For the purposes of skin care, tretinoin can be thought of as a more concentrated version of retinol. This means that tretinoin is stronger than retinol. This difference in strength can help guide your decision-making when it comes to choosing a skin care product.
Retin- A (Tretinoin)
Retin-A is referenced as being 100 times stronger than retinol. It also has a more immediate effect because it is formulated as retinoic acid; unlike retinols, no conversion by the body is required. As such, many users of Retin-A experience notable improvements in as little as 4-8 weeks.
Tretinoin is retinoic acid. Because you don't have to wait for the skin to convert it (to retinoic acid), Retin-A works faster and is more powerful than retinol products. You may see improvement in six to eight weeks.
Tretinoin is generally stronger than retinol. This means that it can be more effective at treating acne, but that it's also more likely to give you side effects too, like dry, red, and burning skin, as well as changes in skin color.
025% tretinoin cream produced similar results in overall improvement in photoaging of the face, the stronger concentration of tretinoin had “statistically significantly greater” side effects, including redness and skin peeling.
Tretinoin is used to treat acne or other skin diseases as determined by your doctor. It works partly by keeping skin pores clear. One of the tretinoin creams is used to treat fine wrinkles, dark spots, or rough skin on the face caused by the damaging rays of the sun.
Second, adapalene has a more stable chemical structure than tretinoin, making it okay to use alongside other acne medications such as benzoyl peroxide. Studies show that adapalene is effective at treating acne.
On average, it takes eight to 24 weeks of treatment for tretinoin to produce noticeable improvements in wrinkles and other signs of aging. One short study published in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, which used a . 025 percent tretinoin cream, found a “statistically significant improvement” after just 84 days.
Tretinoin is a medication used to treat acne and sun-damaged skin. It can't erase deep wrinkles, but it can help improve the appearance of surface wrinkles, fine lines, and darks spots.
“Studies suggest you need to use at least 0.25% retinol or 0.025% tretinoin to be effective, so I recommend using a product that specifies the percentage.” When choosing a retinol product, Dr. Rogers says it's best to start with the lowest concentration before moving up.
Retin-A is the brand name for the medication Tretinoin. Retin-A is a synthetic form of vitamin A and it's available only through prescription. Tretinoin is retinoic acid and is considered an active ingredient.
Tretinoin strength studies
While both were equally effective over a one year period, Tretinoin 0.1% was able to achieve cosmetic improvement in 6 months while 0.05% required closer to 12 months. Finally, 0.025% was compared to 0.1% and it was found that both produced similar improvements in photoaging.
Conclusions: Tazarotene 0.1% cream can offer superior efficacy over tretinoin 0.05% emollient cream in the treatment of facial photodamage, particularly with respect to the speed of improvement.
The 0.1% tazarotene cream produced significantly higher treatment success rates than the 0.05% tretinoin cream at weeks 12 and 20.
Generally, it is fine to use tretinoin every night, but you may not want to because of the initial side effects, especially when you first start. You should only use tretinoin as prescribed to avoid significant skin irritation, redness, and other side effects.
Tretinoin Does Not “Bleach” Your Skin
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.
If you want to use tretinoin to treat acne, start by choosing a cream or gel that has a low amount (0.025 percent) of the active ingredient tretinoin. If needed, you can work up to higher amounts as your skin becomes accustomed to the treatment.
Tretinoin degrades quickly when exposed to sunlight, meaning you probably won't get the best results by using it in the morning. Instead, the best time to apply tretinoin is at nighttime — usually 20 to 30 minutes after cleansing your face before you go to bed.
"You can use tretinoin or [over-the-counter] retinols forever."
Tretinoin gel, cream, or lotion requires a prescription because it's more powerful than retinol. Doctors prescribe tretinoin to treat skin conditions like: Acne. Psoriasis.
On the whole, it's best to think of botox as a treatment for wrinkles that are apparent with moving facial muscles (smiling, furrowing your brow, frowning) while tretinoin can help treat the fine lines and sun spots resulting from UV exposure.
Do not use this medicine in or around the eyes or lips, or inside of the nose. Spread the medicine away from these areas when applying.
Retinoids help mitigate those issues in a variety of ways. They thicken the epidermis through increased cell proliferation at the top level. They increase the production of natural chemicals (such as hyaluronic acid) in your skin that keep it plump and moist.
Does Retin-A (tretinoin) help reverse skin aging? Yes. Retin-A, whose active ingredient is tretinoin, has been shown to have positive effects on both the deeper collagen layers of your skin as well as the upper most layer that is comprised of skin cells.