
Can Retin-A for treating facial acne cause any harm?

Regarding use of tretinoin on face
Detailed Answer:
Hello. Thank you.
I am Dr kakkar (Dermatologist and Venereologist). I have noted your concern and I have viewed the image.
Retin A and other similar products contain Tretinoin as the ingredient.
Tretinoin is comedolytic and is useful in all grades of acne although in inflammatory acne (papules and pustules) tretinoin alone may not be very effective and may have to be combined with oral and/or topical antibiotics. Tretinoin is also an antiageing molecule and is effective in delaying and reversing fine lines and wrinkles so it can be used long term for these indications.
However, tretinoin being an irritant may cause dryness, skin peeling and redness as side effects. These side effects are usually noticed early on in therapy and reduce or abate as the skin gets used to tretinoin. To reduce these side effects tretinoin should be used sparingly and may be used either on alternate days or used with or over a non-comedogenic moisturizer. So yes, you can even mix it (dilute) with a little moisturizer. In addition to tretinoin at night you may also use clindamycin 1% gel during the day for your inflammatory acne. Ideally I would also suggest adding an oral antibiotic e.g doxycycline for your inflammatory acne.
Regards

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