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.
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.
Understanding which types of wrinkles each one treats can help you make the right decision. For example, an over-the-counter or prescription-strength retinol or retinoid cream is noninvasive and cheaper than Botox. (Retinols are weaker versions of retinoids, which are available by prescription.
Don't use topical products such as retinol, Retin-A, retinoids, and glycolic acid for at least two days before the procedure. Avoid drinking alcohol 48 – 72 hours before your procedure – Save the happy hour for another night rather than the night before your treatment.
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. Tretinoin is also known as retinoic acid.
Tretinoin It is a derivative of Vitamin A acid and is an effective slow bleaching agent that can be safely used in the eye area in an emollient cream base.
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.
Because tretinoin targets a different part of the body from botox, it's generally considered safe to use both treatments simultaneously.
3 DAYS BEFORE treatment: AVOID topical products such as Tretinoin (Retin-A), Retinols, Retinoids, Glycolic Acid, Alpha Hydroxy Acid, or other “anti-aging” products. Also AVOID waxing, bleaching, tweezing, or the use of hair removal cream on the area to be treated.
To avoid heat exposure, use warm or cold water instead of hot. Avoid any additional facial treatments, such as massages, chemical peels or microdermabrasion, within 24 hours of your appointment. You may also wish to avoid using makeup and other topical creams like Retin A for at least 24 hours after botox injections.
Zinc is known as a “Botox booster” based on a few studies. Zinc has been found to be effective in extending the effects of botulinum toxin injections up to 30 percent.
Retin-A is a topical medicine available by prescription only that is applied sparingly to the facial skin, sparing the eyelids and the corners of the nose and lips. It works at the cellular level and takes several months to see the full effect.
If you use tretinoin daily as directed, a single 20g tube of tretinoin cream should last for between two and three months, resulting in an approximate cost of about $15 to $25 per month.
"You can use tretinoin or [over-the-counter] retinols forever."
A report in the American Journal of Clinical Dermatology concluded that retinoids are “suitable as long-term medications, with no risk of inducing bacterial resistance.” Another study tested the safety of tretinoin cream over 52 weeks and found no problems.
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.
If you stop using the medication or are inconsistent with your treatment, any improvements you see may disappear over time. Always use the product as prescribed by your healthcare provider (Rodan, 2016).
Yes, you can use tretinoin every night, but you may not want to at first—and some people may never want to. Tretinoin can cause skin irritation and peeling, especially when you first start using it.
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.
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. Your skin is affected by more than what you put on it.
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.
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.
Use just a pea-sized portion.
This is enough for your face. Dab a bit from this portion onto your forehead, cheeks, and chin, then smooth it around. Use another pea-sized portion for your neck or chest if you need to apply in those areas, too.
Tretinoin can help dark spots fade, allowing you to have a more even skin tone. It decreases the amount of melanin in your skin cells (Zasada, 2019). When used for discoloration, tretinoin is usually combined with other skin-lightening products, sometimes in the form of a chemical peel (Lawrence, 2021).