Help needed for using liquid tretinoin with Nu-Derm
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Sat Mar 09, 2013 7:15 am

I’ve been reading this board for about a year but this is the first time I’m posting as I couldn’t find an answer to my problem. These boards have been amazingly helpful so far though.

I started the Obagi system in January. I’ve been following it exactly as required and am happy with the results so far. My derm upped my prescription for tretinoin from .05 to .1%. The pharmacist said that it would be too runny to make a cream at .1% so they would give me a liquid instead. I figured it shouldn’t be a problem, I’d just mix with the blender, so I agreed. I’ve been trying to measure it with an eyedropper – and the pharmacist said that 20 drops is supposed to be roughly equivalent to 1gm but thought I’d start out cautiously by using about half that. I’ve noticed it seems to be much stronger than the cream.

Any advice how I can make this work? They said that they can order the .1% cream but it would have to come from overseas which will take some time. (I’m living in The Netherlands at the moment so things are not as familiar to me as at home.) My derm is very nice but frankly I think that the ladies on this board have much more experience than she does with some of these products.

free skin care · Sun Mar 10, 2013 12:00 pm

.1 is available in a gel and a cream and it isn't runny at all. Not sure why it would have to be made into a liquid. I've been using the gel without any issues although I think I am alone.

Sun Mar 10, 2013 12:41 pm

Good to hear you're doing well with the gel Ava - as you say, it seems that many people have had problems.

I'm not sure why the pharmacist concluded that .1% would be too runny to make but I'm slowly getting used to things not being the same here as it is at home. I was finding it was taking forever for the .05% creme to absorb along with blender and clear/hydroquinone so I figured I'd give this a go as it may have saved a bit of time. It goes on easily, I'm just not too sure if the increased redness/dryness is because I'm using too much or simply because it absorbs faster or penetrates deeper. I have to say that measuring a cream or gel is much simpler.

free skin care · Tue Mar 12, 2013 7:39 am

Gel absorbs better than cream. The reason why you are experiencing increased redness/dryness is because your doctor prescribed the highest strength which is 0.1% from 0.05%....

nutree wrote:

I'm just not too sure if the increased redness/dryness is because I'm using too much or simply because it absorbs faster or penetrates deeper.

Tue Mar 12, 2013 9:07 am

I use the gel, it mixes very nicely with my blender and absorbs well. I used the cream in the past also and it was fine, I just prefer the gel. (I have normal skin, sligtly oily tzone in the summer months).
I think you are simply experiencing the effects of using stronger tretinoin really, whether it is cream, gel or liquid, it is now a higher concentration. Maybe cut back by using it every other day for a week or so until your skin becomes more acclimated to it.
I have been using the 1% for quite a while and I still peel from it.
Glad you are enjoying the results of nuderm, I am on week 4 as of today!

Wed Mar 13, 2013 2:52 pm

Thanks for all the responses. I thought the transition of going from 1 gram of .05% to the equivalent of 1/2 gram of .1% would be minimal but it has been quite harsh.

I guess gel absorbs better than cream and liquid better than gel so I've cut back to a couple of drops with Blender each night. If that doesn't work I'll go to every second night but even when I first started weeks ago I was able to tolerate it every night. Guess we'll see.

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