25yo Male - Tretinoin Cream .05. Minneapolis, MN

Well, I feel compelled to write a review because I referenced these reviews prior to starting my treatment and even in the middle of my treatment (especially during the initial purge). I'm a 25yo male living in Minnesota for frame of reference. I never really had acne as a high school student but it started to rear its ugly head around my sophomore year of college. Since then, I have been fighting a seemingly un-winable battle. In October of 2015 I hit my breaking point. I had tried lots of different medications (both oral antibiotics and topicals) in the past and while some of them worked temporarily, my acne would always come back. I read about accutane online and made an appointment with my dermatologist to basically get that process started despite my knowledge of all of the baggage that comes with accutane (expenses, monthly doctor appointments, side effects, etc). Prior to getting a follow-up appointment scheduled to begin my accutane treatment, I stumbled upon some reviews for tretinoin cream. I had tried tretinoin in the past but, based on reviews, I didn't use it correctly at all. After reading about how it should be used and seeing all of the positive reviews, I decided to email my derm to ask her about it. She said that tretinoin is basically the topical version of accutane and works about the same, without the required office visits, side effects and expenses. Luckily, I had an un-expired tube of tretinoin cream .05% already in my possession and decided that I would give it another shot but would use it correctly this time around. I started treating my acne with tretinoin around 11/04/15 so I am a little over 2 months in to my treatment and I am thrilled with my results thus far. My chin area was the undisputed source of my acne and that has since cleared up significantly. I do still get pimples on my chin from time to time but they are small and go away rather quickly. I've also experienced increased acne on my forehead which I am hoping will subside with continued use of tretinoin. Fair warning though, the initial purge was pretty brutal. I broke out horribly on my chin for roughly 4 weeks which of course included Thanksgiving where I was around lots of family and friends. I had very very low self esteem over those 4 weeks and my confidence took a hit but man oh man has this treatment been worth it. I am entering my 11th week of treatment and I feel like my skin is really coming around. I still have some scarring/dark spots which are undoubtedly the result of my long battle with acne but they have subsided a little bit as well. My skin does get super dry due to the tretinoin but that also comes with living in Minnesota and dealing with its' brutally cold/dry winters. My advice to anyone thinking about using tretinoin as an acne treatment is to absolutely go for it but only if you're willing to be patient. The initial purge will suck but the results will be so worth it. My regimen (weeks 1-4):
- wash face in AM with Cetaphil Gentile Facial Cleanser
- apply healthy amount of cerave AM +SPF30 lotion
- wash face in PM prior to going to bed with Cetaphil Gentile Facial Cleanser
-wait 20-30 minutes for face to dry completely
-apply pea sized amount of tretinoin to entire face (2 straight days on, then one day off, repeat)
- apply cerave PM moisturizing lotion (do this even on an off night for tretinoin)
(weeks 5 - 11(current)):
-same regimen but applying tretinoin every night while once every 2 weeks taking a day off to give skin a break from dryness.

Here's to hoping my skin will continue improving! Best of luck and please stick with it! On tough days during the initial purge, I would read reviews for tretinoin. It helps provide a little bit of hope and lets you know that you are not alone in this battle (it worked for me).