Differin Gel (Adapalene 0.1%)

Finally, finally, finally, reviewing this Differin Gel (Adapalene 0.1%) after some 6+ years of religious use every 3rd night. Talk about procrastinating! But there is a reason for my long reluctance in posting about this product - it's a prescription item meant for acne treatment. 

This makes it a drug, which means disclaimers are abound: 

- READ THE DRUG FACTS on the included pamphlet for all the cautions, warnings, etc.

- In case you missed this on the drug facts, DO NOT USE IF PREGNANT OR NURSING. This warning applies to ALL retinoid and BHA (salicylic acid) products regardless of prescription or over-the-counter, spa or professional treatments! Just stay far, far away for safety's sake. 

- DO YOUR DUE DILIGENCE. Consult your doctor, research and read up about it online, etc.

- PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK. It's been good to my skin, but may be terrible to yours. 

- CAUSES PHOTOSENSITIVITY. While on any retinoid treatment, and AHA and BHA too for that matter, sunscreens of minimum SPF30 is a MUST. No if, and, or but about it. If you don't care for sunscreens, you should NOT play with retinoid, AHA, or BHA. These products are for night use only.

Okay, now that I've got all that nasty stuff off of my chest, let's get to the good stuff. The third generation Adapalene is probably one of the mildest, if not the mildest, topical retinoid (a form of vitamin A) available. This is a prescription product, but if you search skincare boards/forum... *ahem*

So why did I start on Differin. Well, I don't have acne problems. I never did. Sure, I broke out here and there as a teenager, but nothing crazy that requires prescription treatment. In fact, I didn't take care of my skin very well at all throughout high school and college. I didn't know how and didn't care enough to find out.

And then I spent a year in Japan and all the pretty gals with perfect skin there inspired me to take better care of my skin. Thanks to Japan, I got into sunscreens, skincare, makeup, all that girly stuff. After returning home, I started experimenting with Japanese sunscreens with excellent results. So I got bolder and branched out to European sunscreens with not so excellent results. Actually, it was disastrous. My skin broke out with a vengeance, forcing me to do some damage control. That was how I stumbled onto retinoids.


After thorough reading, I decided I should start gentle with one of the mildest, Differin. And you're supposed to start slow too, once every third night for a couple of months. Some people say weeks so it all depends on how fast your skin adapts, but I'm going to say months because my skin takes things slow. Then accelerate to every other night for a couple of months, then every night, then perhaps even moving on to a slightly stronger retinoid. When you start a retinoid, depends on how clogged up your skin is you can expect some initial breakout (aka purging) as the retinoid deeply exfoliates. The retinoid will also irritate, again more or less depends on your skin. To soften this you should wait at least 20 minutes after washing your to apply. And you should apply sparingly. I use a pinhead's each for my forehead and nose, and each half of my face.


Did it work to clean up the mess from my experiment with European sunscreen? YES. With Differin, my skin took about 3 months to ease up the breakouts, 6 months to stop the breaking out completely, and then a whole other year to return to the state it was before. So if you're looking for instant magic, it's not going to happen. That said, Differin is also one of the mildest retinoids, which means it will cause much less irritation but will also take much longer to work. So if your skin can tolerate a stronger retinoid, you will probably see results sooner.

So 6+ years later, I never moved past Differin, because my skin cannot tolerate any more than this. I even tried to accelerate to every other night and my skin couldn't take even that. In July of 2012, I decided to push my luck and experimented with TriAcneal (will review next). That experiment went down in flames too and I spent my entire time in Taipei struggling with heavily clogged pores and breakouts. The humidity and air pollution there absolutely didn't help, and upon returning home in December 2012, I switched back to Differin. Again it took another 6 months for my skin to return to the state it was before, completely rid of the very last deep clog and scar.

Yup, that's about summing it all up. I like this Differin gel especially because it's light and it's a straight up gel, meaning there's no other ingredients or emollients that would otherwise be put in a cream that may clash with my skin. Mind you, my skin is not perfect. Even with the help of Differin, I still get hormonal breakouts and clogged pores every now and then. However, it's been mostly clear and tolerant to the vast majority of the products I'm using and testing. I'm happy with that, and there's no plan to rock the boat in the immediate future ^.^