Can Retin-A Thin the Skin?

I had a similar experience with Retin A. The skin on my forehead, under eyes and nose/bunny lines were showing lots of fine lines, skin seemed to have rapidly thinned and aged in those areas within just one years use. It turned out I just needed to use a moisturizer, which my doctor did tell me to use, but I had always avoided using in the past because of my oily and breakout prone skin. I figured since my skin never felt irritated, even at full strength, that I was fine without the moisturizer. Anyways, I didn't want to abandon my Retin A since it did help me a ton with my adult acne, so I did give in to trying some moisturizer as a last ditch effort. I bought (and still use) a basic/cheap drugstore facial moisturizer by Top Care and use it daily now once in morning, and double up on it in evening after applying Retin A and letting it sit a few minutes. My thin, crepey, aged looking skin started to go back to normal after just several weeks and now looks fantastic. If you're not using moisturizer, I'd definitely give that a try. Your derma who prescribed you your medicine would also be a good resource if you have any concerns. Good luck!

What Dr. Lupo says is so very untrue. It does indeed thin the epidermis, supposedly to thicken the layer beneath, but at your age, you most certainly do not need it. It's for women 40+ (I think 30 years old is still too young) whose skin no longer exfoliated regularly. Still, I would say there's a reason why the skin at that age doesn't exfoliate regularly - because their skin is already thin enough! I had used it under my eyes and it actually caused them to look 10 years older. If you do indeed see wrinkles and thinning, then you should stop. Don't continue something just because a scientific study has said one thing; your skin is unique to you and you should only do what your intuition is telling you.