Retin A (tretinoin) ruined my face.. acne help!

Nov 23, 2013

Aboorah M.

Hello Gorgeous people!
Skin History:
I had clear skin throughout my whole life thank god... when I turned 22 I started to have a minor break out on my left cheek. I went to the dermatologist and left with no prescription and not help. I walked into my local sephora and a beauty expert recommended Murad Time release acne cleanser and Peter Thomas Roth Max complexion correction pads it worked beautifully for me and cleared my skin indefinitely! I would get ONE zit around the time of the month and would disappear on its own. Due to poor skin habits I had a lot of dark hyper pigmentation ( I never used spf! Yes I know very bad idea!)
September 10, 2013 I went to the dermatologist to get rid of my dark spots on my cheeks and left with a retin a prescription I was so excited because I read all these wonder reviews! the first 2 weeks was amazing I saw results and was very happy the 3rd week I started to break out like crazy all over my cheeks and my forehead! I got really worried so I went back to my dermatologist and she told me to stick with it and prescribed me oral antibiotics which did not help! I stuck it out for 3 months and my acne was only getting worse multiplying over night I got new inflamed acne, cystic acne and enlarged pores (which I never had before!!) finally I decided to stop the retin a and start all over again
Now it has been 3 weeks since I stopped retin a only using my cetaphil daily cleanser and neutrogena acne stress control toner my inflamed acne has improved but not gone my cystic acne is still there and a lot of red acne marks on my face (which makes my face look a lot worse than it really is!)
I just oreder Acne.org The regimen and planning to sart That Decemeber 10 which is a month after I stopped retin a
Has anyone tried the regimen...Does anyone have any advice or suggestions anything would help! 
xoxo!

Nov 23, 2013

Brooke B.

I've never tried the acne.org regimen but for a little over a year I washed face with cetaphil gentle cleanser then waited 30 minutes and applied my retin-a tretinoin cream 0.1% waiting is really important then I waited another 30 minutes and applied estee lauder night repair serum. I was put on the retin-a tretinoin cream because I had severe acne and severe cystic acne. That regimen cleared my skin to about 85% then I cut out all milk and ice cream and drink a ton and I mean a ton of water everyday and now I'm 100% clear and don't use the tretinoin retin-a cream at all anymore just my cetaphil cleanser and estee lauder night repair serum I do that nightly. I'm sorry the retin-a did not work for you :(

Nov 23, 2013

Abha A.

Dtz realy sad..but don't use nethng new right now..it might get more worst..so jst stick to d one you are using..let d pimples gt healed first n dn use melaglow only on d scar marks..drink lotz of watr n frsh fruits..

Nov 25, 2013

Sara V.

I started the regimen and I was really really excited. It didn't work as fast for me as it did for others that I saw post their results. I was a little discouraged but kept going. My face got so dry and so reptile like. I didn't want to give up. I started to feel that the benzoyl peroxide was just too much. I have tough skin but I just didn't like how it was. Now I do the exact regimen but only apply the benzoyl peroxide at night. My skin is pretty clear. Not perfect but I would rather have my skin feel normal and have a few blemishes. I also am always rushing in the morning and the process was too long for me. I definitely believe in the program and I really recommend it if you have tried everything else! If you are really strict with it I'm sure it wil work. I adjusted it a bit to make it work for my lifestyle but my skin is definitely better and I am so glad I found the regimen!!