Retin-A or Retinol for effective skin thickening? (Photo)

I did the mistake to use hemorroid cream as I read that it works well for eye bags. The cream had cortison and my skin thinned a bit. This causes the blood vains to shine through and you can see it as a reddish area close to the eye. i read great things about retinol / retin-a that could help my skin getting thicker to hide the red area. What would you recommend in my case? Retinol cremes or Retin-A / Tretinoin? I read that some people got worse eye shadows after using Retin-A.