WHY YOUR RETINOL ISN'T WORKING

If your retinol isn’t doing much, it may be the type, not the product.

Not all “retinol” is the same.

Most over-the-counter retinol has to go through two conversions in the skin to become active. That makes it gentler, but also weaker.

Prescription tretinoin is already active, and roughly 10–20x stronger. But a lot of my patients can’t tolerate it, at least not at first.

There’s a middle ground most people don’t know about: retinal (retinaldehyde).
It only needs one conversion, so it’s more active than retinol, but not as harsh as tretinoin.

I’ve been using more retinal in my practice lately for exactly this reason.

Next: what to look for when choosing a retinoid.