Tretinoin and the Sun

[Iceniii]

I've been using 0.015% for four weeks and am a week in with 0.025%.

I've been using La Roche-Posay Anthelios factor 50 daily. This weekend I re applied it at lunch as I was outside and it was sunny, but I still feel like I have caught the sun on my face. I'm worried about using Tretinoin in the summer and causing damage. Any advise? I garden and hike etc as hobbies.

Hi,I’m also using Tretinoin.
My thoughts are if you’re using a good brand (which you are) then it should be enough?
I really feel protected by something like Ultrasun but I just find it too heavy and greasy unless I’m literally on a beach.
I’m currently using Thank You Farmer which is also spf50. I think with these fairly new generation formulas that we don’t feel like we’re fully protected.
A few years ago I had used Biore watery essence and I had been a bit lax and my hairline slightly burned. So it definitely has worked where I had applied it!

Hi there, you need to frequently reapply sunscreen. It doesn’t last all day. I have been using tretinoin for about 25 years and I live in Australia. It’s fabulous stuff. Meanwhile, as well as making you more sensitive to UVA & UVB radiation, I believe it also makes you more sensitive to the other kind of damaging radiation emitted from the sun - heat. No sunscreen is going to do anything for you there. (Although the one I’m going to recommend claims to, I’m not sure I believe that... I’ll tell you why I like it below, though!) The sunscreen I really enjoy using at the moment is this Make P:REM one. The bottle is small so I only use it on my face and neck. (You can get it in bulk on Amazon though.) It’s a light, gel consistency and you can keep reapplying it through the day without feeling like you’re getting gunky. (Also easy to carry around in handbag.) I haven’t had a foundation it doesn’t play nicely with, if that matters to you. Korea has kept researching sunscreens for years long after Australia, Europe, America and UK stopped. I think they are the most high-tech and well-researched ones. (We have hereditary melanoma in my family, so I am VERY careful.) I genuinely don’t think that sunscreen alone is ever enough for a full day in the sun (beach, etc.) I think you need to provide shade via hats, umbrellas, shade tents, whatever. Cover your skin wherever you can. Wear sunglasses with a known SPF or you’re wasting your time and risking ocular melanoma.

Here is the one I like. You can also buy a bigger bottle in the same brand of a milk version which is great for your body. It is a combined chemical/physical sunscreen. (Leaves a white caste in photos, has a slightly thicker texture, but NOT greasy, easier to rub in/thinner consistency than Anthelios.)