Retin A creating open pores and bad texture
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Mon Apr 29, 2013 7:44 pm

Kash wrote:

Hey Mew,

Would you mind giving me a summary of what the email from Psoria Gold said about laser/chemical damage. I got a response but it only discussed use during pregnancy.

Thanks!
Katie

Hi there, this is what the lady at the Psoria Gold customer services wrote:-

Let me explain to you what happens under the skin after a chemical peel, or laser procedure, and also how topically applied curcumin works to give you a better idea of how our product can help your skin. Anytime you do a procedure that causes the skin to inflame, peel, shed the top layers, or expose it to heat or laser, your skin becomes injured. The purpose is to force the dead layers to shed prematurely in order to reveal newer healthier skin underneath. There are a number of factors that contribute to whether you have success with the procedure such as genetics, condition of your skin prior to the procedure, the nature of the procedure itself, as well as how well it was administered, etc. In any case, they are all injurious to the in skin. Anytime your skin is injured, an enzyme called phosphorylase kinase is released 5 minutes after injury. This enzyme is responsible for initiating the inflammatory response which can result in inflammation, pain, redness, scarring, hyperpigmentation, hypopigmentation, loss of elasticity, and sometimes textural changes.

Curcumin gel is a phosphorylase kinase inhibitor. It blocks the enzyme that initiates the inflammatory response and prevents the skin from reacting to the injury. Curcumin is also a "selective" molecule in that it binds to the injured cells, while leaving the healthy cells alone. Over time, as the elevated levels of ph-K enzyme decrease, so does the percentage of damaged cells vs healthy cells. Eventually there will be only healthy cells, in which your skin will normalize. Curcumin is the only phosphorylase kinase inhibitor that we know of, as well as one of the only anti-inflammatory that does not have the side effects of prescription anti-inflammatory such as cortisone and topical steroids.

So the key to improving the texture of the skin is blocking the release of ph-K, which occurs even months after initial injury. Once we do that, we can allow your skin to heal normally without the textural changes and loss of elasticity. At times, the "volume" of the skin may appear to have reduced. The reason for this is elevated levels of ph-K result in loss of collagen (and inability to retain moisture resulting in loss of volume). You cannot apply a cream containing collagen, your skin will not retain it. The only way to improve your skin's collagen levels is to reduce the levels of the ph-K enzyme.

As far as the larger pores, that is due to both inflammation of the pore opening, causing the pores to swell and appear larger. This will improve over time as long there are aren't other factors contributing to the swelling such as sebaceous hyperplasia which is swelling of the pores due to lactose intolerance and/or over production of oil due to stress, alcohol, and hormonal changes.[/size]

I received my order today. Have you started using it yet? Was it a chemical peel that caused your skin to change? How long ago did it happen?

Mew

Wed Jul 03, 2013 10:00 pm

Hi everyone

Sorry about the long post, I just want to make sure that I've provided all of the information.

I have been following this thread for several months, if you'd like to read my initial story please first look about 2/3rds the way down page 2.

It has been about 8 months since I first started noticing the damage and threw away the tube of tretinoin cream. I'm writing in the hope that I'll be able to help others who have been feeling helpless the way I have, who have spent hundreds on off-the-shelf products and consultations with 'skin specialists' with no success. If you've just read my last post, to bring you up to date I've been through a couple of bouts of increased anxiety and have been on the edge of depression because of how this has made me feel about myself. Like you, the feelings of regret and wanting to rewind time play on your mind, and the obsession with looking at the damage drive you to insanity.

I'm no expert on skin, but doing my research online I would agree with others that the retin-a/tretinoin cream damaged the outer 'Stratum Corneum' (google it) layer of the skin which is supposed to protect the deeper layers. This brings any previous scarring and other damage to the surface, and reduces the skins ability to retain any moisture, making the bodies efforts to repair the skin useless. If your case is anything like mine, as time went on, any irritation seemed to leave more permanent marks.

When my skin was at its worst I had decided to try putting nothing at all, and this ended up making the skin start to look even more like leather and irritated it to hell - my whole cheek would be susceptible to flushing and feeling like it was on fire when exposed to even the smallest amounts of warmth or if I was slightly dehydrated. It seems like every few days I would notice more orange peel pores, depressed scars, redness and wrinkles/leathered patches. Each day I would wake up, fearing how much worse it would look than the previous. Both 'skin specialists' I
have seen suggested that I try laser or IPL, one even tried to diagnose me with rosacea. It was at that point I walked away feeling like even the supposed experts could not offer me any reasonable help. At the end of the day most of them are just trying to pay for their expensive machines by signing people up to use them on - a bit disappointing really.

Anyway, several years ago when looking for treatment of a surgical scar, I came across a blog post from a health specialist listing the reasons she is against Bio-Oil, and she listed an alternative list of natural oils that she suggests applying mixed together. Each oil has known healing and moisturizing properties, and I encourage you to look into each of them yourself. I decided there was no harm in trying the combination on my face since this is where each of the oils are commonly used. I have been using this for several weeks and have noticed a huge improvement in the size of my pores, the general texture of the skin and the plumpness. The wrinkles are barely visible and in a few more weeks I believe they will
be gone altogether. I'm happy to say that this is the first time I have seen really encouraging results since the initial damage.

So onto the important bit! I've come up with a complete regimen that may help you. Take or leave whichever bits you like. These things will cost you up to $100-$150 depending on where you live, but considering that's less than your average skin specialist consultation, I think this is a pretty small price to pay.

You will need
General:
-Standard Cetaphil Cleanser
-Standard Cetaphil Moisturizer

Exfoliating:
-A coffee grinder (if you don't already have one)
-Plain old oats/rolled oats
-Honey (Manuka Honey if you can get it)

The oil:
-Almond oil (approx 100ml)
-Jojoba oil (approx 50ml)
-Rosehip oil (approx 20ml)
-Vitamin E capsules (smaller quantity you can find)
-Lavender Essential Oil (smallest quantity you can find)
-Geranium Esseintial Oil (smallest quantity you can find)

Find yourself a small clean container, an empty Cetaphil bottle or similar will do (even a 250ml one). Now what I did is took half of the contents of the first three oils and pour them into the container:
-50ml Almond oil
-25ml Jojoba oil
-10ml Rosehip oil
The reason I suggest half, is that you may decide down the track that you want to change the blend, or apply one of more of the oils
individually. It's also a good idea to spot test the ingredients, since like anything you may find your body does not like one of the ingredients and you may like to leave it out. If you're a woman, and you're pregnant/lactating, do not use the lavender and geranium essential oils!

-Now take four of the Vitamin E capsules and a clean pin, prick each one with the pin and squeeze the contents into the container with the rest of the oil.
-Put 5 drops of both the lavender and geranium essential oils into the container. Put the lid on and give it a good shake. Now you have your oil.

Something to keep in mind - the expensive skin products you buy off the shelves are usually made in massive batches like anything else, the companies cutting corners where possible in terms of ingredients, since at the end of the day their goal is reduce the cost of production, and increase revenue. The oil that you will be making contains only quality, natural ingredients which no manufacturer would be able to provide at a reasonable cost up front, so you really are only doing your skin a favor.

So here is what I do in the morning:
-After showering, wash my face with Cetaphil cleanser and pad dry with a towel.
-Put enough Cetaphil moisturizer on my face without making it look greasy, carefully massaging it into the affected areas.
You don't want to put the oil on during the day unless you're not planning to go out, or you'll just end up with a shiny face!

And in the evening:
-Before bed, wash my face with Cetaphil cleanser and pad dry with a towel
-Put a similar amount of Cetaphil moisturizer that I use in the morning in my palm, put a couple of drops of the oil on top, rub in hands and apply to face. Then take a couple more drops of the oil, and massage into the worst affected areas.

The tricky part is that you need to do your best to sleep on your back as much as possible for two reasons:
-You want to oil to soak into your face, not into your pillow
-Pressing your face into your pillow will further irritate the damaged areas, and wrinkle the skin.

It's quite difficult when you're used to sleeping on your stomach like I am, but you can train yourself to, and if you must to you can sleep on your side with the side of your face on the edge of the pillow to limit contact.
I also suggest that you change your pillow every 2 nights, flipping it each night to make sure you're only in contact with a clean surface.

Twice each week in the evening (say Sunday and Wednesday) after washing with cetaphil cleanser, you want to make a honey and oat mask. Honey and oat masks are brilliant for very gently exfoliating without stripping moisture from your skin (once again - google is your friend Smile

-Use the coffee grinder to grind 4 tablespoons of oats and pour into a cup
take one heaped teaspoon of honey and put it in the cup
-Pour hot water (boiled if possible) slowly into the cup, and mix, pressing the mixture up against the side of the cup with the back of your spoon. The consistency needs to be slightly runny - you'll figure out the right amount after a few goes. If it's too dry, it'll be hard to apply cause it'll just stick to your fingers. If it's too wet, it'll slide off your face the moment you apply it.
-Apply all over your face, don't get it to close to your eyes.
-Go and watch TV or something, place a towel round your neck cause you don't want it dripping everywhere!
Leave it for up to 20 minutes. If you leave it for too long, it dries out too much and is harder to remove.
Gently remove the mixture with warm water over a basin with running water. This takes a few minutes so take your time.
Apply the Cetaphil moisturizer and oil as above.

I'm only writing this now as I wanted to be sure that there were actual improvements before I posted my method here so that I wasn't giving anybody false hope. I tried skindeep77's suggestion of using Cerave PM moisturizer. While this may have worked for her, this seemed to irritate my skin more so I've since stopped using this. However I do believe that she's onto something with Hyaluronic Acid, as I've been taking supplements since February and have noticed my eyes are much less dark and sunken in. If you can't get hold of the Source Naturals Hyaluronic Acid supplements that she suggests, I've been using the Nature's Way ones. They do add up so only get these if you can afford them.

If others would like to give this a try and post their results that would be great! If this works for others the way it is working for me, we need to get the word out there. Please let me know if you have any questions!

Sat Sep 17, 2016 10:04 am

What they said above about waiting at least twenty minutes after a shower is also crucial. Applying to wet skin intensifies the irritation from the vitamin.

free skin care · Mon Sep 19, 2016 3:49 am

Don't freak out. That will not help you at all. Check in with your derm. Orange peel texture is one of any combo of side effects and not everyone gets it. You have not created lasting damage, the skin renews itself regularly.

Sarahpops wrote:

Oh my god, I just started using my retinoid and I am so nervous now. Someone, HELP!!! I've only used it a total of 6 times, and I already have the orange peel texture, I'm so beyond scared that I've done lasting damage to my skin. Is this just the purging stage?? Am I not moisturizing enough?? It has been so good for my closed comedones,but it's opening my pores and I've never had pores on my forehead, and now they are giant!! If anyone has had any experience with this please PLEASE help me, I'm freaking out and my dermatologist is telling me it's all in my head and it will go away, but these horror stories have me freaking out!

free skin care · Sat Aug 29, 2020 9:26 pm

AnnieR wrote:

Thanks for taking the time to post that! Very positive post. I think it can be such a great tool in the anti-aging arsenal if you can use it.
Did you ever have any of the peeling when you first started using it?

Thanks Annie!

Yes, i still peel occasionally but it is a lot less now that I have gone on the cream and am accustomed now to it (the gel irritated me) at a lower dosage, .025% . Supposedly, the lower dosage will get my skin to its optimal condition, but at a slower rate. it is much less irritating than the higher dose of .05 i was on before. i think the microgel is also good and stable during the day for usage, though i would rather just use this at night.

i stopped usage a few days ago, to start one of the Perfect Complexion retinol peels, Apeel Correct. I ordered this again after not using it for a long, long time (since i was 27! we had the longest discussion on these boards on it), as i remember the peel giving me the glowiest skin with small pores. Once i am done peeling, i will get back on retin-a. I read an article about oscillating between retin-a and retinol, and was fascinated. i also stop both and will use differin (adapalene), since it works on different receptors.

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