r/tretinoin

I'm going to keep this short because my eyes literally cannot handle long screen sessions anymore.

I've been using tretinoin for 5 years. Loved the results. Skin was great. Felt like I had unlocked some secret. Never once thought about what it was quietly doing to my eyes.

Slowly, things got worse. Burning. Grittiness. Blurred vision by mid-morning. I kept dismissing it allergies, screen time, dry air. You know how it goes. You find a reason that isn't the thing you don't want it to be.

Eventually I saw an ophthalmologist. Meibomian gland dysfunction. Essentially, the glands under your eyelids that secrete the oil keeping your eyes lubricated? Retinoids suppress oil-producing glands, that's literally how they work on your skin. Turns out they can do the same thing to the glands in your eyelids, especially with long-term use or application too close to the eye area.

My glands are damaged. Some of it may be irreversible.

I can now work for about 1–2 hours max before my eyes give out. I'm in pain by the afternoon. I use prescription eye drops, warm compresses, omega-3s the whole protocol, It helps a little but never enough

So here's what I wish someone had told me:

• Do NOT apply tretinoin to or near your eyelids, ever
• If your eyes feel consistently dry, gritty, or fatigued please don't wait, see an ophthalmologist, not just your derm
• Long-term retinoid use has a real, documented link to meibomian gland dysfunction this isn't rare, it's just rarely talked about in skincare communities
• Get a baseline eye exam when you start tretinoin. Monitor it.

I'm not saying stop using tretinoin. It works. But the skincare community talks obsessively about skin barriers and moisturizers and SPF and almost never talks about the eyes. Your eyes are not replaceable. Your skin texture is not more important than your ability to see and function.

If you've been on tret for years and you're noticing any dryness, sensitivity to light, or eye fatigue, please go get checked. Don't wait until you're like me, counting down screen time minutes like they're a ration.

Take care of your eyes, people. I really mean it.

I was the success story. Month 3 my face was the clearest it had been in years. Told everyone, recommended it to anyone who'd listen, genuinely thought I'd finally figured it out.

Month 6 and I'm basically back to where I started. Derm says give it more time. i've given it 6 months and done everything right.

Has anyone had tret work and then just… stop? did you figure out why? Idk whether to push through or accept this isn't the right treatment for my specific acne.

So I’ve been consistently using tret.025 3 times a week for about a month and a half I’ve been using the sandwich method where I apply a moisturizer wait and then tret. However I’ve been seeing people say that using a moisturizer before makes it less effective. I tried this week to put it on bone dry skin and I ended up getting a lot of redness and my skin now stings when I put anything on it besides jojoba oil. My question is does putting a moisturizer on before tret make it less effective or work less? Would it be ok to use a moisturizer 1-2 hrs before then apply it? Should I also try to work up to eventually putting it on bone dry skin in the future if so how would I go about that?

​Hey guys, so ​I see so many newbies getting caught up in the "higher percentage = better results" trap. They end up with a ruined skin barrier, peeling, and endless purging. Because this was also me in the start. I dealt with a lot of pore congestion and sebaceous filaments as well.

Acne wasnt a main issue of mine so this post isnt around that. Higher strength maybe do work better for stubborn Acne.

But this is for congestion, even tone, texture, collagen and anti aging.

♡ Here is how flipping the script completely changed my skin. ​The Mistake: High Strength, Low Frequency

​I started by using a high strength (0.05%) just 2 or 3 times a week. My skin never actually adjusted. Instead, it was just getting shocked by a massive, irritating dose every few days, leaving me constantly flaky and red.

♡ ​The Fix: Low Strength, High Frequency ​I completely changed my strategy: ​Dropped down to the lowest strength (0.025%). ​Built up to using it almost every single night.

♡ ​Why this works: Tretinoin thrives on consistency. By giving my skin a steady, gentle signal every day instead of a harsh dose twice a week, it finally built up a tolerance. And I was finally seeing all my sebaceous filaments and whiteheads clearing up! Id say it took atleast two weeks to see a difference.

♡ Things that helped me alongside:

1. Using a cleansing oil. It removed surface level gunk and filaments and makes tret sit better on my skin. Makes skincare sit better and absorb deeper. I personally use the DHC cleansing oil for this.

2. Staying away from any other active. Skincare Only focused around tretinoin.

I'm based in the UK and recently placed my first order with All Day Chemist, and I wanted to share my experience for anyone considering using them - especially as questions about specific websites pop up regularly.

I ordered six tubes of tretinoin and one tube of azelaic acid (I was meant to order more azelaic acid but must've made a mistake). I had a couple of minor hiccups with payment on my end — I use online debit cards that I top up specifically for individual purchases (just a personal security habit), and it took a couple of days for the payment to finally go through and be accepted. During that time I sent them a few queries, and they were really responsive each time, which immediately gave me confidence in them.

Once the payment cleared, the following day I got an update that my order had been moved for dispensing. Three days after that, I received an email confirming it had been dispatched, and the next day I got a tracking number along with an estimated delivery window of two to three weeks. In reality, it arrived in less than a week — much faster than expected.
From ordering (6 May) through payment (8 May) to first delivery attempt (19 May), it was 13 days total.

Because I wasn't anticipating it arriving so soon, I missed two delivery attempts, and the notification emails had ended up in my spam folder. Again, I reached out to All Day Chemist, and again they were helpful and responsive — they advised me on my options, and I ended up arranging for the parcel to be held at my local post office for collection.

As for the products themselves: the tretinoin has an expiry date to the end of next year, which means roughly 18 months' supply, and the azelaic acid is similar. Really pleased with that.

I paid $40 for 6 tubes of Tretin Cream 0.025% (30g)and $11.50 for one Aziderm Cream 20% (15g), plus delivery $20. I think they applied a discount because the total came to $66.35. For me, it's great value given I used to spend £25 per month on Skin&Me.

Overall a really positive first experience. The communication throughout was excellent, both when things were going smoothly and when I ran into minor issues. I'll definitely be ordering from them again.

I’m going to start tretinoin soon and I heard it goes well with azeliac acid. Would an azeliac acid cleanser be good enough and, if so, what is the best cleanser?

I started Differin 0.1 cream in January, and experienced some breakouts on areas that are normally clear. I thought it was just a purge but my skin never really recovered. I used Differin 3 x per week, and no improvement. I stopped for a bit while using my usual steps - the ordinary glycolic acid and niacinamide 10% + zinc. I also started using Finacea 15% in the morning + moisturiser + SPF 50.

I started using Differin again and aiming for 2 x a week. But I'm so discouraged. My once clear, bump less skin is now a warzone. My forehead has 2-3 deep painful cysts that don't have a head, but feels like a bad mosquito bite.

I started adapalene because I wanted to start prescription retinoids for long-term maintenance. Not sure where to go from here.

I used tret daily but I only use half of the recommended amount. I’ve been using 0.05% for over a year now and have gotten countless compliments for my skin. I have rather sensitive skin, I notice my skin gets super irritated whenever I use a pea size. And we’re talking a non-gmo, organic pea size. I find that it’s still very effective and is one of the reasons why I’m able to tolerate tret (well, 95% of the time, with the other 5% just random unprompted irritation) is by using less. Anyone here also experience this?

I want to know the start point to use this. Cos skin needs to be slowly get used to it and might be harsh on skin. Is it good to use lower power of tret like 0.025 or 0.5 or anyother product like retinol , rentinal, etc.

Hi, I’ve been prescribed 0.05 as the 0.025 was discontinued in my country (no idea why). I need some advice with my routine because i really don’t want to ruin my skin barrier

It’s been about 2 months, I did increase the frequency to every other night a bit too quickly and experienced some irritation and cystic acne so immediately went back down to using it every 3 days and my skin doesn’t seem too irritated or dry and not getting cysts anymore

My routine is just

- Tret every 3 nights
- I use a cleansing balm on tret nights before applying it
- Sandwich method with the nivea crème in the blue tin, waiting about 20 minutes between applications
- Sunscreen every day
- Snail mucin on non tret nights only if my skin is feeling a tiny bit dry (it’s never that dry)

Pls keep in mind I’m on a budget if recommending any products

Tia 🤍🤍

i’m asking because i’ve been getting a lot of pimples these days and i’m kinda confused what to do. patches seem helpful but i feel like they might just be a quick fix and not actually solve the issue if breakouts keep coming back.i keep seeing pimple patches everywhere and i’m not sure if they’re actually useful or just marketing