What's inside
What's inside
Key Ingredients
Benefits
Concerns
Ingredients Side-by-side
Reviews
Alternatives
Ingredients Explained
These ingredients are found in both products.
Ingredients higher up in an ingredient list are typically present in a larger amount.
Tretinoin (aka retinoic acid) is the gold standard retinoid in dermatology because it's the form of vitamin A that your skin can use right away. It's a prescription drug and regulated as medication in most countries.
Unlike retinol, it skips the conversion steps and goes straight to work.
Inside your skin cells, it binds to receptors called retinoic acid receptors and switches on the genes that control how skin cells behave.
For acne, it helps your skin shed dead cells properly instead of letting them build up and clog your pores (this is what turns into blackheads and pimples). It also calms redness/swelling, which is why it's a FDA-approved acne treatment.
Tretinoin also tells your skin to make more collagen and slows down the stuff that breaks collagen apart too. Over time, your skin looks smoother, softer, and more even, with fewer lines lines and sun spots.
The evidence for this ingredient is strong:
A systematic review of randomized controlled trials found that topical tretinoin consistently improved wrinkles, pigmentation, sallowness, and dark spots. Results typically showed up as early as one month and lasted out to 24 months.
All studies also found this ingredient to be safe and well-tolerated.
Typical concentrations run from about 0.01-0.1%, with 0.025%-0.1% being the usual range studied for photoaging and a 0.05% cream producing measurable wrinkle/roughness improvements in large six-month trials.
The main trade-off is irritation; dryness, peeling, redness, and sun sensitivity are common in the first few weeks so be sure to pair it well with a good moisturizer and daily sunscreen.
Learn about a form of retinoid you can purchase at the store, retinol.
Learn more about Tretinoin
