Tretinoin for acne in Nepal. It is amazing!!

2 weeks ago, I had these insane breakout. It was very itchy and I had it all over my body! On my chest, back and face. I was devastated but tretinoin was a game changer!

1. My skin History:

I do not have oily skin. It is more of a combination skin. It gets sooo dry in winters. I literally have to slap on handful of moisturizer! My skin soaks it instantly! But in summer, it is a whole new story. I usually sweat a lot. Back when I was 16 (by the way I am 21 now), I had to take 10 mins walk to my school and afterwards attend the assembly(normal Asian school). I sweated so much my teachers asked if I had washed my face or something. Yes! I sweated that lot! So in summer, it gets very oily and i have to blot it with tissues.

Approximately 3 months ago, I had those huge painful acne along with few clustered ones. I went to a dermatologist(I believe he was an intern). He recommended me antibiotics and anti acne gel. The antibiotics was 'Azithromycin' which I had to eat thrice a week. The gel was 'Clindamycin Phosphate gel'. I used the gel every night as a spot treatment(at that time I had to slap it on my whole face). I did see positive results. The results was not that drastic or ground-breaking! But, what more did your girl need?! It was clearing!

2. End of Medications:

Fast forward to the end of 2 months, my medications were complete! There were few breakouts, which I believe were hormonal. But there were those tiny skin colored bumps on my forehead. I never minded those anyway. I was happy.

3. Is it chicken pox?

After 3 weeks though, some itchy acne started to show up. They came in different sizes, They were hard and weirdly round. The ones on my chest area were round, red and very itchy! My mother even believed it to be chicken pox! Yes! It was that bad!

4. Nope. Just acnes.

So I decided to visit the dermatologist, partly because to make sure it was not chicken pox! The dermatologist carefully looked at the acne and assured me, it was not chicken pox(phew!). She then asked about any past medications. I told her about the antibiotics and also I was still using clindamycin as spot treatment. I told her the history of my skin! So she recommened me Retiderm 0.025% (common name) or tretinoin (medical term?) gel, a very good moisturizer and a good cream based sunscreen.

5. The Procedure

I applied the tretinoin gel only at night. First I applied the gel alone and leave it for 10-15 mins. I would then apply a lot of moisturizer on top of it. At mornings I apply more moisturizer and sunscreen every 3 hours.

6. Results! Will I continue?

It is my second week using tretinoin. At the first week my skin flared up with so much acnes. I was worried then I went through the good old trusted youtube (lol) and discovered that most people face that. Another thing I noticed was that my skin was sooo dry and peeling(not serious but patches of peeling). I would slap on moisturizer and on top of that more moisturizer.  

By the end of second week I started seeing the results.Not only the acnes but the acne scars were clearing out too! My skin is baby soft and soo smooth! There are no weird textures. The forehead bumps are clearing out at a slower pace.  But all in all the experience is really amazing! 

I am definitely going to see my acnes to an end and kiss goodbye!