Got Acne? How Tretinoin Can Help

Written By Jennifer Raskin / Reviewed By Ray Spotts

Stuck with stubborn acne? Before you go for prescription-strength help, you might want to consider topical tretinoin. This acne medication is a generic form of Retin-A which you can get in the form of gel or cream to apply directly to your face.

Will it work for you? It’s certainly worth a try. It can clear up active breakouts in the short-term and long-term, and offers plenty of benefits.

What Tretinoin Can Do for You

As a retinoid, which is a form of vitamin A, tretinoin can stimulate healthy skin cell turnover. This clears away dead skin cells more efficiently to let new skin cells rise to the surface. With a quicker turnover like this, your pores open up and the trapped bacteria and irritants that are causing your breakouts can be cleansed away.

Tretinoin also helps your skin balance its natural sebum production. In doing so, it can help you prevent future breakouts while also clearing up active pustules with its anti-inflammatory properties.

If you’re aging and finding breakouts cropping up, tretinoin can also help smooth wrinkles away. In fact, it’s often used in anti-aging formulations for this exact reason. On top of smoothing wrinkles, it can help minimize the look of acne scars thanks to improving healthy skin cell turnover.

What to Watch Out for with Tretinoin

As with anything new that you try, you should watch out for certain side effects. While most people will tolerate tretinoin quite well, you should test it out on a small patch of skin first before going fully ahead with treatment.

Skin may burn, itch, peel or become red. Additionally, you might notice your skin get unusually dry. It may even feel warm to the touch or turn a lighter color. It might help to check with your dermatologist if you notice anything out of the ordinary.

Some people may not see any improvement in clearing acne away although it is very common for it to initially aggravate acne in the first few weeks. If you’ve used tretinoin for eight to 12 weeks without any significant changes, you may need to go with a prescription-strength formulation instead.

While you’re using tretinoin on your skin, be mindful about sun exposure. Just as is the case with other retinoids, tretinoin can make your skin more prone to damage from the sun. During daylight hours, apply sunscreen and wear a wide-brimmed hat to protect your skin.

Tretinoin, while not perfect, has been a huge help to many for clearing up skin. It’s certainly worth trying if you’ve had difficult acne spells. Even more so, it can be beneficial if you’re getting on in years for taming acne and improving youthfulness all in one.

Looking for 100% chemical-free, all-natural nourishing face and body oils? Check out Earth & Elm Nourishing Face Oil and Earth & Elm Nourishing Body Oil. Subscribe to our Trusted Health Club newsletter for more information about natural living tips, natural health, oral care, skincare, body care and foot care. If you are looking for more health resources check out the Trusted Health Resources list. 

Written By:

Jennifer Raskin is a freelance writer, wife and mom that loves cold weather despite her location in Florida, cooking, reading, watching ‘80s movies, weight-lifting, and wine tasting.

Reviewed By:

Founder Ray Spotts has a passion for all things natural and has made a life study of nature as it relates to health and well-being. Ray became a forerunner bringing products to market that are extraordinarily effective and free from potentially harmful chemicals and additives. For this reason Ray formed Trusted Health Products, a company you can trust for clean, effective, and healthy products. Ray is an organic gardener, likes fishing, hiking, and teaching and mentoring people to start new businesses. You can get his book for free, “How To Succeed In Business Based On God’s Word,” at www.rayspotts.com.

Image by Sharon McCutcheon from Pixabay