Dealt with acne for 12+ years, on and off. Some years are worse than others. Last two years acne has really settled in lower cheeks and jawline so probably hormonal. Went on spiro around the time I started retin A, however I cut that about 3 weeks ago because it just left me with absolutely no energy and constant headaches- i know my progress is from retin a though because spiro usually takes 3-6 months to work. Anyways, Retin A. I started with every second day but that was making my skin oily and irritated so now I do a   | o | o o |   pattern ( | is retin A usage nights). The first two weeks are not pretty. I don't know about anyone else but I hated how shiny my skin looked/ weird texture and look but it passes once you get into 3/4th week. Alright, the purge is a thing if you have acne under the skin, and don't let this freak you out because retin A literally exfoliates and declogs the skin at a rapid pace. Thus, a lot of people will notice the purge side effect because everything that would normally come up over the next few months is coming up all at once. Yes it sucks but keep your head on the end goal. Bigger breakouts happened around week 3 and lasted until week 7 for me. Now, I am just nearing week 8 and my skin is very very smooth. Right now I'm down to 2 pimples and some hyperpigmentation but a whole lot better than it was when I started. I will absolutely keep this going, love the feeling of this stuff you can literally exfoliate dead skin off in the shower with your fingers. One negative side effect is the peeling with this because I do find peeling hard to cover. However, it's not everyday... I only notice that every time I started increasing my usage (like from 2x a week to 3x a week) your skin peels and goes through an adjustment period. I am told this will all pass. It's certainly not the same as how peely it was in the first two weeks of use. Honestly, I've been lucky to be on this during the pandemic during work from home cause I havn't had to be seen in public too much. Everything is worth it though, even the purge I got, I am happy with the results now as I can see that it declogged a whole whack of under the skin bumps I had. Love that this also prevents pre mature wrinkles and aging BUT you absolutely must wear sunscreen or you'll end up doing more damage than if you weren't using this cream. I used to find sunscreens broke me out, but I feel fine using them now that I know the retin A is declogging my pores. I'll do an update again when I've hit 4 months. 

**** UPDATE 7 MONTHS ****

DO I recommend this? Definitely. I have been using this almost every second or third night for 7 months now. I feel like the first three months my skin one through a lot of transition. 7 months in, my skin never peels anymore, and has a very youthful glow. I think the frequent peeling ended around month 4. It certainly works incredible for preventing whiteheads (and healing them up rapidly), and well as keeping skin smooth. I usually use this every third day or so because my skin cannot tolerate this every day- it'll look dry, irritated and overall not attractive so I try to listen to my skin. I'm on the highest strength. Every 2-3 days seems to due the trick. I want to make a statement here though. Has this eradicated my acne? it has NOT when it comes to cystic acne. Hormonal acne will not be treated with this medication in my opinion because it works from outside in. Hormones are an issue from inside- We have to remember, each type of acne is related to different reasons. Hormonal tends to be larger red, inflamed itchy or painful lumps under the skin. This is great for everything I mentioned above though, I never get whiteheads anymore and blackheads non existent. Skin smooth and glowy. Good for anti-aging. However, it has not helped me recently when I had a hormonal outbreak. I am now on spiro and will see how that works. I will continue to use this though because it has made skin feel excellent and it has greatly diminished hyperpigmentation, as well as improving the look and deepness of some more serious deeper scarring. 

Been using retin-A cream for mild but stubborn acne that I still struggle with after accutane (accutane completely got rid of my moderate to severe level of acne, and since then I only get mild but stubborn whiteheads/blackheads that are small but persistent). Best advice I have is STICK with it to AT LEAST the 6-month mark - yes, 6 months!

BE patient and give your skin time. Slow and steady. IF you're dealing with beyond mild acne and have moderate to severe, I HIGHLY recommend accutane FIRST to get rid of the severe acne, because nothing beats accutane. 

For Retin-A I have JUST reached the 6-month mark and have been using it nightly for the entire time. After the intial purge, I go through consistent cycles of breakouts and then they clear - but over the 6 months I CAN confirm that EACH cycle is less severe and heals FASTER.

I know a lot of people use the 8 to 12-week rule of thumb for topicals but honestly that is NOT enough time to tell. If by 6-months you see ZERO improvement in severity then of course revist your derm/doctor. But do not expect clear skin in 8-12 weeks. Everyone's skin and acne are different so please be patient.

At 6 months I STILL get the same cycle of breakouts and then it clears but like I said, each cycle has been less severe AND heals faster. If you think about it, I'm still only HALFWAY until I reach 1-year of every day use, so I can't wait to see how it progresses.

Be VERY patient. For me, the lowest possible dose (0.01) has worked best - I'd rather slow and steady and avoided the initial irritation of redness/flaking/peeling nightmare etc. 

*My derm prescribed me the lowest dose 0.01 and said try to stick with it for a full YEAR to really tell if I can rely on this topical to maintain clear skin and get rid of the mild/stubborn acne

I did a review of retin-a five years ago when I was 15 years old. I didn't know a thing about skin care - barely washed my face once a day up until i started breaking out in cysts and clusters one summer. A dermatologist prescribed me retin a cream 0.05% and clindamycin for a initial 6 weeks - and to say the least the first couple weeks were pure hell. Breakout after breakout, more redness, more embarrassment, and my self esteem was at an all time low. However, I stayed with it by reading this forum and got clear by week 15. I was so clear that my doctor slowly got me off topicals that I ended up stop using it totally by the next summer. I stayed clear all the way until I turned 18 and started college, probably because my horrible lifestyle - eating crappy foods, partying all weekend, and stressing over exams. My breakout in college really was my worst ever during finals week, and I had to visit my dermatologist again. This time he gave me Differin gel, which only made my skin worse over a course of 12 weeks. I was breaking out in cysts everywhere, my nose, chin, cheeks, and eyebrows. I realized differin wasn't for me and took a tube of retin-a i had from a refill a couple years ago. 

I knew what I was getting myself into by starting Retin-A again, and was desperate to clear my skin because my self-esteem and confidence was so low. I couldn't go out to see my friends, always stayed in my room, and couldn't even look anyone in the eye fearing of them judging my pepperoni pizza-like skin. I started in September 2018, and by December 2018 I was much clearer. It wasn't all rainbows of course, I still had the purging phase, redness, and flakiness period that is normal with Retin-a. I've been on the 0.05% cream for about 6 months now and still breakout, but my acne is very much at bay now. All I can say is that Retin-a is a miracle in a bottle. I understand how tough it is to have acne and depressing it can be to know that there are people walking around without a blemish, while people like you have to worry about what others are thinking of your zits. If you're struggling to find that one product that will clear you up, give Retin-A a try. It truly has saved my life and self esteem. And if you end up trying it, stay strong and push through, I promise it gets better 

Until I started using tetinoin creams my face was horrible, and I wonder why no doctor recommended to me sooner. I've been on antibiotics and I've used so many over the counter treatments but tretinoin really did it for me. I still have acne, but it took it from severe to moderate and now I can chip away at it with other tools. I used this brand and it was great, however they have stopped making it and went I needed a refill I got given a differently branded one, which I mean really it acts in the same way just doesn't feel as nice. 

i'm sure this is not better than b.p for sensitive skin

it's so irritating and it makes skin more sensitive