Obagi user 1 year. Expected better results. Advice???
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Sun Jul 14, 2013 7:09 am

Hi everyone. I am a new poster here. I have been using Obagi Nu Derm system for 1 year. Prior to that I had stopped using it while I was pregnant. I use the retin-a at the highest strength (red tube). I have been using it religiously. I don't have the results I had hoped for. I don't have breakouts but I have large pores and uneven skintone. I just don't the see the glow everyone raves about. Am I doing something wrong? I am 37 years old and my skin looks like someone typical of my age, not someone who uses obagi everyday.

Sun Jul 14, 2013 1:32 pm

Using the highest stength and using it religiously? Doesn't that sound like over doing it? I was considering buying it till I got scared off reading some of the posts here. It seems like with retin-a it can start destroying the skin if using too much or too high strength. It is a very drying and irritating product, it only makes sense too much would cause problems. The right amount varies from person to person, so I guess you just have to experiment and figure that out for yourself.

Sun Jul 14, 2013 4:35 pm

wishful skin wrote:

Using the highest stength and using it religiously? Doesn't that sound like over doing it? I was considering buying it till I got scared off reading some of the posts here. It seems like with retin-a it can start destroying the skin if using too much or too high strength. It is a very drying and irritating product, it only makes sense too much would cause problems. The right amount varies from person to person, so I guess you just have to experiment and figure that out for yourself.

Hi thanks for your reply but you dont even use obagi so how can you know if anything is over doing it and your advice isn't based on any scienfitic information except that you think "it makes sense". It can take up to a year to see full results of the retin-a.

free skin care · Sun Jul 14, 2013 10:50 pm

irishgirl1 wrote:

I have been using Obagi Nu Derm system for 1 year. I have been using it religiously. I don't have the results I had hoped for. I don't have breakouts but I have large pores and uneven skintone. I just don't the see the glow everyone raves about. Am I doing something wrong? I am 37 years old and my skin looks like someone typical of my age, not someone who uses obagi everyday.

Hi irishgirl1, last year I used Nu Derm for 24 weeks on the aggressive regime (max dosage and 0.1% tretinoin) for melasma and general skin rejuvenation. I was using 0.1% tretinoin for about a year before Nu Derm. My face was a horrible red peeling mess the entire time on Nu Derm.

The results were that the brown areas were removed and my skin was flawless. But it also was incredibly dehydrated and dry and had a tight shiny waxy appearance. I was on maintenance 3 x/week and 75% of the dark patches came back within 6 months (including doing a shock treatment of 6 weeks aggressive Nu Derm during this time). I use SPF50, PA++++ sunscreen heavily and continuously.

My skin developed very fine lines and wrinkles due to the dryness that I never had before Nu Derm. Also I developed large pores during maintenance. I attribute a lot of these problems to overexfoliation from Nu Derm and not using adequate moisturizer. My skin is dry and I now believe the system is only suitable for those with very oily skin.

Just a few months ago, Dr. Obagi chenged his theory and now says not to use hydroquinone or tretinoin more than 3-4 months or the skin can develop "weird" (his word) pigmentation and become inflamed due to tretinoin, resulting in premature aging.

For the past few months, I have eliminated all Nu Derm products and am using tretinoin in just a pea sized amount 3x/week (he says to use retinol). My skin is slowly looking good but now the brown patches are becoming noticeable and the pores still medium large. But, recently I had two compliments on my skin and people thought I was 10-15 years younger than my age.

I will go back to NuDerm to do a 18 week regime to remove the melasma in the Fall. But I will never go on maintenance again. That just keeps the skin irritated and dried out.

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