Tretinoin topical and Dry Skin: What Users Say (Page 3)

• lgb...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• October 29, 2020

For Photoaging of the Skin "I wanted to go on to share my experience. I started off with 0.025 and 0.05, and my skin did okay. Had some initial flakiness, but moisturizer helped, and it eventually improved. My dermatologist upped me to 0.1%, and things took a turn for the worse. About two weeks after I began using it, my skin got really red and itchy, and I developed diarrhea, which turned bloody. I had to go to the ER, thinking I had something terrible wrong, and it turned out that the high dosage (0.1%) of tretinoin was the culprit. Once I got off it, my GI symptoms went away, and the redness of my skin went away. So proceed with caution. The lower dosage of 0.05% did improve the appearance of my skin."

• NAa...
• March 8, 2019

Tretinoin topical for Acne "I'm in my early 20s and have been applying Retin-A gel once a night for over a year now. Before starting the gel, I had what I would describe as moderate acne. During the first 6-8 months of Retin-A use, I had the most severe acne of my life, all over my face. It was painful and so embarrassing to leave the house. Not to mention the horrific dry skin that would just flake off my face, no matter how much I moisturized. But I stuck with it as the dermatologist suggested, and now my acne is mostly under control. However, I would not say my acne now is any better than before I started Retin-A, and on top of that, I now have deep, ugly scars on both sides of my face (not just a few... a LOT) from the severe acne. I have not had any acne scars in my life until now, and I have had moderate to heavy acne since I was 12. Now there are pit scars all across my cheeks. I have ruined my face by using Retin-A and would have been exponentially better off if I had never used it in the first place."

• Rac...
• December 17, 2015

For Acne "This medicine has ruined my life. I hate myself when I look in the mirror. I am on my fifth month of 0.05% tretinoin cream, and I am still getting acne and dry skin. During the two- and three-month part, my acne was horrendous. Now I'm left with deep scars and self-hatred. It's not worth the emotional damage at all. I don't even care about acne that much, but this has made me depressed and miserable."

• kay...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• February 16, 2020

Tretinoin topical for Acne "This was the worst experience of my life. It made my face break out, and I had big red dry patches on my face that burned so bad. I still have red scars from those spots that I didn’t have before. Do not use this, I suggest Accutane. I have done that before also."

• Sam...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• May 27, 2018

For Acne "I was prescribed this for my acne, which is moderate but can get really bad at times. They told me it would get worse for about a month and then get better. After using it for 8 weeks, I can tell you it only made it worse. My skin has never been that bad before. On top of the cystic acne, it caused my sensitive skin to be excessively red and dry. They gave me a pill to take with it (Minocycline), though, and it works wonders. 5 days ago I stopped using the tretinoin gel and only take the pill, and now my skin is almost completely free of breakouts. Don’t use this gel if you have the choice."