I had a previous encounter with Retin-A a thousand years ago, when I was 18 and absolutely hated it. Made my face red, itchy and horrible, discontinued it after only 3 days. Turns out I was using it wrong. The derm that prescribed it (1% that time) was too busy to explain correct procedure, so teenager me used it liberally every day and of course the results were terrible.
This time I did my research and will begin with baby steps.
First, I washed my face with CeraVe Hydrating Cleanser, applied a bit of low alcohol Witch Hazel and set the timer for 15 minutes. I don't understand the chemistry behind it, but turns out you need to air your skin after cleansing.
Got my potions together:
My staple CeraVe Moisturizing Lotion and .05% Retin-A, which set me back 15 USD (love the mexican prices, would have been even less if I'd gotten the generic one, as it is only 5 USD but really hard to find). Instructions say to use a pea-sized amount by itself, but I tweaked it a little because I'm new at this and I just know a pea would not be enough... Not wanting to be tempted to use more, and also wanting to buffer the medication a bit, I mixed the pea drop with the moisturizer:
Left side, milky white stuff is the CeraVe moisturizer. The pearly yellowy drop on the right is the Retin-A. Mixed them well and applied to whole face. My skin was a bit red after application but calmed down in a few minutes.
Today is Monday, I will be waiting until Wednesday for another buffered Retin-A treatment. My face needs to get used to this slowly.
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