Tretinoin strength question

monicakm · ‎03-16-2010

Many of you might remember last year I decided to try tretinoin. I flew through the .025 strength with no issues at all. Ask my doctor for the next strength up and he sent over the .05 ( I hope I'm getting these numbers right). I didn't have flaking or redness but my skin was uncomfortable and being the sissy that I am I stopped it. I believe there is a strength between these two. Is there a .3x strength? And if I stayed on that strength for as long as I used tret would it be beneficial or are these lower strengths just meant to build up to the highest? I used to have to look in a 10x mirror to see lines developing above my upper lip. The end is nye. Now if looking in a 5x mirror and tightening my upper lip, I can see lines starting to develop 🤨

Thanks ladies!

SilleeMee · ‎05-22-2016

To my knowledge there is no 0.03%.

If the 0.05% is too much to handle then what you can do is use the 0.05% once or twice a week and the rest of the time use the 0.025%. The point is to use some tret every night and not stop for any length of time. Some people are content with using lower strengths for a very long time if not permanently just to avoid the peeling or the irritation. There's no rule that you have to increase strengths. Go by how your skin reacts and if you want to go up in concentration then do it for short spurts at a time...like one or two days a week for starters.

SilleeMee · ‎05-22-2016

One time I tried going up from 0.05 to 0.1%. I applied the 0.1% one night a week for a 8 weeks. Then went to twice weekly applications after that. On the other nights I was using 0.05% the whole time. But my skin just would not adjust. The flakes and redness would not subside after almost a year of alternating using both strengths so I quit the 0.1% and stayed with the 0.05%. The 0.1% was not meant for me.

You don't have to peel to benefit from using tret. Peeling is a side effect on the surface of the skin. Peeling/flaking is not an indicator of efficacy. Where the action happens is beneath the surface, not on top. Occasional light flaking is normal but excessive flaking/redness/inflamed skin is not.

Steffdoggy10 · ‎03-10-2010

Isn't the flaking a sign that the tret is working by cell turnover? Last year I got confused on the different strings and ordered the 0.1 Thinking it was a low strength. Oh my gosh no matter what I did I peeled and had strong burning sensation. I'm now using the .025 with no peeling at all. Haven't worked up to using it every night though. Not sure if that is necessary?

bmorechick · ‎03-11-2010

Sometimes I wonder if folks with skin on the dry side experience more side efx than those of us with skin on the oily side. I have mentioned here several times I have used the 0.1% for past 11 years now and I never experienced any skin irritation. I'm grateful because clearly, after that long I am a testament to it's efficacy. I also have used it on the back of my hands. I get refills from my doc every 3 months, which insurance covers at 10$ a tube, so I mix a little with my body lotion and use it on my arms too.

@SilleeMee Gets it right...consistency and patience is the key. Use it consistently for a full year if you can tolerate it and you will see. If I were you @monicakm I would use the lowest strength for all that time.

monicakm · ‎03-16-2010

@bmorechick

I have uber dry skin but keep it well hydrated and moisturized. I didn't have peeling or redness with the .05 but my face tingled and was uncomfortable. I've been using Retinol and Glycolic Acid for a couple of years (plus a host of hydrating products, Matrixly and CoQ10.

SilleeMee · ‎05-22-2016

Both glycolic acid and retinol can dry out your skin. They can compromise the skin barrier and make it sensitive to other ingredients such as tret or other acids used in skincare products. If your skin tingles when something is applied then it's most likely that your barrier is weak.

monicakm · ‎03-16-2010

Thanks @SilleeMee

The only time I've had issues with tingling skin on my face when applying a product is with Tret. Oh, GA too when I was using Tret and for awhile after I stopped the Tret. I can't tolerate really rich, suffocating type products like heavy creams. I'll get a breakout or two. I can use Tatcha's Night Cream but the Bobbi Brown Face Base was a disaster for my face.

SilleeMee · ‎05-22-2016

@monicakm

Maybe try using the glycolic acid sparingly while you are on tret. It's just too much of an attack on your skin barrier to handle both.

I had to back off using glycolic acid when I started using tret. My skin was losing too much of it's outer layer and it became overly dry. That dryness only made me want to use more glycolic to get rid of the dry skin but that's not the right thing to do.