Tretinoin

Cheap with insurance
Refines skin texture
Blemishes appear less, and clear within a few days (EVEN CYSTS!!!) with consistent use
Sun damage/wrinkle/PIH reversal
Skin looks better EVERY DAY after you pass the hump (for some this is at around 12 weeks, for others it can be closer to a year. The dramatic change in my skin happened after about 5 months)
I don't have to obsess about diet as much

Cons:

Expensive without insurance
Initial breakout (months 1-4) was physically and emotionally taxing
Skin takes awhile to retinize and looks red and inflamed at the beginning of treatment
Requires consistent use to maintain results

I have waited 5 1/2 months to write this review, using a generic retin-a cream nightly for that duration. I began with the .025% generic cream and experienced a dreadful initial breakout that lasted until about 5 months. I will rephrase that. The worst of the initial breakout began for me at two weeks in and lasted until around the three month mark. My skin pushed up painful inflamed acne on my cheeks, chin, and jawline. This decreased, but another bad breakout came and stuck around until just a few weeks ago. I never had experienced acne in these areas, and never this variety. One weeks ago, I asked the derm to bump up the concentration to the .05% generic cream and I'm so glad I did! The results are quicker now, and I'm excited to wake up every morning and see the improvements! I made several mistakes early on that probably affected my results: Don't pick (actives or resolving scabs) Be gentle with your skin (you might not be able to tolerate exfoliation or other products = bad reaction) Use a gentle cleanser morning and night, pat dry (I use a fresh paper towel!), no rubbing Apply evenly and pat in as opposed to rubbing it on! Work up to nightly use/more thorough application Avoid the sun, especially at first! With extended exposure, you'll not only have worse sun damage but also more redness, peeling, inflammation, and breakouts as a response. Expect the worst but anticipate the best...my skin got much, MUCH worse when I began using this product. I would cry and refuse to face anyone. This treatment requires courage and dedication. After almost six months, my skin is much smoother, and looks glorious with makeup. I still have a lot of hyper pigmentation to deal with, left over from the two bad breakouts I got at months 1-3 and 3-4, but I am confident the retin a + time will fade them. My skin personally began looking its best when I STOPPED using a moisturizer and stuck with a simple rose water and glycerin m

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ivs504

September 26, 2012

Pros:

Clears up skin
Skin looks smooth
Does wonders for my skin

Cons:

LONG initial break out
Increased oiliness
Cystic acne
Dries out skin
Long process
Requires patience

I've always had clear skin, but this past summer, my acne started flaring up really bad. It was terrible and I couldn't even look at myself in the mirror. People also said hurtful comments about my skin. I've literally tried everything on my skin, but nothing would consistently keep my acne at bay. So I decided to give tretinoin a try. I started using tretinoin cream 0.05% about two months ago and I'm currently on my 8th week. -In the mornings: I wash my face with Clean & Clear Advantage 3-in-1 Exfoliating Cleanser and apply Cetaphil Dermacontrol Oil Control Moisturizer SPF 30. -At night: I wash my face with Cetaphil DermaControl Oil Control Foam Wash. Then I wait 20-30 min, and take the same moisturizer and mix it with a pea sized amount of tretinoin cream, then apply it to my face. During the first couple of weeks, EVERYTHING GOT WORSE. I developed multiple cysts on my face daily. One time, I counted up to 25 pimples on my face. My acne went from moderate to severe. My face would get flaky and peel, no matter how much moisturizer I applied. Somehow, at the end of the day, my face was super oily, and I always had like at least 3 pimples that turned into whiteheads. It was painful to wash my face and I could no longer make eye contact with people because I was so insecure about my skin. I had to cake on my makeup every morning because I didn't want anyone to see my acne.This took an even bigger toll on my self esteem. But I kept telling myself that it would get better and everything will pay off, and it has..kind of so far. The major breakouts stopped around week 5-6 for me. From then on, all my pimples started to flatten out and it got less and less painful to wash my face. I am currently on week 8, and I have about 3 small pimples and the rest are scars. The scars are fading slowly, but the texture of my skin is generally really smooth. I am really excited for the final results!!! I can't wait to have clear skin again! The wait will be worth

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aquadragon309

August 30, 2012

Pros:

Dries out pimples

Cons:

Dries your face out
Makes it peel
Burns when I put it on
Makes my face itch

Well I used it for a while a long time ago, but I got lazy and stopped. Then recently, about a week ago my face started breaking out like crazy, so I needed to start using it. As of right now, I'm using Clindamycin and Retin-A 0.01%. I use them morning and night. I don't know if I'm using too much Retin-A or what, but it really burns when I put it on. It dries the skin a lot too. Apparently it's really effective, and I really need to get rid of this acne. I'm still waiting for the initial break out, (not sure if it happened yet or if it's just the dryness). Whatever happens, I'm going to use this product the recommended 6-8 weeks before I make a decision about stoping or anything. I also found out that without insurance, it's pretty expensive ($100), but luckily I got mine for $5. My advice is even though it's expensive, you should get it, because apparently it does work (if you're persistent) and one tube does have a lot. :)

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Michelle

August 17, 2012

Pros:

Takes Blackheads away
Dries blemishes

Cons:

Can cause redness at first or can worsen for the beginning, but if you keep using it should be fine in couple of weeks or so.

I used this Gel in 2007 and my face got all red, my blemished worsened and I stopped using it. I am 27 years old female. Lived most of my life in Cold climate so blamed it on a hot weather of California. I workout every day, eat healthy, wash my face, wash my bed sheets once a week, sometimes twice, wash my towels and even iron them, I even tried not to use makeup and nothing helped! I went to the doctor and was proscribed doxycycline and Retin-A.I mentioned Retin-A gave me irritation last time I have tried so he offered to try light version of it Differin. I used his testers and when I was out of them looked up my meds and found my old REtin-A:)) I started using it and I should say I am impressed. Maybe it works better because I use it together with antibiotics, but even my blackheads went away. It works best if your face is well dried, so use it better after half an hour once you wash your face. Good luck everybody!

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Kate

August 3, 2012

Pros:

Got rid of most of my comedones.
Smoothed appearance of skin.
Helped with fine lines.

Cons:

Drying in the first month or two.
Expensive if you're uninsured (still worth it).
Takes a lot of time.

I will never stop using this product. I bought a 45g tube of %0.05 Tretinoin in March (5 months ago) and am still using the same tube. Here is my routine: AM: Cetaphil Daily Cleanser for oily skin, followed by 1-2 minutes of my Clarsonic. This is totally necessary because the Tretinoin is super drying, and especially around my chin, I flake a lot. The flaking has definitely decreased as my skin as gotten used to the tretinoin, but it still happens occasionally. I apply make up on any small pimples (at this point I get maybe 1 small zit per week), blush and eye makeup. PM: I use Neutrogena Make Up Removing Foaming Cleanser (in the blue bottle). It's pretty drying, which is good for my oilier skin. I put CeraVe PM lotion on my nose and around my eyes (really, just anywhere that feels dry), a pea sized amount of tretinoin on my cheeks and chin, go to sleep, repeat. Reading these reviews was the only thing that got me through the months of flaking, burning and breakouts. It is so hard at first to feel like this medication works. Some people reported success as early as 10 weeks, but it took my skin about 3-4 months until it responded the way I had hoped. I still get a couple of comedones every now and then... but nothing compared to the 15-20 I'd get every week previously. All the picking and poking was really hard on my skin and now that I'm using tretinoin, I not only have less things to pick and poke at, but the rapid skin layer turn over caused by the medication is helping with any hyper-pigmentation I had previously. Another bonus is that the medication turns soft white dormant comedones into blackheads pretty quickly, and those are so much easier to extract manually (as you may know). I wrote a review for this medication after 10 weeks, and it was very negative. My dermatologist insisted I continue on this routine and I did... and boy am I glad I did! I know how emotionally painful acne can be. Trust your doctor. I haven't had this much confidence in y

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glowgeek7

July 29, 2012

Pros:

Got rid of acne
Smooth skin
Easy to apply
Reduces oiliness

Cons:

Initial breakout
Dry skin
Must be patient (takes time to work)
Sensitive to sun
Redness and peeling (in the beginning)
Only effects some forms of acne

For several years, my skin had acquired hundreds of small whiteheads that were below the skin surface and never seemed to disappear. They were all over my cheeks, forehead, the sides of my face, and a few on my chin. Last october my skin had finally gotten bad enough that I went to the dermatologist and he put me on Retin A Micro. I started off by taking it every third day for two weeks, every other day for a week, and then began taking it daily. I apply it at night after I wash my face and apply my moisturizer. There was no immediate reaction to taking Retin A. However, after a couple weeks my skin became very red, very irritated, and VERY dry. My skin was constantly peeling and I began getting more whiteheads and more pimples (the initial breakout). In the next few months, my skin became used to Retin A and I began to notice an improvement in my acne. By the third month, the trapped whiteheads had nearly all disappeared. My skin was smooth and no longer oily (AT ALL - I had REALLY oily skin before using Retin A where my face would shine an hour after showering) but always a little dry (nothing a good moisturizer can't fix). The only problem with Retin A is that it was only able to get rid of those whiteheads. During the time that I was using Retin A, my skin began to develop hormonal inflamed acne (pastules and papules) which Retin A never took care of. Instead I began taking Diane 35 which got rid of this acne within a month. The bottom line is that Retin A did the job that it was supposed to do and eight months later I am still using it to keep the whiteheads away. There are some cons to this product - the initial breakout, sensitivity to the sun, waiting for the Retin A to finally work, and the dryness - but it is worth it in the end if you can stick through it! :)

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snowbell

July 25, 2012

Pros:

tightens pores
shrinks acne overnight
makes your skin glow
eliminates wrinkles very fast
pinkish tone

Cons:

flaky and excessively dry skin initially
Not subsidized by government here in NZ :(

I suffer from mild to moderate acne since teenage years and this year i came across tretinoin ....which my husband was using before we met each other.... I tried it for one week and saw drastic results....since then i have been using it every night before bed ....and it has cleared my skin completely...The scars take some time to fade but they do go away. I use 0.1% and although my skin is super sensitive..i didnt experience a lot of problems ...but yea, skin was very dry ..but you can use misturiser for that ....during the day time. All in all, its a great treatment and worth trying. Gives amazing results but u need to have patience for atleast 1st month.

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michaelbrandon96

July 25, 2012

Pros:

gets rid of acne
easy to use
cheap (with insurance)

Cons:

initial breakout
takes time
requires a lot of patience
leaves red marks/scars

I've been on retin-a for 34 days now and my face hasn't looked better! this whole year I've struggled with cystic acne and a lot of it and I was sceptical while on it, but you honestly have to stick with it and tough it out. some days I would wake up and look at myself in the mirror and hate everything I saw but after time patience and a healthy diet it was all worth it! The initial breakout period was pretty bad, and since I'm in highschool it wasn't much of an ego booster, but you have to remember that in the end you'll have clear skin. Its more of a lifestyle change since you have to change your diet, and watch the amount of bad foods and drinks you consume but I wouldn't have got the clear skin I have now! with only two blemishes on my face it really works!

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Jen

July 7, 2012

Pros:

Leaves skin smoother and brighter
Doesn't take too long to work
Free on prescription in the uk
Fades scars
Controls excess oil

Cons:

Dries out skin, can make it flakey
Skin will feel burny while putting this on, or even when putting on makeup
may leave pinkish tint to your skin

I have had acne for the last 7 years and have tried countless pills, creams, gels, face washes, moisturisers etc to keep it under control but nothing worked. About 6 months ago I had servers cysts and spots all over my face particularly cheeks, neck and chin. I also had pink, bright scars everywhere. I started this 4 and a half months ago on the lowest strength everyday for about a month and noticed my scars fading so asked for 0.05 strength as I noticed lower strength seems to stop being as effective after a while. In this time i never really got the "initial breakout". Skin can be flakey if not moisturised and although the packet says don't exfoliate I reccomend doing it once a week to stop dead skin cells from the skin peeling off overnight staying on the face clogging it up for whatever you're putting on your skin. I used 0.05 for 2 months and skin really continued to improve then it ran out and I went on holiday so there was about 3 weeks I didn't take it, in this time the pinkish tint this leaves your skin (I am EXTREMELY pale) left too. I have been on 0.1 strength this month and still getting good results, skin sometimes burns when putting it on but I am very happy with the progress. Use simple face washes/moisturisers without chemicals and perfumes. I also barely wore makeup during this time which I think has helped as sometimes when you put it in your skin looks flakey and dry then you need to moisturise even more. I have also just started taking dianette to keep new spots under control/as a contraceptive but I don't get spots as frequently as I used to anyway - about 4 in the last month, 3 are from the last 2 weeks as Ive been very stressed. Don't hesitate to try this, it has faded my scars so much so quickly and my skin looks so much better, smoother and healthier. If you think it's drying out your skin too much just don't take it for a day and moisturise during that day, highly reccomended, only thing that has worked for me!

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Kay

June 5, 2012

Pros:

-clears up acne
-oil control
-made skin smoother

Cons:

-burns like heck the first 2 weeks of using (your skin will get used to the medicine after that)
-flaky, peely face
-takes a while to see results
-it's kind of like CRACK! it only works for me with constant use. As soon as I stop using it I get breakouts within 2 months
-pretty expensive

This is a review for Retin-A MICRO .1% Only the brand name version of this prescription worked for me. The generic did not. Since its brand name it was pretty expensive, $77 with insurance and a coupon. I didnt start seeing results until around month 1 or 2. If your face starts peeling, IT'S WORKING! retin a micro is designed to help promote skin cell turnover, that it why it makes your face peel. My face peeled pretty bad around my chin. So bad to the point where I would carry a travel sized Vaseline with me so I could hide the peeling throughout the day. Your face will become very sensitive. The ONLY lotion that didn't cause my face to burn was CerVe in the blue bottle. But this is the ONLY medicine that helped clear up my stubborn acne. My only major con is the fact that this medicine only works with continuous use. Even when your face is cleared up and you think you don't need it anymore, KEEP USING IT! I had to learn the hard way. It has a few side effects and it's kind of expensive but it's definitely worth the clean, smooth, brightened skin I was left with!

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