u/MarilynMonHoeXO

I started tretinoin 0.025% mainly for fine lines/anti-aging, not for acne, so I want to make that clear because I know “purging” usually gets discussed in acne contexts.

I expected maybe some mild purging or dryness, but what I experienced felt more like deep irritation. About 1–2 days after using it, I would get painful, pressure-filled bumps that were itchy and inflamed. They also appeared in areas I don’t normally break out.

The first photo is while I was using tretinoin. The second photo is exactly 2 weeks after stopping it.

What’s confusing me is:
* it happened very fast after application
* the bumps felt deeper and more inflamed than normal acne for me
* there was itching involved
* it was happening in areas I don’t usually break out
* every time I stopped tret, my skin calmed down and looked good again pretty quickly
* every time I restarted, things flared again within 1–2 days

I used tret directly on dry skin after cleansing (waited for skin to dry first). For the first month and a half I used it every 3 days, then I tried increasing to every other night. That’s when things seemed to get worse.

Routine was pretty simple:

Daytime:
CeraVe Moisturizing Cleanser
The Ordinary peptide serum
CeraVe Moisturizing Cream (tub)
SPF 50

Nighttime (non-tret nights):
CeraVe Moisturizing Cleanser
The Ordinary peptide serum
CeraVe Moisturizing Cream (tub)
Sometimes Vaseline to lock it in

Tret nights:
Tretinoin 0.025%
CeraVe Moisturizing Cream

Does this sound more like irritation/barrier damage than an actual purge? Or can tret purging look like this even in someone who wasn’t acne-prone before?

I’m trying to figure out whether I should retry using the sandwich method / lower frequency, or whether my skin just genuinely does not tolerate tret well.