Prescription Skincare (tretinoin etc) - my findings - Uncouth for the win?

[AntiqueMaps]

Hello

I was using Dermatica but they are having "warehouse issues" and my next delivery is going to be at least a month late so I decided to switch provider.

Skin & Me - didn't like their service (or lack thereof). I'm on 0.1% tret and they wanted to start me off on 0.0009%! They eventually agreed otherwise by email and said they'd give me a discount for the first 3 months. None of this was showing on my online account. Customer Service emails were rubbish - v slow to respond and just cut & paste rather than addressing the problem. I cancelled in irritation and they unilaterally reinstigated my subscription. I had to cancel it again!

Klira - very odd. Asked about 100 bizarre "woo" questions which I got hacked off with long before they revealed what prescription I'd be getting and the price.

Uncouth - pleasantly surprised by these guys. Just a few easy questions, they tell you right away what they will prescribe and it's not homeopathic like Skin & Me! Convenient messaging portal. Planning to go ahead with these guys. Works out £25/m.

Medik8 - one to try if any issues again. I suspect expensive tho.

(When I say "homepathic" I don't mean that literally but Skin & Me insist on starting you on such low tret and increasing it so slowly that it practically IS homeopathy!)

Do yoi work for Uncouth this isn’t very subtle 😂

Yeah I knew someone would say that. No I don't work for them, not that you will probably believe me. My main motivation actually is just to tell you how crap Dermatica and Skin & Me have been recently.

I've not yet decided whether to actually go ahead with Uncouth - I have messaged them to ask them to tweak their proposed prescription so will wait to see how quickly/how well they respond to that.

Ie they are proposing 0.1% tret, 4% azelaic, 4% niacidimide and hyaluronic acid.

I want a higher % azelaic (albeit I don't think they will give me that) and I'd prefer tranexamic acid (I have a couple of age spots) to N and HA. So will see what they say to that.

I’m with Dermatica and not had any issues at all. The warehouse issues are supposed to be sorted now, I am due some this week and they tell me it’s been shipped so finger crossed it has. I think it will be fine though now as it does state shipped.

@AntiqueMaps I’m with Dermatica and not had any issues at all?
I’m on Tretinoin 0.1%/ Azelaic acid 15%/ Tranexamic acid 5% so it is offered.
I agree re Skin&me, very odd experience of customer service.

I'm with Dermatica not had any issues with delivery, strange. I do the annual payments so it only costs about £17 per 5 weeks.
Have heard good things about uncouth though. But happy with Dermatica overall.

I have just cancelled my Skin&Me subscription - 3 months in @£25/month on such a low dose and zero impact - I probs would be better off putting it towards Botox.

I agree on the homeopathy dose! What % should I be aiming for and @Bryce how do you get your Derm down to £17/month

@BambiBambi44 that's the exact prescription I was on with Dermatica. 0.1 tret, 15% azelaic and 5% tranexamic acid. Works well for me. But yeah I'm just not prepared to continue when I have no way of knowing if these "warehouse issues" will recur and when their customer service was so shit during that time. They took my money, my account said the item was "being prepared" (or something) for ages and I had to email THEM to ask what was going on to then be fobbed off with excuses. They clearly hoped to get away with taking the money and indefinitely not providing the item. Was a rigmarole to cancel and get a refund as well. Hopefully hear back today on whether Uncouth can tweak the proposed prescription their computer spat out last night.

BTW one way to get a discount is every few months click the "thinking of cancelling" button. I would never trust Dermatica with a large payment upfront!

Also Skin & Me - no one gives a fuck about a metal tube with one's name engraved thereon! Try and focus on better customer service first of all! And clinically significant doses of actives!

Dermatica should have proactively sent an email to all affected customers alerting them re the issue, apologising and giving an ETA. They failed to do so, hoping to get away with it. Very shabby.

My Skin&Me is 0:01% tret after 3 months - what % should I be aiming for?

I want to use up the ones I have - would putting it on x2 a day have more impact?

I've just cancelled my Dermatica prescription as they told lies. They said they'd looked at my photo and gave me a new prescription. I hadn't sent photos. Also the fact the suddenly tell you they are taking the money and the cream is sent out several days later. I wanted to be able to halt my orders.

Anyway I'll watch this as I am interested in a new provider too.

@Trinner the normal starting dose of tret is 0.025%. Some move up to 0.05% after a few months. Some then go onto 0.1%. You might not have to or be able to. Be careful you're putting the zeros in the right place as the doses are confusing! You eventually want to be using your dose every night. Maybe with moisturiser before and/or afterwards.

@Beesarestrong I would describe Dermatica in general as giving an impression of dishonesty. And I would describe Skin & Me as incompetent.

Still waiting for a msg back from Uncouth, appreciate I'm probably a bit impatient. I note they have put a hold on my card for £48 which is the cost without discount so not 100% chuffed about that, esp when I haven't even decided I'm defo going ahead!

The only good thing about Dermatica is that they give 15% azelaic with 0.1 tret. Most other providers seem to give max 4% azelaic when combined with ANY level of tret.

(£48 is for TWO months supply before anyone starts to think they are super expensive!)

Aha - Uncouth have replied. Msg below. apparently you need to keeping going into your dashboard to check for msgs, they don't email you.
I'm happy with their suggestion. I won't be doing hydroquinone tho, both Dr Sam Bunting and Dr Dray say that has some "nuances" and needs to be done under proper direction. My 2 sunspots are barely visible and should hopefully go with continued use of tranexamic acid.

Additionally, I will keep using the 15% azelaic acid I get free from the GP here in Scotland!

Hi, unfortunately we do not currently formulate the tret with 15% AZA in order to ensure optimal product stability. Our medical team has suggested the following : Tret 0.1%/TXA 5%/AZA 4%/Hyaluronic acid 0.25%. We do also formula with hydroquinone 6% if required or alternatively have a separate bottle of hydroquinone available as spot treatment.

My mistake - Uncouth have put a hold on my card for £38 not £48, which is the correct amount.

Yes, happy so far with these guys. Let's see how long it takes for product to be dispatched etc.

And let's hope they don't have any "warehouse issues".

I'm not planning to change my prescription, this should be me for the long haul so it should really be straightforward.

@AntiqueMaps please could I ask what your requirements were when you got your prescription from Dermatica? I’m thinking about trying them (or perhaps Uncouth if your experience is good!) and wondering how specific I need to be. I do suffer with acne on and off, I have redness (mild rosacea I would say, I don’t have the bumps etc), and fine lines (in 45). Don’t want to be too vague and end up with a fluffy prescription which does nothing, equally though, I also don’t want to burn my face off 😅

@Goldleafcat yes no problem. Sounds like you and I are identical! I'm early 40s. A few fine lines and a touch of rosacea on the nose, like you, redness rather than bumps. (so azelaic acid required rather than ivermectin)

I don't recall having to give tons of details. Just ticked boxes and uploaded photos. It's Skin&Me that will give you a fluffy prescription, not Dermatica. Make sure you get a discount code from somewhere. Hope it works well for you!

Thank you this is really helpful!

I have a red nose. I feel like it belongs to an 80 year old farmer who drinks a bottle of whiskey a day.

@Goldleafcat pleasure! God I know the feeling. I don't even drink but used to look like an alcoholic with a red nose. I'm very pale (Scottish/Celtic skin) so I think that showed up the redness a lot.

With Dermatica I had to do an online questionnaire and send some photos. Then they take your payment details and email you what your prescription will be. Start off low u til you are used to it. I found that whenever I wanted to increase or decrease in strength I emailed them and they were helpful and agreed or suggested adding something to the formula. They send it monthly but you can also put a hold on it if you don’t use it every night and have spare and tell them when you do want it delivering, they also halt that months payment to the date you request too.

if you do go with them please don’t pay full price first. Everyone who uses it has a code they can give to refer somebody meaning you get your first month £10 cheaper. Feel free to use my code if you want the discount. Just for transparency though if you do use
mine, or anyone else’s then they also get a discount off their next month prescription.

My code is below. You can either enter it at checkout or use the link below to start your order.
Discount code: 5EW47R

https://www.dermatica.co.uk/referrer/5EW47R

I find https://www.farmaciaenandorra.com/shop/ to be fab, and by far the cheapest option. Their website is easily translatable into English.
Dur yo a change in the law, they no longer advertise the tret openly on their website, but you are directed to email them with your order. They send you a payment link and tret arrives a week later.
Im in Ireland so I don’t know if that makes a difference. Tubes of tret are €20 each, and they have loads of other creams. One tube lasts me at least 4 months. Postage is €10 so I buy a few at a time.

My tret 0.1 costs £5 for a tube that lasts for months (brand Menarini) from an online pharmacy. There's also £15 p&p because it ships from India, but you can buy 3 tubes for the same p&p. I don't know why people bother with these complicated subscription sites.