I'm 34. I used Retin-A years ago (early 90's), and it helped. For some reason I stopped. About 5 weeks ago I asked for Retin-A from the derm. My pharmacist gave me Tretinoin (the generic form of things like Retin-A).

I was worried as hell about the initial breakout you hear about. The info. in the box said it will occur, if at all, between 2 and 6 weeks. I don't know how long you've been on it.

I did not have an initial breakout--at least I don't think so. I have had a few nasty pimples come up since, but nothing major, and my skin is doing much better than before the Tretinoin. However, I have been taking erythromicin as an oral antibiotic, and that may have prevented any initial breakout.

Anyway, as I said in the other post, I wash with Cetaphil in the morning, with Neutrogena something or other in the evening, then Cetaphil at night; wait 20 - 30 mins, then put on the Tretinoin. I started off every other night, but now use it every night. My skin gets oily, too, but I think it's because the Cetaphil keeps it moisturized. I get zero flaking. Only the occasional redness.

As for reducing the redness, my redness is minimal, as I said, so I don't worry about it. If it gets bad I will probably use Cetaphil as a moisturizer in the mornings.

[QUOTE=americandancer;3398325]So, is this the same thing as retin-a? I use retin-a micro at night right after applying clindagel. My dermo said next time he'd give me a generic lotion for the retin-a, as my insurance doen't cover it. Would this be the same thing?

Probably he would. Tretinoin is the generic form of Retin-A, Avita, and Renova, as a helpful website tells you, but I can't link to it here. I have the cream. When I used Retin-A back in the day, it was a gel. Creams are supposed to help moisturize; gels are supposed to dry.

I believe Differin is also a vitamin-A derivative, but it's generic form is something called Adapalene.