Skin and Me (Sorry another retinol post!)

[Lavender24]

I started using Skin and Me last September. Initially I liked it but my prescriber upped my dosage too quickly and I ended up with severe retinol burn. They were very responsive/helpful and sent me a new daily doser for free. My skin continued to react badly so my prescriber decreased the tret dosage yet again and I am now back down to 0.06%.

However my skin still doesn't seem to be tolerating it well. I am currently only using it every other day but my skin just doesn't look good. My make up sits on top of my skin like a mask, I always look slightly flushed and I actually think I look older than before I started using it. It's made no difference at all to my fine lines and wrinkles. I get that retinoids are a long term investment but on all the other threads I have read it seems that after a few months some people notice at least some positive change but it's been six months now and my face still looks like shit. Should I just give up? Can anyone give me some hope?

By the way I take good care of my skin, stick to a skincare routine and always use SPF when going outside.

I use dermatica, not Skin and Me. It improved my face a lot, I was struggling with acne and acne scars. I was using it every other day, but my skin also looks flake'y with make up on and my forehead seems to be dry and when I lift my eyebrows I can see more wrinkles ( I am 29). I will be trying to reduce it to maybe twice a week given that my skin improved a lot and invest money in some proper serum, but I have no idea which one.

I’m the same OP. I’ve managed to get up a bit higher in terms of dose than you have but that’s mainly through only using it every other night and applying a good layer of moisturiser first. Even then I can’t use it in the centre of my face without it getting very red and blotchy. I don’t use any other products other than a gentle cleanser and sunscreen so it’s pretty demoralising.

I had a similar situation. My acne was sorted, which was fantastic. The tretnwas making my skin red, flaky and stingy and this was months after starting. I decided I wasn’t seeing any benefit from the tret so I stopped. My skin has gone back to normal, but the acne is still gone too, which is great. I’ve bought some items from the Ordinary to try to improve further.

Thanks for the replies everyone. Interesting to see I'm not the only one. I always thought tret was this holy grail so I'm surprised to see it has the opposite effect for some people. I'm considering just cancelling it and buying some retinol from The Ordinary instead as I really rate their products. I did try their retinol before but accidentally bought the one in Squalane. It was too oily for me but it didn't irritate my skin the way the tret has so I may give one of their other retinol products a go.

@Appleseesaw

I had a similar situation. My acne was sorted, which was fantastic. The tretnwas making my skin red, flaky and stingy and this was months after starting. I decided I wasn’t seeing any benefit from the tret so I stopped. My skin has gone back to normal, but the acne is still gone too, which is great. I’ve bought some items from the Ordinary to try to improve further.

Wow this is great. This is my biggest fear that acne will come back. I need to come off this cream in a few months, because I'm planning to start trying for a baby and I am really scared that the nightmare of awful skin will start again :(

Perseverance, it can take many months to tolerate well. Try watching hotandflashy's YouTube videos on this. I

I had a terrible reaction to the ordinary retinol, even worse than skin and me tret. I ended up with a face covered in welts. I think my skin is still just very sensitive to retinoids. Completely agree that it’s annoying when you know it’s supposed to be the best thing

@Appleseesaw

I had a similar situation. My acne was sorted, which was fantastic. The tretnwas making my skin red, flaky and stingy and this was months after starting. I decided I wasn’t seeing any benefit from the tret so I stopped. My skin has gone back to normal, but the acne is still gone too, which is great. I’ve bought some items from the Ordinary to try to improve further.

Yes, exactly my experience too.

The original stuff they sent me sorted my skin out and I was very pleased. I then wanted different stuff towards my other skin aims. They didn't want to change it. But skin was incredibly dry. I asked twice. In the end I cancelled.

I'm still trying to get my skin back in shape after an awful reaction to dermatica allergic reaction, swelling, burns, hives and welts (after two months of consistent use) - they were zero help too, really unimpressed with them. Think they are verging on dangerous selling prescription-strength products with zero post-purchase care

I don't know anything about Skin and Me but if this is tretinoin, 0.06% is quite high and using it every other day is a lot. I've been using tretinoin for several years and I still only use 0.05% and my skin tolerates a lot. I do have 0.1% gel but only use than above my top lip because it just strips the skin.

I did quite a bit of research before I started tret and began by using otc retinols. Then went onto 0.025% tret. I used it just once a week, buffered under and over the top and only when my skin seemed OK to that, did I increase to 0.05%. Like I say, I've been using it for a few years but I never do more than three times a week because it will make my skin peel excessively.

Tretinoin is a long game. You've been using it for 5 months and although you should be seeing some improvement in your lines, it's still quite early days. But you really need to go at the speed that your skin can accommodate.

@Louisianagumbo

I don't know anything about Skin and Me but if this is tretinoin, 0.06% is quite high and using it every other day is a lot. I've been using tretinoin for several years and I still only use 0.05% and my skin tolerates a lot. I do have 0.1% gel but only use than above my top lip because it just strips the skin.

I did quite a bit of research before I started tret and began by using otc retinols. Then went onto 0.025% tret. I used it just once a week, buffered under and over the top and only when my skin seemed OK to that, did I increase to 0.05%. Like I say, I've been using it for a few years but I never do more than three times a week because it will make my skin peel excessively.

Tretinoin is a long game. You've been using it for 5 months and although you should be seeing some improvement in your lines, it's still quite early days. But you really need to go at the speed that your skin can accommodate.

Thank you, this is very helpful. I might try it every two days instead from now on and see if this helps before I think about cancelling.

Oops I've just looked at my prescription and it's 0.006% not 0.06%.

This happened to me and a friend. I had been using it for 6 months and had seen no improvement at all. My skin was tolerating it, but it felt a bit sore all the time. I started using it to treat hyperpigmentation. It had no effect whatsoever.
My friend used it for about 10 months. No change in her skin, but she came out in big red sores on her face. Skin and me were very good in that they sent her a lower strength doser straight away for free. However, the sores didn't heal until she stopped using it altogether. Both of us stopped using it.

I think ultimately we’re all different and have different skin so its dangerous to get swept along with what others are doing. For example, there was a time when everyone was using oils to cleanse and the logic was even if you had oily skin it was what you needed. But it definitely wasn’t for me.

It has taken me a few YEARS to be happy with using tretinoin. It did not give me any kind of immediate result, going through one skin cycle didn’t help. My skin looked worse before it looked better. It went dry, shiny, waxy, a mixture of all these. My skin would sting, or my eyes would. I couldn’t work out what the rest of my skincare routine should be, whether to reduce use or increase it. My make up wouldn’t sit right, my skin would dry up and start flaking off mid afternoon. Any spots I got seemed more deep than before and hard to extract. My already pale skin got even paler as the pigmentation went.

I kept going with it only because I’m using it for acne primarily (though 46) so not just as anti ageing. It has sorted out my spots which gives me so much confidence and saves me time with concealer. But, finally, it has also completely resurfaced my skin, including removing all my freckles (which I didn’t necessarily intend but I guess it is sun damage) and nearly all my blackheads and making it super soft and luminous and just generally healthy. And I don’t drink gallons of water or have good genes. I think there’s a lot of rubbish sold to us as we desperately try to slow the ageing process. Vitamin A is one of the few things proven to make a difference long term, and I think it is slowing down the ageing of my skin. And of course as SPF is compulsory that helps too.

I found Dr Sam Bunting’s videos and her Facebook group really useful.

DidgeDoolittle have you tried Dr Brightening serum for dark spots? I've been using it for hyperpigmentation/melasma for 3 months and it's doing a great job.

I gave it 11 months and gave up. It made no difference to my skin other than drying it out so my make-up looked awful. I’m using the Ordinary and an Estée Lauder night serum instead and having much better results.

How often do you use it? I use it only a couple of times a week.

similar here.
I gave up.
it made my face shiny, flaky, dry, wrinkly all at the same time.
back to a high street strength & weekly exfoliating. seems to work better for me.

It does pay off eventually but it takes a couple of years sometimes. You have to go really slow.

Don't ever apply it to wet/damp skin as it absorbs more quickly and leads to soreness and peeling a few days later.

Use a layer of Vaseline on your face in the evenings. It keeps the natural water in your face and you get less soreness. You can put usual creams and oils on first.

When at home, keep using moisturiser on your face to give it a drink and soothe it.

Pause other active ingredients (eg glycolic acid etc) until you're used to tret

Consider using a layer of moisturiser underneath the Tretinoin to buffer. This will slow the absorption and sort of dilute it so it's less harsh.

Remember there is a lag with the soreness. It's usually 3ish days later. So be careful about using it on consecutive days, thinking you're used to it.

@Want2beme

DidgeDoolittle have you tried Dr Brightening serum for dark spots? I've been using it for hyperpigmentation/melasma for 3 months and it's doing a great job.

I haven't. It looks good. The dermatologist I went to said that hydroquinone is the only thing that will reduce the hyperpigmentation. Where do you buy it from?

@Lavender24

Oops I've just looked at my prescription and it's 0.006% not 0.06%.

🤣🤣 Well, that makes more sense. I didn't like to say anything because I'm not an expert, but I did wonder what blinking strength they had you on to bring you DOWN to 0.06. Haha.

I'm not a medical person and my only experience is my usage of tretinoin, but I think 0.006 sounds very low. I wouldn't have thought that was much stronger than some retinoids. When I started I used something from ebay and then I read recommendations for Roc correxion night eye cream. It definitely had an effect and improved the appearance of the lines round my eyes. I also think it helped build up some skin tolerance. Of course, carrying on with your skin + me would build up tolerance too, so it's really a judgement call.

I do know some YouTube, who swear by tretinoin, sometimes, despite all the improvements they see, give up for a year or so because they get tired of the flakiness. My advice is either go for a retinol which is less effective but you can use more often. Or carry on with the tret but buffer it underneath and on top and cut down the number of times you use it per week.

Sorry for jumping on this post, i just want to say I’ve recently paused my subscription with skin+me as my skin has been terrible lately - I’m unsure whether it’s the tret strength or the niacinamide that’s breaking me out. (Heard niacinamide doesn’t agree with everyone). I have acne prone skin & have suffered for years. To begin with skin+me was working however the past couple of months I’ve seemed to hit a brick wall with it & I’m seeing no improvement - if anything my skin has got worse again.

I wanted to know those that have mentioned The Ordinary above - what products are you using? I’m considering buying one of their retinoid’s & giving it a try. Which one is the best to start on?

I've been using Tretinol 0.1 gel only for a week but it seems to have made my acne worse. My chin was doing ok but I'm having another breakout since applying the gel every other day. Does it get worse before it gets better?

I contacted Skin and Me and told them what I've been experiencing. Received a reply saying they will remove the tret from my prescription for now so it will just be azelaic acid and niacinamide. Since tret is the whole reason I signed up in the first place I'm just going to cancel and I've ordered a load of stuff from The Ordinary instead (works out cheaper) and I'm going to Superdrug on the way home to buy some of that Roc eye cream that someone upthread recommended. Thanks for the replies everyone, you've all been very helpful.