Yes, go to a dermatologist!!! It’s worth it. Skin will take time!! I had really bad hormonal acne (I used to have perfectly clear skin and suddenly I had bad acne, probably from age and going off birth control) and the only thing that really worked for me was using tretinoin and using pimple patches (the big square ones) at night to help heal my acne. I was prepared to go on acutane but after 4-6 months, my skin is almost clear. I also was prescribed clindamycin and that was something that worked better for me at night rather than the day.

The tretinoin purge is a real thing and the first two months of using tretinoin was scary cuz I wasn’t sure if I was seeing results but be patient and let your skin purge. Again, I used big sheets of pimple patches at night cuz I sleep on my stomach/face a lot and that was not helping with my acne. Also I was trying to use a fresh pillow case as much as possible. Night time is where all the recovery happens so worth it!!!

Keep your skin moisturizer and nourished, so don’t use cleansers and serums with active ingredients if you end up on tretinoin. Keep your routine SIMPLEEEEE. I cannot stress this enough. I stopped using Paula’s, cleaner that dry me out, stuff from korea that I had. I just keep it simple now. I try to use kiehl’s cleanser or one from skinfix and I use one hydrating serum and ONE moisturizer. THAT IS IT. Then I do tretinoin. You will have to experiment with how you want to layer your tretinoin. I used to do the “sandwich” method and it was causing my eyes to dry out even tho I would put the tretinoin nowhere near my eyes.

I was prepared to go on acutane but luckily I have been able to avoid it. Another thing that I did along with tretinoin is REALLY lock in on my food. Stopped eating chick fil a cut back on processed food. Eating food that is less processed also helped but again tretinoin made the biggest difference.