Dry Crepey Neck Skin: Can Retin A Help? Can Anything Help?

Crepeyness of the neck and of the lower cheeks is a common and distressing problem. While dryness does not cause wrinkles,  as a rule, it can accentuate any wrinkling or crinkling we have from such causes as excessive sun damage, menopause, etc. . Overly dry and wrinkly, crepey skin may also result from the overuse of strong soaps, hot water, scrub sponges and toners. In the latter, switching our cleansing routine to the use of lukewarm water, mild ("sensitive skin")... more

The first thing to try for dryness is a good non-irritating moisturizer, like Cetaphil or Cerave.  In the winter you would want to use creams, as opposed to lotions. Retin A can be drying and can initially contribute to crepiness.  One way of avoiding that is to start using it no more than twice a week in the evenings, then slowly build up to every night.  Make sure the skin is dry before applying Retin A.  Also, you can apply a thin layer of a moisturizer under... more

When beginning to use Retin A, often it is necessary to skip nights until one builds up a tolerance to it. This is particularly important for the neck skin. Using moisurizers on "off" nights is a good strategy. Over time one becomes used to the Retin A and can use even stronger concentrations to obtain better results. Repeated superficial chemical peels can make this process work even better. See link below.