I had very bad acne and the RAM cleared my skin up almost completely. I have been using it for years and it doesn't seem to work anymore or at least it doesn't work as well as it used to. I heard that that happens to alot of people and you should stop using the medication for awhile then continue use. One recommendation I do have for anyone who has experience flaking is to buy an exfoliating pad. When you wash your face GENTLY scrub your face. This will remove all or most of the dead skin left on your face. Remember to be gentle because you can scrub off a thin layer of your sensitive skin. Immediately put on your medication then Moisturize before make up. Avoid your lips and eyes. Even if you avoid them they can still get dried out, so I recommend using a 100% coco butter stick. Rub it on a finger and gently pat it into the dry areas.

i am 21 years old. i had amaaazing skin until i went away to college. after that, my face went CRAZY. after trying SOOO many products (over the counter & prescription) i tried retin-a micro .01% .... my derm gave me differin last spring, and it worked for about a year then my skin refused to let it work anymore. so i bumped the strength up with retin-a micro. i STILL am only using it about 3 times a week, but my skin is 100% better. i'm on my 10th week and didn't see full results until week 7. so stick to it for sure. after week 7 i have not had one breakout - which is very rare for me. i usually had about 5 problem areas on my face at all times. i DEFINITELY recommend this product!! :) continued >>

I've been using RAM for several years and I'll continue using it for many more. I really didn't start using it for severe acne. I was having some hormonal breakouts in my mid/late 30s and asked my doctor for Renova because I wanted to reduce some fine lines too. She suggested RAM instead & as a terrific benefit my insurance covers most of the cost. When I first began using it I applied it every night. All was fine for about 3 weeks and then my skin became a red, irritated, burning mess. I had to discontinue use and let my skin heal. I was afraid to use the RAM again so I waited for about 4-5 months before I attempted it once more. This time I began by using it only once a week. After about 4-6 weeks, when I was sure my skin was tolerating it, I added another night. I kept adding another night gradually over about 6-8 months until I was able to use it nightly. This worked beautifully! I did occasionally have mild peeling, but no real irritation. I now use it most nights for maintenance. I can even use AHA along with it and there is no irritation at all. I still get occasional hormonal acne, but it's usually only a few zits around my chin. The best thing about RAM for me is the effect it has had on the general health and appearance of my skin. I'm in my 40's and I get lots of compliments on my skin.
It's very important not to use too much of this. It will not give you better/faster results. A pea sized amount is all you need to cover your entire face. Oh...and ALWAYS wear a good stable sunscreen! continued >>

oh my GODDDD. okay seriously when you first get this - DO NOT apply it every night!!! this dried out my skin SO badly. seriously I couldn't put makeup on because my entire face was flaking, and I could barely open my mouth my face hurt so much!! oh my gosh pleaseee start off slowly with this, I didn't go to school for several days because my face felt like it was on fire and it was visibly flaking away! now that my skin has handled the initial shock, I use this now for spot treating.. the only success I have had with it is on cystic acne. It really speeds up the life of those under the skin cysts. as for like redness and standard acne activity - this helps me none. just dries out my skin, therefore irritating it, therefore increasing redness :( blahh

I have (had?) mild to moderate acne and RAM has my miracle product! I've been using it for 7 years, still with fabulous results. My skin looks awesome and smooth! I'll be honest that the adjusting period was hell, but I'm so glad I stuck it out....twice (I quit using it for about 6 months when I was 18 thinking that I was all clear and no longer needed it, but my acne just came back. Now I am so scared to ever quit again!).



In the off chance that I do get a zit (usually around that time of the month...) it is never even a problem! It will fade away super quick because of the rate that RAM renews the skin.



I just need to stress that all you need is a pea sized amount! I think too many people overuse this product which causes a bad reaction. You may not feel like you have your whole face covered, but you do! Also, you must use SPF!



The only things that worries me now: 1. If there are any long term effects of RAM that I should be aware of. 2. If I will be able to afford this when I'm no longer covered by my parents insurance (when I graduate school in 5 months).

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Okay this might be a bit long so brace yourselves lol :) First i want to start by telling you a little bit about my skin before RAM. I have very acne-prone skin. My skin is also on the oily side. My skin breaks out over nothing sometimes, and my skin will also break out if it's dried out. I also get every kind of blemish especially CYSTS. I am prone to gettin cysts which those of you that get this type of acne know...it's basically the worst kind to get, it is physically,and psycologially scarring. i used RAM 0.04% last summer with great results! my skin did not flake, it didn't really to seem to purge much either and best of all completley cleared up my terrible skin. i hadn't felt so good about my skin in years!! it really felt like a miracle to me. Unfortuately my insurance expired in October, and i no longer was able to afford this rx. i used some drugstore products that i knew were not going to work as well as the RAM, but i at least wanted something to control the breakouts. I used PanOxyl face wash and Neutrogena anti-wrinkle anti-blemish skin clearing cream. These products were not bad, but they weren't as good as RAM.

Recently, i had heard about inhousepharmacy.com, and that they have real RAM, not the generic versions, and also that there is no prescription needed to purchase. I went ahead an ordered the RAM, but they didn't have the 0.04% version that i loved they only had the 0.1% which is much stronger. i went ahead and still purchased it. I started off by applying every night, which is a mistake. i figured because my skin is sooo oily, and i had used RAM before i wouldn't have any problems...boy was i wrong. i had extreme flackiness, and my skin still purged a lot. After about two weeks my skin was pretty bad. lots of breakouts and to add insult to injury a lot of flackiness too. i was soo upset because my skin hadn't been this bad in awhile and i felt like i was reliving my memories with my terrible skin. I will admit that i was ready to give up on it. Thank God i didn't!! i kept up with the treatmeant, and started to use less on my face. Oh... here's another mistake i did, i would use a pea size portion for each section of my face ( left cheek, right cheek, forehead, chin..etc) and your only supposed to use a pea size for your ENTIRE face. The irritatiion stoped once i started to use the proper dosage.

It's been over a month now and i can see my skin defiantely improving!! i don't have breakouts really, although i stil have flakes here and there, but hopefully that will improve. If you are using this and your skin looks bad, and you feel like giving up on it please don't!! your skin will get better, it's during those breakouts that it's probably the worst time to quit the treatment. If you are using the 0.1% make sure to also use a good photo stable sunscreen, a moisturizer and a good gentle cleanser.

I'd had hormonal acne for about 4 years. My doctor recommended me to use birth control pills, but it just never helped. After reading about all the benefits Retin A delivers, I decided to try Retin A Micro 0.04%, and I'm glad I did!! I don't have hormonal acne anymore. It also improves my skin texture and tone. It looks like I just have an IPL done all the time. However, it surely dehydrates my skin, but that is much better than having acne! I've used Retin A Micro for about 6 months now, and I am happy with the results so far.

I first had retina prescribed to me for acne 10 years ago when I was 18. I used the cream version, dont remember the concentration, in fact all I remember was that my face was always flaky. I only used one tube worth because my insurance stopped covering it and at the time it wasnt financially worth it for me to repurchase. Fast forward 10 years to six weeks ago. With my 29th birthday approaching I decided to try retina again. My skin is oily with large pores, blackheads in t-zone area, and prone to hormonal breakouts. I was unhappy with my skin texture (red spots from fading breakouts and a deep pited pore on my cheek). All in all not bad skin but not great either. I had recently purchased a clarisonic and was amazed at the results that this produced (less breakouts and more even and healthy looking skin). I figured that adding retina to my skin care routine would not only further improve the appearance of my skin but would also provide me with the anti-aging benefits of vitamin A. I purchased retin-a micro 0.1% (strongest form). I should add that I had previously tried avene diacneal and green cream and they had done absolutely nothing for me... no flaking, nothing so I know my skin is pretty tough and could tolerate the retin-a.
I have been using retin-a micro now 6 times a week for 6 weeks now and have been very impressed. My skin is clear (no breakouts, no little bumps). The texture is much smoother and is very even. The one pore on my cheek is much less noticable. My skin looks plumper, is way less oily, and looks glowy and younger. I can safely say this is the best skin Ive had since I hit puberty. I have also been getting compliments on my skin recently (never, ever happened before.) Someone remarked that they hated me because I had that perfect skin that had never gone through puberty before. Haha. Yeah right. I had two makeovers done recently by regional makeup artists for Sisley and Chanel. Both remarked that I did not need to be on retin-a because I had perfect skin and that I needed to pay more attention to other peoples skin because I was being overly critical of mine. Well, yes, my skin is quite nice now... because of retin-a. They wouldnt have said the same thing if they saw me two months ago. Haha. My husband has also said that I have the best skin now since he has known me. He also said I look five years younger. Yes, this works, but I have had to make some changes to my skincare routine to accomodate this. This is a very strong treatment so products I used before do not work with this. I did not experience any purging with this, and have only had minimal flaking (which only occurs when I am lazy and do not moisterize). When I started this treatment I bought a new cleanser. Previously I was using a foaming one for sensitive skin from Shiseido. I would strongly recommend against using a foaming cleanser because they are very drying and will worsen the drying effect of retin-a... better to get a oil-based cleanser. I am currently using the Lyslait cleansing milk from Sisley which is wonderful but also $$. It is also important to find a good moisterizer. I am using creme reparatrice (restorative facial creme) also from Sisley as day-time creme and this does an amazing job (and helps with redness). I credit these two products with allowing me to use the retin-a 0.1% 6 days a week and experience no flaking. I found that I can use the retin-a in my eye area but my normal eye cream (Chanel rectifiance) stings like crazy so I temporarily using my Sisley creme reparatrice in that area until I can find a better eye cream. I use sisley oil-free foundation and chanel tient Innocent and find that both these foundations work very well with retin-a micro. If you previously used foundations or powders that were drying before you started retin-a do not expect for them to still work for you when you are taking this... most likely they will dry out your skin worse and emphasize dryness. Retin-a changes how your skin behaves so what worked before will not necassarily still work for you. So in summary awesome product if your skin can tolerate it, just remember that you need a supurb moisturizer (good will not cut it) and an excellent sunscreen. If you find your skin stinging take a day (or more) off. Wash your hands and face before you apply and make sure your skin is DRY. Do not apply to wet skin!

My skin does not like this product at all!! I tried to use this for 6 months and the irritation was terrible! I looked like I had a beard of red all the time! My derm said he thought I was allergic to an ingredient and it did not help my acne at all!! A waste of 6 months!!

There is really nothing else that delivers like Micro Retin A. True it leaves your skin dehydrated as heck. Still, it's easier to find a hydrating moisturizer than a real anti aging treatment. For those who suffer from Micro Retin A not delivering anymore after years of use, use sparingly, take a break or whatever. I think that there is a limit on how much your skin will permit exfoliations like this. You have to take breaks, you have to.