Question for Retin A users from a new user
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free skin care · Thu May 29, 2008 10:10 pm

Hi there, some of you may know about my hormonal acne issues and how all the cysts on my chin started appearing after I quit the pill. Well it's been 2 years after quitting but I still get 3-4 cystic bumps my TOTM without fail. I'm getting married in a few months and am at my wits end with this stupid battle. I just want to be clear. Short of going back on the pill (no thank you) and taking accutane, the derm has prescribed me Retin A 0.01% gel to start. I am starting next week but feel really nervous after reading about the purging horrors that occur at the start. The derm has advised short contact therapy, applying it for 15 mins then washing off, 3 times a week for 2 weeks, then leaving on all night twice a week and then seeing how my skin responds before upping the frequency. Hopefully that will ease the transition. I'm only planning to apply it on my chin as the rest of my face is clear. Do you think I should be ok with this routine? How bad was your purging when you first started? Thanks a lot in advance!

*current routine is cleanse with Dermalogica PreCleanse then Cetaphil, spot treat with JM Bioclear lotion, exfoliate with Clarisonic. Combo skin.

free skin care · Fri May 30, 2008 4:58 am

Cysts can be so difficult to treat, I feel your pain.

I've never heard that Short Contact Therapy works with retin-a, only with tazorac. I think its better to start off using 2-3 week and work your way up to every other night and then nightly.

You will probably want to cut back on using the clarisonic as it will probably be to much exfoliation while you start out on the retin-a.

Retin-a never worked for me but Tazorac has been great for treating my cystic ance.

I'm not a fan of long term use of oral antibiotics but if it were me I'd get on them now for my wedding.

free skin care · Fri May 30, 2008 5:33 am

I agree that I think you will have better luck with Tazorac. If you apply a think layer in the evening to cover the areas on your face that you have acne, I think you are going to be surprised how quickly it will clear up. You may have some purging, but then you will be clear. I had some large bumps (acne) on both sides of my temples, strange place, but they were deep and large and I had about 6 on each side. I could not figure out just as one would clear, a couple more would appear. I could hide them with my hair (thank god) but they were there. I applied a thin layer of Tazorac for a week/ week 1/2 and they are clear now for a couple weeks. It got really peely, but I put lots of moisturizer on during the day..but looks like I broke the cycle. Good Luck and congrats on your wedding.

free skin care · Fri May 30, 2008 5:37 pm

Dollbird,
Talk to your doc about Spironolactone. It is a medication used to treat heart problems but is also used for hormonal acne because it also blocks the androgen hormones in females. I don't know why more derms don't use it for female acne since it goes right to the root cause (blocks the acne causing hormone). YOu can find lots about it on-line.
Good luck!

free skin care · Fri May 30, 2008 5:48 pm

bergquis wrote:

I agree that I think you will have better luck with Tazorac.

Why do you think Tazorac is better than Retin-A? Isn't Tazorac synthetic Retin-A? I get confused about the difference between the two - can you enlighten me please? TIA.

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