Acne - Obagi vs Skin&Me vs Dermatica

[colouroftherainbow]

I wanted to ask personal experiences of using tret from Obagi and Skin&Me or Dermatica. How do they compare? Is Obagi a much more superior product as the price is ££££?

For background, I used tret pretty consistently before I had children. My skin was clear for a while after so I did not restart but I have cystic hormonal acne which started a year ago and topical tret from the GP does not touch it (does not help that the strength is also much lower than I previously used to have). I have been using the Obagi acne system but will probably need to add in tret due to the areas of skin affected and pigmentation I am experiencing.

Wondering if I can get away with using the Skin&Me/Dermatica formulations of tret instead of Obagi as the cost of it all is eye-watering

I exclusively use ZO. It's far better than the other brands you note because it's medical grade.

However, I would see a specialist who can tell you how to layer the ZO products to get the best results. If you're in London, I can give you two clinics I recommend.

Also, on your pigmentation issue, are you mixing the tret with hydroquinone blender? The latter is what pushes the pigment up and out

I'm not in the UK but from what I can tell with other people's experiences with the subscription prescription services is that they seem milder and easier to tolerate. I don't think it's false advertising but probably something in the formulation that makes it easier to tolerate but that'll probably reduce some of its effect. It's not really an issue as strength tends not to be pivotal for anti-aging, rather regular use. That's different when it comes to acne and if you sign up with the prescription services they're probably more likely to put you on adapalene than tretinoin and even if you ask them put you on tret they'll slowly build up the strength so it's probably not ideal in your case.

I don't usually recommend people to buy tret from the online pharmacies as it's not the best path if you're unfamiliar with what is essentially a medicine and requires some medical supervision/support but since that's not really your case that's probably the cheapest and most effective route. You can get the strength and carrier (cream or gel) which you prefer and it's usually about the price for a month's subscription for a tube.

@MoiraRosesOtherDaughter thank you. Both tret and blender have been recommended to me but I have not started either yet. I will start hydroquinone when the breakouts are completely under control

Thanks @botemp. I thankfully know what strength I need, was mostly wondering if there is any difference in the efficacy of both as they all are medical grade and prescription only

Well as it's a medicine the strength on the box has to be the as advertised regardless of who makes it, it's a lot stricter than cosmetics. So in theory they should be the same but formulation does make a difference, tret in gel form tends to be a lot more full on and only really gets used for severe acne.

The big difference with buying it from a pharmacy/obagi and the subscription service is that they decide on strength and tend to slowly build you up to a strength and they only have one formulation so it's limited in that sense. It's good for people new to it who want it for anti ageing but probably less ideal in your circumstances.

“Medical grade”. Nope that’s marketing guff. The other two are prescription only products so are also ‘medical grade’ in the sense that you need to have someone medically trained to prescribe them for you and they contain regulated ingredients.

Obagi is a rip off. It might’ve made sense when it was the only way you could access prescription strength tretinoin in the UK but these days it is daft to pay it.

@botemp I completely agree with your perspective and am of the thought that a 0.05% tret gel should have same effect whether obagi brand or prescribed from GP…however, gel from GP prescription just didnt touch my acne. I was on 0.1% gel pre pregnancy which was effective.

I’ve read many places obagi formulation is different and more effective due to molecular size - whether that’s marketing or fact is what I cannot figure out. Obagi benzoyl peroxide is 5% strength, costs best part of £100 and prescription only vs same strength sold as pharmacy only for less than £10. I’m trying to work out what part of the Obagi one makes it prescription only and why the huge cost difference. Thought I’d see if anyone has tried both and noticed a difference

If I go down route of Dermatica etc, I’ll be making it very clear what strength I need and that if they cannot give that strength and want me to work up, I will cancel as I know how to start it gently

Obagi has changed my skin completely and I absolutely love it. Life changing.

@DeadBugMountainClimber prescription strength tret from GP was much better 5 years ago than is now for treatment of acne. There are no 0.1% products available any more

I am still very much on the fence about whether Obagi is all marketing or something special though

Thanks @TheWitche. If you don’t mind me asking, what was your skin problem, what did you try before and what Obagi products do you use?