Retin A creating open pores and bad texture
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Fri Feb 17, 2012 10:19 pm

Hi everyone,

I was prescribed .0025 Retin a cream about about 5 months ago. I actually had amazing results within the first month...I feel my skin never looked as good as it did then. However, after around the third month I noticed my pores getting huge on my cheeks where I used to have invisible pores/ orange peel texture as well as redness on my cheeks. I have stopped using it. I have been off of it for about 3 weeks or so. I have bought some emu oil, and am sure to use sunscreen everyday. (Also, for the record I used Retin A properly...pea size amount at night, always wore sunscreen, etc)

My question is, has this happened to others, and will the skin be able to regenerate/heal? If so, how long do you think it will take to rebound to the state it was before? I already have noticed the redness subsiding, which is good...and I also feel the texture may already be slightly better. Its pretty depressing since I never had texture/pore issues before retin A. Any thoughts?

Fri Feb 17, 2012 10:22 pm

Oh, by the way I am a 23 year old male

free skin care · Fri Feb 17, 2012 11:35 pm

Occasionally some people report this occurence but I think it will resolve itself. Pores appearing large and open are caused by a loss of collagen -- now Retin-a actually boosts collagen but obviously not overnight so I think your skin is probably in the repairing/recovering stages and will continue to improve.

Me, I had the opposite thing going on - very enlarged pores/orange peel looking skin caused by botched laser and I've been using Retin-a and it has improved it greatly. Like before it was so bad I felt very self-conscious about going ANYWHERE - and now I have the confidence to go out again Wink

Sat Feb 18, 2012 1:09 pm

thank you for the response. I hope you are right. Retin a confuses me. I know it is supposed to help with texture/pores and increase collegen production. very confusing if it is causing the opposite..

free skin care · Sat Feb 18, 2012 2:02 pm

evol wrote:

thank you for the response. I hope you are right. Retin a confuses me. I know it is supposed to help with texture/pores and increase collegen production. very confusing if it is causing the opposite..

It's been known to make pores and depressed scars more visible, as it reduces top layers of skin. At age 23, you likely don't have enlarged pores due to collagen loss. You may want to choose a different skin treatment and stop the tretinoin.

free skin care · Sat Feb 18, 2012 2:18 pm

Well for me I've only experienced negative effects of Retin-a when I have overused it - so now I use it very conservatively every 2-3 nights. I've been using it on and off for 15 years.

Sat Feb 18, 2012 3:23 pm

EthelM wrote:

evol wrote:

thank you for the response. I hope you are right. Retin a confuses me. I know it is supposed to help with texture/pores and increase collegen production. very confusing if it is causing the opposite..

It's been known to make pores and depressed scars more visible, as it reduces top layers of skin. At age 23, you likely don't have enlarged pores due to collagen loss. You may want to choose a different skin treatment and stop the tretinoin.

Yes that makes sense. It has made a tiny scar that I didn't even know existed show up also. I know it thins out the stratum corneum, so maybe that is why my pores have become so visible now? they were just hiding under my top layer of skin before? Well if thats the case I should just have to wait until the stratum corneum thickens again, right? does anyone know how long it takes for that part of the skin to grow back? just so I can have some sort of time table for what the range of normal regeneration would be....

free skin care · Sun Feb 19, 2012 6:28 pm

I think you are perhaps using too much. A little goes a long way.... and you must have patience. Beautiful skin never happen overnight. Takes some time and once you achieve it, you have to maintain the results....

evol wrote:

Hi everyone,

I was prescribed .0025 Retin a cream about about 5 months ago. I actually had amazing results within the first month...I feel my skin never looked as good as it did then. However, after around the third month I noticed my pores getting huge on my cheeks where I used to have invisible pores/ orange peel texture as well as redness on my cheeks. I have stopped using it. I have been off of it for about 3 weeks or so. I have bought some emu oil, and am sure to use sunscreen everyday. (Also, for the record I used Retin A properly...pea size amount at night, always wore sunscreen, etc)

My question is, has this happened to others, and will the skin be able to regenerate/heal? If so, how long do you think it will take to rebound to the state it was before? I already have noticed the redness subsiding, which is good...and I also feel the texture may already be slightly better. Its pretty depressing since I never had texture/pore issues before retin A. Any thoughts?

free skin care · Mon Feb 20, 2012 5:04 am

EthelM wrote:

It's been known to make pores and depressed scars more visible, as it reduces top layers of skin. At age 23, you likely don't have enlarged pores due to collagen loss. You may want to choose a different skin treatment and stop the tretinoin.

It's also known to reduce pores and scars - I think it really, really comes down to how it's used. From every Retin-a disaster I have read, when you get to truth of the matter you always discover it was a case of over-zealous use no matter how conservatively the user swears they used it Wink

People just dont want to admit they have misused it and want to blame the product instead.

As I've mentioned it has definitely helped reduce my pores and it has helped CONSIDERABLY with scarring I had too Wink

Mon Feb 20, 2012 4:22 pm

I believe it has helped people but I can see from reading other people's experiences as well as my own that it can really cause unwanted effects on your skin. Maybe it is from overdoing it... I was using a pea size amount every night after the few first weeks of using it every other day. Maybe my face just isn't suited for it everyday. Like I said, at first it honestly made my texture cole look great...but I am still kids freaking out about the pores and texture it's given me... It seems like its a consensus that it will resolve itself in time, especially since I'm young?

Mon Feb 20, 2012 5:47 pm

I can relate to what Evol is writing and I have the same questions, thought my case is much worse I think. I was put on the Obagi 0.1 Tretonoin cream 6 months ago and and have been using it every day until last week, when I couldn't bare it anymore. After 6 months every day use, it looks like my skin is destroyed. I have much bigger pores than I used to, the texture of the skin is rough like pavement (never had it like that before) and it looks like I have more wrinkles, rather than less. The acne (which is why I was put on it) is not exactly gone either and now my face has much more scars than I've ever had, after breaking out more than usual when starting with the cream. This just cannot be right. I've stuck with the cream because whatever I read it says that you have to put up with the bad before it gets better but it also says everywhere that after six months one should reach the ultimate results. Well... in my case, it feels like the cream has destroyed my skin rather than healing it. Even though I'm using a pea-size amount as my doctor advised, I feel it's too much for my skin. At the same time my doctor is telling me to increase the dose even further by introducing a blender into the mix. I just don't trust her anymore. She also put me on an AHA cream for the morning to exfoliate which I used for the first four months but then stopped because of too much dryness.

I don't know, perhaps it's just me but can anyone report similar experiences? Or perhaps some of you might have a suggestion as to what I can do to heal my skin now that I've stopped using tretinoin?

thanks so much.

free skin care · Mon Feb 20, 2012 6:23 pm

Retin-A side effects are common. Rough skin and redness generally means inflammation.

I just posted this on another forum. Scroll down to p.343 to see side effects discussion.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2699641/pdf/cia-1-327.pdf

Mon Feb 20, 2012 8:24 pm

Thank you for that article. It is interesting. However, under the side effects information I didn't see anything about inflammation or texture issues..I have read online that retin a can cause these problems due to inflammation though...

free skin care · Tue Feb 21, 2012 9:48 am

evol wrote:

Thank you for that article. It is interesting. However, under the side effects information I didn't see anything about inflammation or texture issues..I have read online that retin a can cause these problems due to inflammation though...

The inflammation is actually part of the drug's mechanism of action. Part of the reason as to why it helps reduce the appearance of wrinkles is because it has an ever-so-slight inflammatory effect that causes the skin to swell/plump up a bit to reduce the signs of fine lines. Of course, too much of it can induce a larger inflammatory response and lead to the side effects that you may be experiencing. So my advice is to adjust your dosage regimen until you get optimal results

Wed Feb 22, 2012 4:42 am

oasisjc wrote:

evol wrote:

Thank you for that article. It is interesting. However, under the side effects information I didn't see anything about inflammation or texture issues..I have read online that retin a can cause these problems due to inflammation though...

The inflammation is actually part of the drug's mechanism of action. Part of the reason as to why it helps reduce the appearance of wrinkles is because it has an ever-so-slight inflammatory effect that causes the skin to swell/plump up a bit to reduce the signs of fine lines. Of course, too much of it can induce a larger inflammatory response and lead to the side effects that you may be experiencing. So my advice is to adjust your dosage regimen until you get optimal results

Thanks for your response. I would bet that that is exactly what happend to me. Like I've been saying it was going great until these inflammatory responses starting coming on....now i'm just trying to recover. My skin may just be really sensitive, but you obviously otta be really careful with this stuff. It seems some of the side effects of this inflammation is already subsiding a bit. My skin looks slightly better so I hope it keeps going in the right direction and maybe i'll be able to use some form of retin a after I fully heal. I guess what I'm looking for are some more responses that will give me insight to if there will be any permanent damage texture/pore wise or otherwise that I should be aware of. Can retin a cause permanent damage to the skin due to inflammation? Or do things like this eventually take care of themselves with rest and proper care? My dermatologist didn't tell me of the risks and possible inflammation problems someone can have while using this...

Fri Mar 16, 2012 6:29 am

Hi All-I've been on RetinA 0.5g for about 3 months now - i've always had an oily tzone, but more dehydrated at sides of face. I've found that my pores are much more noticeable since I started using the RetinA, as well having more blocked pores, although conversely, my skin feels somewhat softer. It's a complete pain, as once where it was difficult to cover my nose with foundation, now it's almost impossible without the telltale dots jumping out at me. I'm also going to persevere like most people, however I just want to add that I used Neostrata for about a year, and although I found my tzone still to be oily, my pores became almost invisible and my skin was extremely clean up close, in what i call my "devil mirror" (x 10 magnification)!! www.DermTV.com is an excellent source of skincare information, and the dermatologist who runs this site swears by glycolic products - so maybe it might be worth switching regimes for those who have given up hope!

Sun Mar 25, 2012 2:56 pm

Evol, I had the same thing happen to me, but it was with a different brand...Skinceuticals 0.5 retinol serum and I used 1.0 for about a week and my skin was/is disastrous! I haven't used it in about 2 months and I am seeing a little improvement in some of my enormous pores, but it caused scarring/dents in areas of my cheeks! I only used the retinol product for a little over a month in december. (I was barely out in the sun)..Alot of other people have experienced this problem throughout my manic research...It could take a few months for the problem to go away and from many peoples advice that have given to me is to try not to use anything harsh for a while and let it heal. I'm going to a derm tomorrow, just to get a piece of mind and maybe get an antibiotic because I have clogged pores/blackheads esp. on my forehead from stopping use. Here is another link of a forum you can see other people discussing the same problem, You can see my horrendous picture as well..it won't let me post the link but if you google retin a toxic there is a website (ipldamagelaser support) and you can view the posts on there...

I took that picture about a month ago...i feel like my collagen might be slowly plumping back up, I'm 26...27 in a month so you can only know how traumatized I have been for the past few months. Hope this helps.

Tue Mar 27, 2012 12:22 am

I had the same "problem" with retin a myself and i was on it for like 6 months? I had noticeable improvement within 2 but after that well not so much. I went back to it more and more little by little and my skin over the next 3 months go terribly worse.

I stopped completely and use cp's now.. which arent being nice either but so far things are getting slowly better.

free skin care · Thu Mar 29, 2012 6:06 am

evol wrote:

Thanks for your response. I would bet that that is exactly what happend to me. Like I've been saying it was going great until these inflammatory responses starting coming on....now i'm just trying to recover. My skin may just be really sensitive, but you obviously otta be really careful with this stuff. It seems some of the side effects of this inflammation is already subsiding a bit. My skin looks slightly better so I hope it keeps going in the right direction and maybe i'll be able to use some form of retin a after I fully heal. I guess what I'm looking for are some more responses that will give me insight to if there will be any permanent damage texture/pore wise or otherwise that I should be aware of. Can retin a cause permanent damage to the skin due to inflammation?

Like people said here, Retin-A is irritating to the skin. Now if you keep the irritation to a minimum, the skin looks good. If the skin gets irritated, then it will appear reddish, rough and with enlarged pores. So the key is to go very slow and back off whenever we see irritation. In my case, it has taken me 3 years to be able to use Retin-A every day and still I don't use it absolutely every day. There's at least one day per week that I hold it because I think my skin is looking a bit irritated.

You could try Retin-A micro (which delivers the tretinoin more slowly), or Renova and see if it works for you.

Most of the inflammation caused by Retin-A should go away. However in people with rosaces (esp. the erythematous-telangiectatic type, i.e. the one where people have broken capillaries), if the skin gets too irritated with Retin-A they might develop new capillaries and those won't disappear (unless you do IPL or vascular laser or something)

free skin care · Thu Mar 29, 2012 11:18 am

Josee wrote:

However in people with rosaces (esp. the erythematous-telangiectatic type, i.e. the one where people have broken capillaries), if the skin gets too irritated with Retin-A they might develop new capillaries and those won't disappear (unless you do IPL or vascular laser or something)

I don't have roseacea but that area of my face is a bit red so I only use retin A on the outer areas of my face and only every other day at the most.

Wed Apr 04, 2012 11:53 am

Whatever you do DO NOT...get any type of laser or IPL. There have been many people that have had fatloss, acceleratted ageing and so much more health problems including depression. If you google IPL Laser damage or even do research you will see pictures and stories of people harmed. I would even try to stear clear from chemical peels. I've been using extra virgin coconut oil to just cleanse and even moisturize on my face. It might take some time for your pores get back to normal so please don't go crazy with more retinol or treatments because you could make things worse. trust me i over did it with products and retinol and my skin was not close to what it looks like now. It's a slow improvement but it is..give yourself time.

free skin care · Sat Apr 07, 2012 3:55 pm

My personal experience with Retin-A 0.05% cream was initially great (increased circulation, reduction of pores, tightening) but eventually, even with 3x week use at night only it left my skin lifeless looking and dried looking, no matter what else I used with it to undo the dryness. Buffering 1:1 with a neutral cream or oil still didnt work for me.

I switched to other retinoids (retinaldehyde and retinol) and this seems to be a better fit FOR ME as far as smoothing, toning, and general overall healthy look and feel of my skin.

Sun Apr 08, 2012 1:57 pm

I went to the derm and they gave me samples of tazarac .5 cream and acezone .5 but im too scared to use any of it on my damaged parts. my skin is slowly...improving. I just use natural oils/coconut oil...sometimes grapeseed to cleanse and restore moisture to my skin. It gave me scars/dents/enlarged looking (some abmormal) looking pores that i did NOT have prior to use. It's still scary, but seeing some improvement gives me hope. I've been just applying a little bit (tiny tiny..) of the taz on my blackhead clogged nose. Kinda scared to use it anywhere else. BTW, I used skinceuticals 0.5 retinol cream and 1.0 for a week and then it happened. The crazy texture

Fri Aug 10, 2012 2:06 pm

I had horrible skin after using Retin A and after 18 months of being totally depressed as a result have finally found a solution. Here’s my story…

I’m 35 years old and have fair, fine, sensitive skin. About two years ago, as a result of severe stress caused by illness, my skin seemed to age overnight. The lines that were barely noticeable since they first formed in my mid- to late-twenties suddenly looked a lot deeper. When I looked in the mirror, all I could see were lines / wrinkles. I felt horrible about myself and decided to do something about it.

Prior to this, I knew little to nothing about skincare. I had always made do with just the basics – moisturizer and sunscreen and had taken my clear problem-free skin pretty much for granted. I did lots of research online and visited a dermatologist before finally getting a prescription for the lowest percentage Retin A. So many people said this was the only thing proven to get rid of lines/wrinkles so I was excited to try it. I understood that it would take time to see results and that my skin might look worse before it looked better.

I was very careful to use Retin A only once a week at first and build up to twice, then three times a week over time, also to wait 30 minutes after washing my face before applying it, and of course to continue to use sunscreen / avoid the sun altogether. After about two months, and little or not change to my skin, I purchased a series of gentle chemical peels. After the first or second peel, all this exfoliation started to take its toll. My skin became very dry and dehydrated. My original lines looked deeper and I developed additional lines.

Before I began treatment, I’d had lines only under my eyes and nasolobial lines, running down each side of my mouth. After a couple of months of Retin A, my expression lines were so much worse. Whenever I smiled, I would get these fine lines running down my cheeks from my eyes, and appearing on each side of my mouth and extending out across my cheeks all the way to the edge of my face. Hardly any of my skin was smooth and line-free anyore. It was horrendous.

Again I turned to skin forums and everyone said these were just the uglies and if I kept up with the Retin A, this phase would pass and I would have lovely clear and smooth skin. Well this never happened. I stopped going for chemical peels altogether (though I’d already paid for a series of five, I only had two) and for a while wavered between using Retin A once a week and not using it at all. When I stopped using Retin A, my skin would improve slightly but whenever I used it again, it would get worse – I kept trying it in the hope that it would exfoliate away this horrible lined skin but that never happened.

Eventually, six months after starting with Retin A, I stopped using it altogether and threw away the tube. That was definitely the best decision I ever made. I really believe that if I’d continued to use it, I would look like an 80-year-old by now! I know Retin A is a miracle for some people and works wonderfully on many different skin types. But for me, and perhaps others with fine, sensitive skin, it’s a huge no-no and can cause lasting damage. The difficulty is that when my skin was deteriorating, I didn’t realize I was damaging it and thought this was just the “ugly stage”. Also my dermatologist kept telling me this phase would pass, and recommended that I continue with the chemical peels.

I’ve read so many stories online of other users who had a similar experience but when they reported the damage to their dermatologist, were dismissed as if it were IMPOSSIBLE that Retin A could have damaged their skin and that it must be their fault for using it incorrectly or a result of natural aging. The truth is that Retin A is damaging to some people and dermatologists need to accept / admit this instead of prescribing Retin A as a one-size-fits-all treatment.

Anyway, after stopping Retin A, I went through a phase for a few months of trying every product and serum imaginable to get rid of the mess that my skin was now in but not surprisingly, this only made things worse. I now know it’s best to introduce one product at a time so your skin has time to adjust to it. A few months later, I decided to be very gentle with my skin and use only natural oils in the hope that it would repair over time. I sprayed with a toner (rose water with a few drops of glycerin) and then applied Rose Hip Seed Oilevery morning and night. This repaired some of the damage and led to a very even skin tone. But my skin was still extremely dehydrated and lined.

If I pinched my skin, it looked like orange peel and if I contorted my face, the lines that formed would still be visible for a few minutes after my face relaxed. Also the expression lines were still longer and deeper than they had been before I started with Retin A and there were still lots of fine lines that gave my skin an aged look. I really believed the damage I’d done by using Retin A / doing chemical peels was permanent. This caused me a lot of stress. There were times I didn’t want to leave the house because I felt so self-conscious. I regretted so much the decision to ever go near Retin A and wished with all my heart that I could turn back time and do things differently.

About a month ago, I decided to try something new. Since going ‘natural’, I had been taking fish oil and evening primrose supplements. I like the idea of taking supplements and repairing skin from the inside. I knew that the reason skin breaks down and wrinkles form is that the body starts producing less collagen past the age of 25. So it made sense to me that if you could increase the levels of collagen in your body, your skin would improve as a result. I did lots of reading and also found out about hyaluronic acid, which is supposedly great for dehydrated skin. People had mixed results using both products, but on the basis of some glowing reviews and having nothing to lose, I decided to give them a go.

For the past two months, I have been taking Neocell Fish Collage with HA (two morning and two night) and Source Naturals Skin Eternal Hyaluronic acid (two twice a day) and have just started using a moisturizer called Elastica Bounce back cream (morning and night after toner). And wow!!! My skin is back to how it was before I started using Retin A, and maybe even a little better. The fine lines have all FILLED OUT AND DISAPPEARED. My skin is plump and glowing and the dehydrated look is gone. I could cry with relief, I’m so happy. Finally my two years of skin nightmare is over and the transformation happened so suddenly, it truly feels like a miracle. I never expected my skin to look this good again. I absolutely appreciate the skin that I have and will never allow anything harsh near it ever again.

I promised that if I ever found a solution to my wrinkled, dehydrated skin that I would share it with others in the hope that it would help them too. If you have thin, sensitive skin, please think twice before using any harsh chemicals. And if you’re skin is damaged and dehydrated like mine was, please give the supplements a go. I really hope they do for you what they did for me. Thanks for taking the time to read my story!

free skin care · Fri Aug 10, 2012 9:25 pm

skindeep77 wrote:

I had horrible skin after using Retin A and after 18 months of being totally depressed as a result have finally found a solution. Here’s my story…
....and have just started using a moisturizer called Elastica Bounce back cream (morning and night after toner)...

Wow! What a fixating testimonial. Have to ask : what's a back cream?

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