How to Handle the Tretinoin Purge (and other breakouts) — Teryn

Welcome to the tretinoin purge, the pimple patches and peeled skin are in the back.

Luckily or unluckily rather, I have been dealing with acne especially hormonal breakouts for a long time now. I have created a system for myself that only requires three products in order to handle this.

I have been on tretinoin for almost a year and I have upped the strength of my prescription twice so far. Each time I have gone through a bit of a purge, but they have not beat my initial purge. I’ve been through a lot when it comes to my skin and what really pushed me to see a dermatologist and get on tretinoin is a horrible stress breakout I went through the fall of last year.

The first product is actually free. I love using ice with I have a pimple. Ice helps to reduce redness, inflammation, swelling, and pain caused by the zit. You can wrap the ice in a paper towel or washcloth so you will not get burned from the ice. I also like to use a refrigerated facial roller or spoon for a nice touch.

I rub the ice all over my face prior to starting my skincare routine. The ice makes the rest of the skincare routine go so smoothly and it also helps to make applying makeup a lot easier.

The Peter Thomas Roth Therapeutic Sulfur Mask is the next step. I’m pretty sure I fiirst learned about this mask from the esthetician and Fenty Skin Ambassador, Sean Garrette. Sulfur is great for handling acne. It’s similar to benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid, but sulfur is a more gentle. It works by drying out the acne and absorbing excess oil.

The key to make sure it does not dry your skin out too much is to only leave the mask on for the time suggested on the jar which is ten minutes.

The first major to handling the tretinoin purge is free. Ice is so great for handling acne.

My last step in getting through a breakout is my beloved pimple patches. I try to buy these in bulk and I never travel without them. They will also be on my travel list or any one of my skincare must-haves.

These pimples patches are amazing and they work fast! Even if you wear it for a couple of hours, it will reduce at least some of the swelling and absorb some of the pus. They absorb all the nastiness from your pimple. You can wear them underneath your mask or without one. They sell some that come in clear and matte. They also have some really cute and decorative ones that I always see Madeleine Petsch wear in her YouTube videos.

Speaking of YouTube, feel free to check out the video I did on handling the tretinoin purge. I also have a lot of other great skincare videos.