Where in the UK can I buy real retin-a Gel? (branded)
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Thu Dec 15, 2016 11:05 am

Hi all. I've been experimenting with retin a gels and have been using the shalaks brand at 0.1% unfortunately it is too strong for me, and sadly the 0.05/0.025's contain olive oil esters which I am extremely comedogenic towards!

Does anyone have experience of buying real retin-a gel, (ideally in a 0.25 or 0.05 strength) please? The inactive ingredients appear better in the branded rather than the menarini's and I have a feeling the heavy peeling could be partially to do with the amount of alcohol rather than the quality of the active ingredient.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! I've seen a website inhousepharmacy.vu that sells the valeant retin-a gel for £48 which is very expensive compared to the generic but as it should last for over 4 months I don't really mind that cost as long as I can get authentic stuff. Shipping times to the UK i'm also interested in, if anyone here buys the real stuff then please let me know where it is safe to do so! I've scoured the net for hours but cannot find anywhere that seems legit.

Also interested in those who have used both branded retin-a and the generic versions (shalaks/menarini) on what your experiences are like in comparison. Most of the stuff i've read seem to mention the peels and flakes rather than it's actual effect on wrinkles and general skin complexion. The inactive ingredients in branded ret-a gel are vastly different to those in the generics.

Thanks all!

Jane

free skin care · Mon Dec 19, 2016 11:22 am

I have a bit unusual approach to this, I have bought stuff from both ebay and amazon, sellers from India, Thailand, Turkey...
My first priority was to keep my credit card safe, and since the prices are not that expensive, I was prepared to risk the authenticity...
On ebay and amazon they usually say that the product is retinol (both sites remove retin A when they notice it) but they attach a picture so you know which ones are retin A and which retinol...
I did buy retin A micro that I was quite happy with... I gave up because I was very annoyed with the amount of care required and really am not prepared to put all the extra effort... A quick snoop now found that 3 tubes of tretinoin 0.5 cream cost around 20 GBP (from India). This sound about right to me because I have bought a legitimate retin A from a state pharmacy in Eastern Europe for around 5 GBP last year. Of course this is not a level of prices for that product bought here or US, I am only mentioning this to give you some idea of the actual cost when buying from other countries... That is another reason why I am not worried about buying it from other places, I know it is actually that cheap.

All this being said, you mention that you have a gel... Gels are a lot stronger then creams so strong reaction is to be expected, you should really start with creams. Since you have a very strong gel, why not just dilute it with a moisturizer you know works for you? Check how to apply it, a good way to do it is described here: http://www.skinacea.com/retinoids/use-retinoids-right-part-one.html.

Hope this helps! Take care!

Wed Dec 21, 2016 11:04 am

Thanks, but i'm looking for an actual prescribed brand !

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