Contrary to popular belief, tretinoin is not a “bleaching agent” or medicine designed specifically to lighten your skin tone. While tretinoin can even out patches of hyperpigmentation and cause a mild change in your skin tone, it doesn't affect melanin synthesis.
When using retinoids to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, the more consistent you are, the better the results will be. Any side effects you experience are temporary. Long-term use of tretinoin achieves and maintains your healthy, naturally glowing skin.
Topical application of tretinoin significantly lightens postinflammatory hyperpigmentation; to a clinically minimal but statistically significant degree, it also lightens normal skin in black persons.
Tretinoin helps your skin cells replenish their collagen, improves the texture of your skin, evens out your skin tone, and increases the tightness of your skin (Yoham, 2020; Zasada, 2019).
“If the retinol you're using is too strong for your skin causing inflammation, darker skin tones may have a higher risk of discoloration, or hyperpigmentation, from the use of it," she adds. Dr.
As a result of its effects on your skin's cellular turnover speed, tretinoin reduces the appearance of wrinkles, evens out your skin's pigmentation and also treats skin issues such as acne. The end result is smoother, younger looking skin that's much less affected by fine lines, wrinkles or other common signs of aging.
Papaya, banana, lemon, honey, and gram flour mask: These ingredients contain vitamins and minerals that can naturally lighten and nourish the skin. They may be mashed into a paste, applied all over the face, and washed off after 20 minutes.
Tretinoin (Retin-A) is considered the first-line treatment for AN. When used regularly, it can help thin and lighten the skin in affected areas.
Tretinoin can fade spots on the face, evening out your skin tone and helping to hide the blotchy coloration that can affect many people's facial skin. In some cases, however, tretinoin can also cause small patches of skin to darken, producing noticeable skin discoloration.
Tretinoin Works Best as a Long-Term Treatment
Long-term studies of tretinoin tend to show the most dramatic results, with people experiencing significant reductions in the appearance of fine wrinkling, coarse wrinkling, skin laxity and other signs of photoaging.
If you're using topical tretinoin to reduce wrinkles, discoloration, age spots, and/or rough feeling skin, it can take 3–4 months or up to six months before you see results.
Read below to find out how long it takes for tretinoin to work. Most people start to see the benefit of daily derm-grade retinoid use around 6 weeks. If used every 2-3 days, then it would take around 10 weeks to see. If only used once weekly, it may take up to 3 months to start seeing results.
Retin-A is one of the most common retinol prescriptions ordered by dermatologists, but that doesn't mean it's the best product for Black skin. Because Retin-A is prescription-strength retinol, it has a high concentration that can overwhelm darker complexion. This is a case of too much of a good thing is bad.
This incredible antioxidant, anti-inflammatory nutrient is known to improve skin tone and texture, hydrate the skin, and reduce signs of aging. Adding vitamin C to your skin care routine can not only brighten your complexion but also protect against skin damage caused by sun exposure and harmful free radicals.
When used topically every day, niacinamide may have a positive impact on your overall skin health. The ingredient can help reduce inflammation and hyperpigmentation, smooth your overall skin texture, and brighten your skin.
“Retinoids trigger change in the skin to make it look clearer and more youthful; they actually help skin get back to a healthier place.
Takeaway. Retinol can be effective in lightening the skin and reducing the appearance of dark spots. It does so by promoting skin shedding, which improves cell turnover rate and hinders the activity of the enzyme tyrosinase, which encourages the production of melanin.
In theory, retinol makes your skin cell turnover faster. The increased cell turnover temporarily sloughs off more dead skin cells. This creates a lag time before new, healthy cells come to the surface of your skin. Your new skin is exposed before it's ready, and redness or discoloration, and irritation is the result.
First, the answer is yes, retinol can make wrinkles worse, especially when you first start using it. What is happening is a drying effect, and one can get epidermal sliding from separation from the dermis.
Tretinoin minimizes pore appearance by increasing cell turnover and boosting exfoliation, which clears debris in the pores and allows pores to shrink back to their normal size.
Derived from vitamin A, retinoids — such as tretinoin (Retin-A, Renova, Avita) — that you apply to your skin may improve the appearance of stretch marks less than a few months old. Tretinoin, when it works, helps to rebuild a protein in the skin called collagen, making the stretch marks look more like your normal skin.
You may notice tretinoin starting to work within 2 to 3 weeks, but it can take 6 weeks or more to experience the full benefit. If you don't see improvement within 12 weeks, or if you have significant improvement and wonder if you should start using it less frequently, talk to your doctor.