Retin A User for Two Years!

Started using retin A micro march 2011. I had a lot of white heads and blackheads and occasional cysts. The first 8 month was hell for me as everything came to the surface, my skin was inflamed, red and I had shockingly deep cysts that would come on over and over again. Then about 8-9months later things started to improve slightly. The inflammation went down and I was getting fewer pimples (before then it was 1-2 new pimples a day at times). A year later 95% of the whiteheads and 99% of blackheads were gone. My skin was smoother, more radiant, more even toned and glowing as some people put it. Now I have been a user for almost two years, I have very few new pimples coming out mostly around the time of the month and most tend to go away quicker. Otherwise I get compliments on my skin almost every week. You need lots of patience for this to work, use only a little ( pea sized amount) and you can use more once your skin gets used to it, expect lots of peeling, redness and an initial breakout that can last a while depending on how bad your skin is at the start. Also make sure you wait atleast 20min after you wash your face to apply the gel and avoid a lot of products, a face wash is enough along with retin A. Buy a nice concealer (one that doesn't clog pores) and if you wear makeup please please avoid foundation, go for mineral powder instead, use lots of sunscreen, and moisturise daily, be positive, eat well, avoid a lot processed foods, drink plenty of water and minimise stress (as this generally increases inflammation in the body), gently exfoliate using clean fingers (but dont do this when you have lots of inflammed red pimples as it spreads infection to other areas) and
set yourself a goal (say give yourself atleast a year to see results). This is not for everyone (especially those with sensitive skin) and results vary between person to person. Honestly for me it has been one of the best decisions I have made in my life (even though I went through a lot of bad skin moments for almost an entire year before I saw improvement), I am grateful, all Praise and Thanks is due to the Lord of the worlds. Thanks for reading, hope this helps!