Retin A.

"I'm using Retin A instead. It's really just how my skin responds. I've used tretinoin on and off for years and then most recently I just started getting some peeling stuff out of nowhere and I don't want to wait that out. I have decided that I'd rather have happy skin than wait that out and stick to something that's irritating my skin. I'm not willing to put myself through it even though I know tretinoin can be doing good long-term things. If my skin's irritated I just stop what I'm doing. It's just not worth it. I'd rather have happy hydrated skin. I still have a retinoid, I would always have a retinoid. I just find that there are some that are less irritating to me at certain periods. I have looked at a ton of studies that compare retinol, retinaldehyde and tretinoin and while yes tretinoin is the quickest acting, the other ones you get similar results just not as quickly."

"Tretinoin, sold under a variety of brands including Retin A, is a prescription only topical form of vitamin A that can visibly improve mild to moderate photo damage including fine and coarse wrinkles, freckles, other pigmentation and improve overall skin texture after months of daily use, accompanied by restoration of collagen formation. One of the advantages of using a topical retinoid is that it can improve the appearance of wrinkles because it gets down to the deeper layers of the skin to not only improve collagen production to smooth out wrinkles but also to help actively protect the collagen that you have. Skin biopsy taken before and after 10 to 12 months of tretinoin versus placebo found that while skin collagen formation dropped 14% in the control group, it rose 80% in the retinoic acid group."