I’ve talked previously about my personal skincare routine and my thoughts on skincare and tretinoin as a whole.
I have recently been looking to completely clear up my skin in terms of texture, occasional acne, and overall quality. I’ve been on .025% for exactly one year now and while it was great in a lot of ways I want to turn things up a notch and get to that next level of skin appearance.
Introduction
Hopefully, my experience can benefit you and you can learn from this review! Feel free to ask any questions or leave any feedback, ideas, etc.
I certainly don’t think .025% is bad at all (and is shown in studies to be equivalent to higher strengths in terms of anti-aging) so I will probably go back to it as my regular maintenance strength once my acne clears just so I don’t have to use something quite as strong.
As with most things I write about, while I aim to optimize and enhance myself safety is my top priority – if I don’t have to use the strongest concentration of something for my goals then I simply won’t.
Considering things like my skin barrier, dryness, irritation, etc.
Either way, I’ve been using tretinoin .05% for two months now, 3 to 4 times weekly. I put it on clean skin and then moisturize it a little while after to prevent drying as much as I can.
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Tretinoin Results
Like I mentioned in the beginning I’m not looking for drastic anti-aging results here but more so of an elimination of my pores and acne overall.
I don’t have “bad” acne in any real way but there’s just that one spot that always seems to come up before an important event, gathering, date, etc. I want truly consistent clear skin that other people always seem to have at baseline.
I did notice a slight purge when increasing concentration in the types of acne that I never really get – slightly more intense spots with more of a base under the skin compared to spots that would normally appear above the skin.
Now For The Good:
- Further decrease in wrinkle depth (especially nasolabial folds)
- Decrease in pore size
- Better drying/shedding compared to .025%
- Fewer acne spots overall
I still need to find better ways to moisturize and nourish my skin but overall I am very happy with increasing the strength of tretinoin. I even find my cleanser to be too drying sometimes so it’s not tretinoin causing this.
It’s only been two months so I’m yet to see long-term benefits (or anything negative) but I wanted to make a short post detailing my current thoughts.
Drying
This might sound crazy but the drying I’ve experienced on .05% might be “better” than what I experienced using .025%.
The drying I experienced with the .025% (even after a year of consistent use) happened randomly and felt like it dried out my skin itself.
With .05% though my skin consistently peels each morning after use but my skin itself still feels moisturized and healthy, not dry. The peeling seems like excess skin being shed off more like a sunburn and feels nice compared to .025% where the drying effect seemed to be stuck to my skin itself.
Why this happens I have no idea – but if my skin can handle .025% better at the end of my experimenting then I view that as just another positive.
Advice
If you are someone who still experiences that occasional (or even severe) acne on .025% tretinoin then I would 100% look into increasing concentrations.
However, if you don’t experience acne blemishes and are happy using .025% for anti-aging then I would say this: stick with what works. Studies have shown that .025% is just as good for skin aging as the higher strengths are.
The drying and irritation are similar to .025% (minimal) but the benefits for acne are well worth the upgrade.
In terms of the transition, I would say to listen to your skin and focus a lot on moisturizing and hydrating your skin. This stuff will cause your skin to shed and can be very drying.
Conclusion
Overall I hope you enjoyed this quick post about my switch from .025% to .05% tretinoin cream.
I would suggest increasing concentrations for those interested in fighting acne or those pesky pores to a greater extent – just keep in mind how your skin personally reacts and monitor hydration and moisturize consistently.