Tretinoin - The Most Important Anti-Aging Cream

Left: retinoic acid, Right: Tretinoin 0.1%.

Tretinoin is the only anti-aging cream I truly believe in.

Over the years, I've tried numerous different creams, and none of them even come close to the power of tretinoin.

It's cheap and incredibly effective, to the point where I wouldn't even worry if I forgot to use any other cream and continued only using tretinoin.

However, there are some downsides.

It does require a prescription, and the most important warning is that pregnant women should never use it. Also, for some people who have thinner skin it may be too strong.

But despite these drawbacks, I still consider tretinoin to be the best option out there.

How It Works?

It acts by stimulating collagen production. Cosmetic industries have misled people into thinking that drinking collagen powder will make them younger, but in my experience, it makes very little difference. It's far more important to stimulate the skin itself to build more collagen fibers than drink a supplement and hope to see this effect.

Tretinoin also increases skin cell turnover, speeding up the process of shedding old, damaged skin cells more quickly, revealing newer, healthier skin underneath.

As a bonus, it reduces hyperpigmentation, making the skin clearer and more uniform, and improves skin texture by reducing roughness and making it smoother.

Tretinoin vs Retinoic Acid

On the left side of the picture, you can see another drug: retinoic acid.

Don't bother.

Most companies try to hype it and sell it for more than twice the price of tretinoin, even though tretinoin is 20 times stronger.

I have used it extensively, but to be honest, it didn't show much improvement for me. The only people who should be using it are those with highly sensitive skin or those who couldn't get their doctors to prescribe tretinoin.

Clinically Proven

One thing I respect about tretinoin is how it stood the test of time. It's unbelievable how many studies have tried to dethrone this drug.

As early as the 1960s, topical tretinoin demonstrated clinical potential in a variety of skin disorders, acne, and even showed antitumor effects in a number of basal cell cancers.

In 1995, topical tretinoin was approved by the FDA for the treatment of fine wrinkles, mottled hyperpigmentation, and tactile roughness of facial photodamage.

TL;DR: Tretinoin is Dr VilleMed's favorite anti-aging cream.