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Description
If you are to apply any form of Retin-A, follow these steps:
- Wash your hands and affected skin area thoroughly with mild, bland soap (not medicated or abrasive soap or soap that dries the
skin) and water. To be sure that your skin is thoroughly dry, wait 20-30 minutes before applying Retin-A.
- Use clean fingertips, a gauze pad, or a cotton swab to apply the medication.
- Use
enough medication to cover the affected area lightly. Do not oversaturate the gauze pad or cotton swab.
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Special warnings about this medication
Using these products along with Retin-A may cause mild to severe irritation of the skin. Although skin irritation can occur, some doctors sometimes allow benzoyl peroxide to be used with Retin-A to tr
eat acne. Usually Retin-A is applied at night so that it does not cause a problem with any other topical products that you might use during the day. Check with your doctor before using topical medicin
es with Retin-A.
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What side effects can this medication cause?
In some animal studies, Retin-A has been shown to cause skin tumors to develop faster when the treated area is exposed to ultraviolet light (sunlight or artificial sunlight from a sunlamp). Other stud
ies have not shown the same result and more studies need to be done. It is not known if Retin-A causes skin tumors to develop faster in humans.
Check with your doctor as soon as possible if a
ny of the following side effects occur:
- Burning feeling or stinging skin (severe); lightening of skin of treated area, unexpected; peeling of skin (severe); redness of skin (severe) ; u
nusual dryness of skin (severe)
- Darkening of treated skin
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What is this medicine
Retin-A is used to treat acne. It works partly by keeping skin pores clear.
One of the Retin-A creams is used to treat fine wrinkles, dark spots, or rough skin on the face caused by damaging
rays of the sun. It works by lightening the skin, replacing older skin with newer skin, and by slowing down the way the body removes skin cells that may have been harmed by the sun. Retin-A works bes
t when used within a skin care program that includes protecting the treated skin from the sun. However, it does not completely or permanently erase these skin problems or greatly improve more obvious
changes in the skin, such as deep wrinkles caused by sun or the natural aging process.
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Drug Interactions
Although certain medicines should not be used together at all, in other cases two different medicines may be used together even if an interaction might occur. In these cases, your doctor may want to c
hange the dose, or other precautions may be necessary. Tell your health care professional if you are using any other topical prescription or nonprescription (over-the-counter [OTC]) medicine that is t
o be applied to the same area of the skin. When you are using topical Retin-A, it is especially important that your health care professional know if you are taking any of the following:
- Ac
itretin (e.g., Soriatane)
- Etretinate (e.g., Tegison)
- Retin-A, oral ¡XMay increase chance of getting severe dryness or redness of skin
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Other medical problems
Older adults¡XMany medicines have not been studied specifically in older people. Therefore, it may not be known whether they work exactly the same way they do in younger adults or if they cause differ
nt side effects or problems in older people. There is no specific information comparing use of Retin-A in patients 50 years of age and older with use in other age groups.
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