Schedule

This schedule is a general starting point, not a substitute for medical advice.

Rules

• Go slowly and gradually.
• Only proceed to the next week’s schedule if your skin is comfortable with the current week’s applications.
• If your skin is irritated, take additional rest nights as needed. Once your skin has recovered, resume the schedule at the same week that you were on. If needed, go back a week.
• Do not resume applications until your skin barrier has been restored.
• Again, go slow. You cannot speed up the process of your skin adjusting to tretinoin. Going too fast will ultimately slow you down.

Example Schedule of Application

Week	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Applications
Week 1	Apply	Rest	Rest	Apply	Rest	Rest	Rest	2
Week 2	Apply	Rest	Rest	Apply	Rest	Rest	Rest	2
Week 3	Apply	Rest	Apply	Rest	Rest	Apply	Rest	3
Week 4	Rest	Apply	Rest	Rest	Apply	Rest	Apply	3
Week 5	Rest	Apply	Rest	Apply	Rest	Apply	Rest	3
Week 6	Apply	Rest	Apply	Rest	Apply	Rest	Apply	4
Week 7	Rest	Apply	Apply	Rest	Apply	Rest	Apply	4
Week 8	Rest	Apply	Apply	Rest	Apply	Apply	Apply	5
Week 9	Rest	Apply	Apply	Rest	Apply	Apply	Apply	5
Week 10	Rest	Apply	Apply	Apply	Apply	Apply	Apply	6
Week 11	Rest	Apply	Apply	Apply	Apply	Apply	Apply	6

You can then continue with 6 applications per week, or go to daily applications if your skin is comfortable with it.

Increasing Tretinoin Strength

I would not consider using a stronger formulation unless I met all the following conditions:

• moved up to applying tretinoin 6 or 7 days a week for 4 to 6 weeks at the least
• not experiencing any skin issues
• have been using tretinoin for over 4 months

Having said that, and as far as reducing photoaging is concerned, there doesn’t appear to be a need to increase the strength of tretinoin because ultimately, lower and higher strengths lead to similar results ¹.

Footnotes

1. Two Concentrations of Topical Tretinoin (Retinoic Acid) Cause Similar Improvement of Photoaging but Different Degrees of Irritation ↩