I've only begun using this in the past week after reading reviews on here and already it has made such a difference to my skin.

My skin became terrible after going on the Yasmin birth control pill, and I had (and continue to have) cystic acne all over my cheeks, jawline and chin. It has really got me down because people keep commenting on it. In a matter of days, my skin feels soft, the spots have DRASTICALLY gone down (even those that haven't budged for months) and now I can wear foundation without the bumps underneath and visible scars. People are saying how great my skin is looking.

The only drawback is the excessive peeling and sunburn feeling I'm getting on my face. I'm only applying it at night every other night, and mixing it with moisturiser seems to be helping with the burning sensation.

Best dermatologist trip I've ever made.

I've tried natural remedies, DIY everything, cleansers and moisturizers of every sort, but I would NOT go to a dermatologist, until the day my mother forced me to.

I wish I had gone sooner.

If you're scared to go to the dermatologist for some reason, don't, just go, you have nothing else to lose.

Well, I realize I should wait a bit before making my review but for people who are having trouble I thought maybe an updated review over time would be most efficient.

I'm a 25 year old caucasian female, I'm not overweight but I wouldn't say that I'm the most healthy person in the world. My daily routine never changed nor did my water intake...but one day I just stated getting acne.

I was always the kid in highschool who maybe had a pimple here or there throughout puberty but was always "thank god I don't have acne" at 24 years old it hit me and I've tried to wait it out patiently for a year now. Finally I decided to go to the Dr. they have become sightly cystic. I say this because they aren't over 1mm in size but they don't form heads and are quite deep. embarassing nonetheless.
I have been off birth control for several years so my Dr agreed to put me back on Diane 35 and prescribed me the cream stieva 0.05 cream.

I'm fully expecting my skin to get dry and flaky, and I was also warned that it may get worse before it gets better due to how it works.

I used it for the first time last night, maybe it's a fluke but I woke up with much less inflamed skin. I'm feeling a little dry today so I have used eminence eight greens whip moist. and will also be using vichy normaderm tri activ mornings.

I will update this weekly.

This is the most incredible product (0.025%) I have ever used on my skin. But perhaps the trick was how I went about using it!


1. Moisturising and sun protection. There's really not much explaining to be done here! Use 30+ sunscreen which is noncomedogenic and perhaps oil free. It is a NON-NEGOTIABLE. Cetaphil to the rescue!
I was concerned about the flaking issue and redness. Lucky for me, I had a friend of mine who had already used the product refer me onto a fantastic 'relieving' moisturiser by Aveeno that I would whole heartedly recommend (found in my other reviews). Also fall in love with a very moisturising lip balm.

2. Cleanse and sanitise.
Switch to a lighter, more gentle formula during the day, and perhaps something a little stronger at night. A cleanser that will clear away oil and dirt from the new 'layers' that are being shed from your skin whilst using a very effective moisturiser is the key. You'll have to experiment! I found the full dose of 0.5% was too harsh for my skin, but the 0.025% teamed with Neutrogena's Deep Clean Cream Cleanser with beta hydroxy was the right fit for my skin. I tend to put on a hand sanitiser to ensure my hands are clean before I rub the cream on. APPLY RETINOL ONLY AT NIGHT.


3. Exercise, water and health.
Drink water. No better way to perk up your skin than to encourage the drainage of toxins. Don't touch your face after you have moisturised, exercised or applied make up for any reason. Just don't. Little things like cold showers, proper intake of diet and easing on sugars will help your skin naturally heal. I tend to invest in things like omega 3/6/9, vitamin E and C as supplements to my diet. Whether or not these any had any effect on my skin is really very subjective, but I wouldn't be without them.


4. Application.
Wait 5-10 minutes between cleansing and applying the retinol depending on how dry your skin is naturally. Apply sanitiser to the hands, dry, and squeeze out approximately a pea size amount of cream. This will be enough for face only; more is necessary for neck. Apply in sections, starting with the outside of the face moving inward. Completely avoid your lips, the angles of your nose, and the upper lip. The top of the nose should be fine. Rub gently until absorbed. Wash hands and wait another 10-15 minutes before applying a serum if necessary (bio oil, vitamin e serum) followed by a good moisturiser or night cream.


5. How long do you keep it on?
Roughly the amount of time it takes for you to sleep. Wash your face in the morning within 12 hours of application.


Follow these (not as overwhelming as they seem) rules and you should be just as happy as I am. :)

My doctor gave me this product five months ago to help clear my mild/moderate acne. Immediatly i noticed my skin was not as oily, and the new acne that formed was not as severe as it was prior to using this product. After three months I was dissapointed that I still had acne problem areas, but continued using this gel for another month and was amazed that exactly four months after I began using this product my acne cleared up significantly. I have had acne on my chin and the area around my mouth for years, and with this product they are finally clear. The occasional spot that i do get is significantly smaller than they were before this gel. This product does make my skin dry, so I drink lots of water and use strong moisturizers (Nivea cream and Bio Oil, which also helps reduce acne scar marks). Dont use this product on any dry areas of your face and avoid lips and eyelids. I wash my face with a foaming cleanser with salicylic acid (L'Oreal Go 360 Clean for combination skin) because the gel made my skin too sensitive for exfoliating cleansers. The best way to use this product is to cleanse, use moisturizer on dry/sensitive areas, and wait twenty to thirty minutes (to ensure skin is completely dry) before applying a very thin layer to problem areas (only use the gel at night!). I am so glad that I didnt give up on this product! I love the way my skin is now!

*EDIT! This product is no longer working for me. My acne is only slightly better than when i began using this gel, and i am returning to my doctor to hopefull find something that will be more effective for my skin.

This review is for the generic .05% Tretinoin (Retin-A) cream.
After giving this up for a year because I was trying to go the all-natural route, I have returned because my skin has broken out all over ever since I overhauled my "beauty" (if you can call it that ;-) routine. Already, it seems to be helping--although my skin is now sensitive and ruddy again.
Of course I dove right back in (I'm an all-or-nothing kind of girl--I never did learn restraint). But if you're more patient than I am, I would recommend gently easing this into your nightly routine (only use it at night, and not together with benzoyl peroxide, or you won't reap the benefits). I would say start out every couple of days (maybe even once a week) until you can use it every other night, or even every night if your skin can tolerate it.
Hope this helps!
I didn't want to use this anymore because I was tired of being afraid of sunshine, and I have yet to find a healthy, natural sunblock which actually blocks out the sun's rays. But I have returned to my tried-and-true: Tretinoin .05%

Thank God I discovered this stuff. I have been using it for almost a year now and my skin hasn't looked this good in a long while. Every time I tried to go off "the pill" my face would breakout really badly...and I was always left with red scars.
I'm very pale so the red scars were really obvious. I started with Stieva-A 0.025% gel...and now I'm on the 0.05% gel. My skin is a lot more even and the red scars are now pink and smaller, easily covered with foundation, my pores look smaller too.
***the first few weeks using this stuff was hell...peeling, redness, sensitivity...horrible....but I stuck through it and I certainly got the rewards.
I'm 26 so I don't have any wrinkles...but I guess it will be a while before I do....because of this stuff....and I use sunscreen during the day.
My only regret is that I didn't start using this 10 yrs ago.
I'm in Canada and it costs me $25/ 2 tubes (fee inc)

Cheap enought but didn't do the job. This is a generic Retin-A product available by prescription in Canada, manufactured by Stiefel. I purchased 3, 25gram tubes of 0.05% strength, the cost was only $33 including shipping.

Having really oily skin I wanted to use a gel form of tretinoin for anti-aging and clogged pores. I had previously used the European 0.05% Kefrane tretinoin gel which worked well but the texture was insanely sticky and unspreadable.

The texture of the Stieva-A gel is very unusual, not sticky at all but it's almost dry feeling when you put it on.

The base ingredients are very simple: alcohol anhydrous, butylated hydroxytoluene and hydroxypropyl cellulose.

I wasn't able to find the alcohol percent but it feels very high. Eventhough I adjusted to the peeling, my skin could not take the alcohol burn when I put it on.

Unlike other tretinoin preparations I have tried, this one did not help my clogged pores at all. Even using a heavy Renova generic (Retacnyl) I could see my pores cleared the morning after use. This one nothing.

Another annyoing aspect of this product is that in trying to counteract the alcholol burn with applying moisturizer first, the gel would only ball up when applied on top (or even when applying moisturizer on top).

Overall, not worth the trouble.