Retinol vs Retin A/ Tretinoin
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In summer 2016 I discovered Retin-A.
Retin-A is a prescription item, so I went to my doctor and got “Airol 0,05%” cream. That seems to be a brand name for Retin-A/Tretinoin in Germany. It took my doctor some time to find the Airol, 0,05% of tretinoin was the maximal strength that was possible to get at that time.
You have to be very careful using Retin-A because it literary burns the skin away. Constant peeling is an unavoidable consequence.
To reduce or to avoid strong peeling I started with using it once a week, one month later – twice a week and in three months every day. Now I’m using the 0,1% strength and happy with the results. Though I use Bi-Oil on my face every other day to calm down the skin.
It is of a significant importance
not to confuse tretinoin with isotretinoin. My doctor gave me “Isotrex” cream as I asked him for tretinoin 0,1%. Isotrex contains isotretinoin in proportion 1,0 mg isotretinoin for 1 gr. cream. It is a very strong ingredient to treat acne with dramatic side effects. Hair loss is one of them. The side effects come with such certainty that it isn’t worth it to use it for wrinkles.
Be careful not to use Retin-A around the mouth and on the neck though the neck is one of the arias that needs treatment for sure. I put just a little bit of Retin-A on my neck and around the mouth – next morning my mouth was wounded in the corners. The skin on my neck was peeling three days long.
To show you how strong this ingredient is I treated my hand with it two days in a row. I’ll put a picture down below. Not to forget, as soon as the burning skin starts to calm down the peeling begins and it takes about a week for the skin to look normal again. For the face it can take two or three days. Usually peeling progresses during the day.
So if you use makeup you’ll probably need to reapply it in the course of the day.
The crucial factor to mention is that the effect of tretinoin can be destroyed by the following chemicals:
- Glycolic Acid / Glykolsäure (deutsch)
- Benzol Peroxide / Benzolperoxid (deutsch)
- Resorcinol / Resorcin (deutsch)
- Salicylic Acid / Salicyl Säure (deutsch)
- Sulfur / Schwefel (deutsch)
I hope to have written all of them right.
That means that before buying a new cream, just look at the ingredients list and don’t forget: the higher on the list, the more inside. For example if the first ingredient in the cream is glycerin, that means the basic of the cream is glycerin. If the vitamin E is mentioned at the end of the ingredient list, there will be a tiny little bit of it in the product.
Where to buy Retin-A.
As I mentioned before as a prescription item it is available at the pharmacies. Most of the medical insurances cover Retin-A if you need it for acne.
It is also possible to buy it in European countries like Spain or Italy. The price varies from 15,00 EUR to 30,00 EUR.
Notice
that in some European countries a prescription is not needed and it is possible to get Retin-A over the counter. In any way it may be sensible to look for “tretinoin” and not for “Retin-A”, considering that the brand name can vary. In Spain the Cream with 0.01% strength is called “Retrides”.
As long as you take care of all the negative and difficult issues of using tretinoin
the beneficial effect of it is magnificent.
The deep wrinkles become fine and fine wrinkles disappear.
Of cause everybody’s skin is different and maybe someone is not so patient. As for me, I love my Retrides and use it 6 days a week.
Please don’t hesitate to ask any questions and good luck.
Be aware not to expect the overnight results. It takes 6 to 12 Months for improvements to be visible.
