Retin-A (tretinoin) is obvious a very strong and effective pharmaceutical used to prevent and treat acne as well as photoaging.
I'm sitting here with a tube of 0.025% tretinoin and am confused as to how I can introduce this into my regime without causing cross reactions.
I know that I will be using it at night but can I use a moisturizer or serum with it at night or should I just apply it alone? After about few hours of searching around and reading it appears that I may have to have to use it every other day if I still won't to use my other products.
Here's my current skin care regime.
I might use this regime on Mon, Wed and Fri and then on Tues, Thurs, Sat, Sun just use a glycolyic acid face wash in the morning with the Tretinoin in the evening.
Thoughts? Fredrik what are your thoughts on this one?
Hi zoolander and other aspiring retinoid users,
when introducing a retinoid it is best to halt all other irritating products until skin is properly "retinized" and there´s no stinging or redness. Then you can add other less effective and less important potentially irritating stuff like glycolic- or salicylic acids and acidid vitamin C to tolerance. I generally avoid acids, just a salicylic acid wash once in a while, and max out on retinoids that actually repair skin damage, not just makes it look better.
I find tazarotene more effective and less irritating, but cause just as much flaking at the same concentration as tretinoin. Tazarotene is better at preventing comedones and acne than tret. When your done with the 0.025% tret I recommend you try the 0.1% Taz cream from alldaychemist.
Starting out with a cream is easier on the skin than a gel. Everyones skin differ when it comes to sensitivity but every third day is a good starting point with any retinoid. If you´re very sensitive you can google "short contact therapy" AND "tazarotene" and try that instead.
Only use a peasize glob for the whole face in the beginning.
When using tretinoin wait 20 minutes after washing before you apply it to lessen absorption (irritation). When starting out on taz you can apply it over a nightcream. After two weeks or when no redness or irritation is present you can start using it every other day.
After another two weeks you can try using it every night. After that you can apply the nightcream AFTER the taz instead. In six months you will wonder how you ever survived without a retinoid.
So you will have to find your own maximum dosing schedule where the stimulation is still positive. Even when you´re used to strong retinoids like me you will get the occasional flaking when the temperature drops in the winter. Adjust accordingly, less frequent and more moisture. I never halt a retinoid more than two days, I don´t want to go through the retinization process everytime.
I use 0.05% taz gel every night now (0.05% gel is stronger than 0.1% cream) and about once weekly 0.025% tretinoin alcoholic gel. If I get irritation the topical antioxidant vitamin C will have to stand back as it´s less important than the retinoid. I´m very happy with the skin smoothing and pore minimizing results and I love that I´m actually preventing skin aging.
OBSERVE: Í´m writing this while away on a family dinner. I´ve had a certain amount of red wine and I feel that my spelling & grammar is less then stellar, even for a swede. But other than that I stand behind all the content in this post. Cheers! =)
Edited by shepard, 23 November 2007 - 02:40 AM.
