. I have been using it for just over 4 months and I am finally starting to see the results I want. My face was a state when I first started using it. I actually had folliculitus on my forehead and medium acne around my chin, but it just never got better. Everytime a spot started to go away, another one would come up. I decided to buy retin-a (off prescription and online - obviously I don't recommend this - you should probably see a dermatologist!) after reading about how it could help. For the first 8-10 weeks of using retin-a my face was pretty much a mess. Spots everywhere - skin erupting where it wouldn't usually erupt (cheeks), dryness, flakiness, redness, sensitivity etc etc. It was bad and I felt very self-conscious a lot of the time. Where as my face was relatively oily before, it was now super dry, so I had to go out and by all new skincare, makeup products. I used cerave moisturisers, and around week 4 ish I came up with a system to keep the crazy peeling at bay. Step 1: Wash face (using oil to remove makeup, then tea tree soap) Step 2: Apply rich moisturiser all over (I used a caudalie one) Step 3: After 20 minutes apply retin-a Step 4: After another 20 minutes apply cerave night moisturiser I did this for up until about week 12, which was when my skin finally to recover from the crazy dryness and I started to see the results I wanted. At this point I had A LOT of hyperpigmentation - all the scars from my breakouts over the last 3 months were so red, I also have pockmarks from some of the really bad spots, but not many. And now retin-a is taking care of both of those. Now my regimen is: Step 1: Wash face with an oil - either jojoba or hemp right now (I haven't yet found any other cleanser that works for my skin) Step 2: Let dry and apply moisturiser to only parts of skin that are very dry (not very many - usually around lips) Step 3: Apply retin-a after 20 mins In the morning, I wash face with water usually and then every other day I am using a 5% glycolic acid treatment to help with skin renewal and removal of dead skin cells. Yes my skin is still dry and I do still get spots - because it is hormonal - but overall I am very happy with the results. The scars are fading, my pores are clearer and my skin is smooth. It has also helped a bit with fine lines. I will continue using it, and I would encourage others, unless they have an allergic reaction to it, to stay the course for 12 weeks or longer to actually see any real improvement. Hope that's helpful!

For context: I'm 17 and have had moderate acne since I was 13. I tried everything OTC and nothing really worked. Last year, I went to a dermatologist and tried several different combinations (Epiduo + Doxycycline, Acanya + Doxycycline, etc) and finally, Acanya and Tretin-X (0.0375% tretinoin). That combination worked and I was the most clear I'd ever been since I started getting acne. My dermatologist then suggested I move to a stronger tretinoin (Retin-A Micro in 0.08% formulation) and that worked just as well, but also helped with my oiliness. I had a lapse in treatment (Tretin-X was discontinued, I couldn't find Retin-A Micro in that formulation, and I had no time to really follow my routine), but even some application overnight worked. I'm restarting with Aczone and Retin-A, but the lesson is: It takes time, but it will work.

It IS drying my skin out and it IS doing exactly as advertised! This is how you clear up scars and already-formed zits. The drying is only a sign of your skin rejuvenating and healing, so to anyone complaining about this effect--don't. I can't speak for everyone, but I don't have severe acne, so take this with a grain of salt. This may not be for everyone. IF you want your scars to fade, and if you want fresh new skin, this is a great product. If you have scars or pimples that have formed and are in remission, use this cream very sparingly (about a pea-sized amount over your entire face), and yes, you will flake the next day and day after, but the simple solution is to use a scrub after letting your face soak in some kind of foaming face wash (salycilic acid for it's anti-bacterial effect--why not?), and then scrub it off. Your skin is making new, healthy skin. This flaking side effect is completely normal. I use it once every second night. An additional effect I enjoy from this is it gives my skin a nice, healthy glow, probably due to the formation of new fresh skin. It's a good product and much better for you than eating Tretinion (accutane) pills. Just scrub the dead skin off (lightly) and you should be fine.

Using this after accutane and I'm doing wonderful! Its helped a bit with my fine lines (I'm over 30), but not as much as I had hoped or I would give it 5 stars. It does dry you out a bit, so use every other day at first and/or in the winter if needed. So far so good! I've been on this about a year and a half.