Has anyone used retinol and vit c and seen worse results?

[Esbm2015]

I started to use vit c in the morning and retinol in the evening (both La Roche Posay) and i'd say it's made my fine lines and pigmentation more promiment and if not caused more to appear....

I use their suncream on my face every day but this still seems to be the case....

Has anyone else noticed this? I've been using the products for 3 months...

Retinol definitely makes my pigmentation worse. No idea why.

Are you applying the retinol on after your nighttime skincare? It can take months and months for retinol to work, your skin may be going through a purging stage at first where it looks worse before it gets better x

Yes I double cleanse with oil cleanser and cream cleanser before using the retinol in the evening. Vit C in the AM with sunscreen.

Retinol makes skin super sensitive hence the need for SPF, applied liberally and potentially reapplied through the day.

It can also leads to dry skin, this could be making fine lines look worse if you are not adequately moisturising/buffering.

Retinol type products are not for everyone especially if they lead to dryness or skin barrier issues.

You might not be using enough spf. I developed patches of pigmentation after I started using retinol even though I was applying a SPF 50 afterwards. My beautician told me that I probably wasn’t using enough and that I should reapply during the day. I started using the Dr Sam Bunting SPF and followed the recommendation to use 3 pumps which does feel like far too much when you put it on but it sinks in quite nicely. I also reapply if I’m outdoors quite a lot. Been doing that for about 18 months now and my skin is miles better.

Retinol makes pigmentation worse before it makes it better. My sunspots got worse initially but they're completely gone now. The plausable sounding explanation that I read online is that as new skin makes its way to the surface the deeper sun spots gradually come to the surface then fade out. It took about a year. Retinol is a long term commitment.

Thanks everyone for your replies. I’ll whack on more of the sunscreen and keep going!

Yes my pigmentation is worse in the morning, I use a resurfacing cleanser and vit c and it does look slightly paler. I’m treating dark spots that have been there for years so I guess it will take time. I usually have laser so this seems sooooooooo slow in comparison. I guess it’s better in the long run though

You definitely have to reapply sunscreen every two hours strictly otherwise you are undoing the good you are doing with the retinol

The epidermal pigmentation is working its way to the surface and any pigmentation in lines that are smoothed will look different. Keep up with it and use sunscreen religiously.