8 Things to Know Before Using Tretinoin (Retin-A) for Acne

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I am right about to come up on my year anniversary of using Tretinoin, and oh man it has been a roller coaster. I remember when I first started using the topical treatment, my skin was well into the purging process, and I spent hour upon hours a day researching trying to find out how long this was supposed to happen for, and if it what I was going through was normal. I don’t know if I just didn’t take what my dermatologist was saying serious enough, but man I was not expecting for my face to turn into the Appalachian trails. If you want to read about my acne journey, where I talk more about what I went through click here. In this post I’m going to talk about what you should expect, for reference I still use Tretinoin (0.1%) about every other day. You can see how drastically my skin has changed from the peak of purging to now.

The first thing is the worst, you’re going to see this on every blog post, dermatologist website, and acne forum. But trust me, I know it doesn’t make it any easier to hear, it has to get worse before it gets better. The way this topical treatment works is by exfoliating your skin from the inside out, so that means bringing all the junk under your skin to the surface. The bad news for you, is that it means breaking out everywhere, and all at once. It will probably get pretty bad, see below for some pictures of how my acne was at the beginning stages. It has to get worse before it get better, but please stick it out. In the long run your skin will look so much better and be so smooth. I’m still surprised when I wash my face and it doesn't feel like there is a mountain range underneath my skin.
It’s all going to take time. I know I said you didn’t want to hear what I said in 1, but get ready because this whole list is going to suck to hear, but I want to give you the same encouragement that I needed to stick with using tretinoin. I started using this topical treatment in March and by around June I had reached the point that most of the active pimples had stopped and I was just left with scarring, and that took longer than I was hoping to go away. I know it sucks to look in the mirror and it still looks like you have a face full of acne because of how bad the scarring is. Take pictures of what your face looks like over time though, anytime I would feel discouraged that my skin was not looking any better, I looked back and was able to see how far I had come.
You need a good moisturizer, seems obvious, but it took me a while to find one I really liked. I try and buy cruelty free products, and most cruelty free face moisturizer has coconut oil (which shouldn’t go on your face) in it. Before I used an oil-free Cetaphil Moisturizer because my dermatologist recommended it, and at that point I was willing to do pretty much anything to help my acne, however this still wasn’t moisturizing enough for me. After trying a few moisturizers with oil in it, I finally came to the conclusion that maybe the Cetaphil moisturizer worked better than the other ones I had tried because it was oil-free, I did some research and found this oil -free moisturizer from Alba Botanica (note this is a lot cheaper on amazon than in stores like Target). Anyways, once you find a moisturizer you like, moisturize A LOT. My dermatologist recommended putting moisturizer on, letting it soak in and then putting on the topical treatment, letting that set and then adding another layer of moisturizer. This definitely helped me, having a face full of acne is rough, but the uncomfortable feeling of you skin flaking off is worse. (But actually, I ran out of this a few days ago, and my skin is starting to peel, and I'm very patiently waiting for my amazon order to come in).
You might want to skip the makeup. I read a few blogs of girls saying they got through the purging process by wearing makeup, but no matter how much moisturizer I used, my foundation would flake off and itch like crazy. I can vividly remember times when I was out and all I wanted to do was go home so I could take my makeup off and put a pound of moisturizer on. If this is happening to you, skip the makeup, I know it sucks, but remember you are always way more critical of yourself. I highly doubt anyone ever spent as much time staring at my acne as I thought they were. And honestly, if they did, they need a hobby.
Don’t pick. I know, I understand how tempting it is to pick at your face, because Retin-A brings everything to the surface making it so easy for you to get it. However, your skin is a lot thinner than it was before, so when you pick it almost always is going to end in a bloody mess. I had to make this mistake 93493 times before I stopped picking at my skin, so please, learn from my mistakes. Plus, think back to when I said acne scars take longer to go away than the acne. I’m still paying for those times when I picked really badly.
Kind of going off of #4, don’t exfoliate. I am the queen of “oh this sounds like a good idea let’s go for it.” I am thankful for once I thought before my actions, and instead of scrubbing the absolute daylight out of my already peeling face, I looked it up. Again, your skin is a lot thinner, so if you exfoliate you’re just going to take that layer of skin off and be left with a mess. If you’ve made it this far in the post I’m assuming you really want to know what’s up, so please listen to this one.
Remember when I said I’m the kind of girl that thinks she has a good idea and goes for it? Well, when I first started using Retin-A, most of my acne was on my chin, so I only started using it on my chin. I went through the purging process, and when it started to get better I started doing the rest of my face. Little did I know the worst of it was on my cheeks, so I had to go through the god awful purging process a second time, and I almost quit using it because of this. SO, if you’re like me and think this is a good idea (I really doubt anyone thinks like this), don’t do it.
Stick with it, it’ll be worth it. I started this process in March, it wasn’t until about June that I wasn’t inspecting my face in the mirror or being paranoid that people were staring at my skin. At that point I went out without desperately wanting to wear makeup (I absolutely hate wearing makeup, but if you like it, go for it!). Not everyone has a bomb roommate telling me that it’s going to be worth it every night when I wanted to cry because of how bad my skin was. So let me be your personal cheerleader, you got this!

Alright, I can’t think of anymore tidbits I want to add to this now, but if I can think of any moving forward, I will be sure to update this! At whatever point you are at with your acne journey, just remember that it will get better, and I understand that acne sucks. Feel free to leave comments if you have any questions, additional pieces of advice, or if you just need to vent!