Retinol purge

[OMGItsEarly]

How long does it last?

Hideous, painful boils on my chin. It makes me glad I wear a mask all day in work!

They are so sore. I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t get back to sleep because of the throb of my spots.

The rest of my skin looks amazing mind you & I’m only on 4th or 5th application so will persevere. Just looking for reassurance that it will soon be over.

How often are you using it? Have you out moisturiser underneath as a buffer? For me I had a couple of breakouts the first month but I was only using it once or twice a week at first.

Yes to moisturiser underneath.
I first used it then had a day break then another application.
I waited 2 days then applied again.
Another 2 days break & I’m sure this must be the 4th application.

How strong is the formula? Could you try every three days to begin with until your skin gets used to it?

Took me about six months to go from twice weekly scaly peeling skin through chin and cheek - I don't necessarily want to say boils but I don't know how else to describe them- "breakouts"?? before everything settled down and now my skin behaves beautifully and has a great "Tret glow."

I've been using Dermatica for 18 months now and my skin is thicker and more regularly toned and even these days. I go without foundation most days, just some concealer around my nose and on any under eye dark spots.

I do occasionally get a spot between my eyebrows but that's when I've been drinking too much. I've had that reaction forever, so I know it's not related to the Tret.

Not everybody wants to persist for such a long time with retinol if it's having adverse effects. I was lucky that the outcome was great for me after the initial purge.

I’ve just been to check my order and realised what I’ve done. It’s the ordinary 1% retinol.
I know you are supposed to start lowest and build tolerance up. I obviously didn’t have my glasses on when ordering and saw the 1% and thought it was lowest because I’ve read the 0.2% & 0.5% as 2% & 5% 🤦🏼‍♀️

2% granactive retinoid started to break me out for after a week of using it every other night. Purge lasted around 3 weeks.

I think I purged for a month when I started using it every other day, although it doesn’t sound like what you’re describing. I had the dry and scaly skin, but breakouts seemed to develop, come to a head and heal quite quickly. The boils, sore and throbbing sounds more like hormonal acne to me- could the retinol just be a coincidence? Did you have issues with acne before?

I’ve now moved onto the dry and scaly skin, ironically right around the boil! Boil has calmed down, now just a red lump but still sore.
Not hormonal, post menopausal & only had acne once in my life & that’s when I was on progesterone only pill years ago.

I’m going to reduce use to just a couple of days a week and use more moisturiser under it. I hope it doesn’t last a whole month.

Good plan. Keep going!