Vitamin A Acid (Retin-A) as Acne Treatment

An important acne treatment was developed in the late 1960s and introduced to the market in the early 1970s. This treatment is vitamin-A acid, also known as Retin-A. Retin-A acid is the acidic form of vitamin A. When applied topically, it normalizes the desquamation inside the follicle, thereby helping to loosen the patches of dead material. This treatment has a dramatic positive effect on acnes. Of course Retin-A, or Retin-A acid, like benzoyl peroxide and other topical treatments, is quite irritating. Most patients experience tremendous amounts of inflammation during the first few weeks of therapy. This may sound contradictory as anyone who has appled Retin-A knows that the skin get red and inflamed from the treatment.

This has been an ongoing problem with traditional acne treatments; they are extremely irritating - in fact, they are proinflammatory. And as we know by now, acne is an inflammatory disease. This is particularly important when treating adult patients, especially women, who do not have the oily skin of the adolescent acne sufferer. Until now, adult patients have been stuck in a classic Catch-22 treatment situation; the cure was similar to the problem - both were inflammatory!