Tretinoin Face Cream
Read this leaflet carefully before using tretinoin face cream. This information is for patients who have been prescribed tretinoin cream by a clinician.
What is tretinoin cream and what is it used for?
Tretinoin is a medicine used to lighten dark patches of skin and treat hyperpigmentation, including dark skin patches, melasma, liver spots, age spots, and freckles.
Hyperpigmentation may be caused by pregnancy, birth control pills, hormone medicine, or injury to the skin. Tretinoin works by normalising the growth of superficial skin cells and increasing skin cell turnover, helping produce more even-toned skin cells and clear melanated skin cells.
What you need to know before using this medicine
- You are pregnant or breastfeeding.
- You are planning a pregnancy.
- You are allergic to tretinoin or any other ingredient in the cream.
- You or a family member have ever had skin cancer.
- You are suffering from acute eczema with inflamed, red, dry, or scaly skin.
- You are suffering from rosacea with redness, pimples, or peeling.
If any of these apply to you now or have applied in the past, get advice from your doctor, prescriber, or pharmacist before using tretinoin cream.
Warnings and precautions
- Avoid contact with the mouth, eyes, mucous membranes, and broken, abraded, or eczematous skin.
- Be careful when applying near sensitive areas of skin.
- If the cream accidentally gets into your eyes, rinse with plenty of lukewarm water.
- If you are a woman of childbearing potential, you should not use tretinoin cream unless using contraception during treatment and for one month after stopping treatment.
- Avoid natural and artificial light, including sunlamps. Tretinoin may make skin more sensitive to sunburn.
- Use sunscreen with SPF 30 or above and protective clothing such as a hat when outside.
- If your face becomes sunburnt, stop treatment until your skin has healed.
Tretinoin may have a distinct chemical smell, which can be more noticeable in higher strength formulations. Some people describe it as vinegar-like or garlic-like. This does not affect how well the cream works.
Other medicines and tretinoin
Tell your prescriber or pharmacist if you are taking, have recently taken, or might take any other medicines, including medicines bought without a prescription or herbal medicines.
If you have used products containing sulphur, salicylic acid, benzoyl peroxide, retinol, or chemical abrasives, wait until their effects have subsided before starting tretinoin.
Do not use medicated soaps, cleansers, or scrubbing solutions with a strong drying effect during treatment. Be careful with abrasive soaps, cosmetics, products with high alcohol concentrations, astringents, spices, or lime.
Driving and using machines
Tretinoin is unlikely to affect your ability to drive or operate machines.
How to use tretinoin cream
Tretinoin cream is for topical and external use only. It should only be applied directly to the skin area as directed by your prescriber.
Wash your hands thoroughly before and after applying the cream.
Apply a thin layer to facial skin. Spread and rub onto affected areas.
Apply sun protection to all areas of the face daily.
Speak to your doctor, prescriber, or pharmacist at any point during treatment.
Continued use
If there is no improvement in the hyperpigmented area after 16 weeks of use, discontinue treatment and speak to your prescriber.
If too much is used
Seek immediate medical advice if anyone, including a child, uses too much of this medicine. Take the medicine and container with you.
If you forget to apply it
Carry on as normal. Do not apply a double dose to make up for the missed dose.
If swallowed accidentally
If anyone, including a child, swallows the cream, take them to hospital immediately with the tretinoin cream container if possible.
Possible side effects
Like all medicines, tretinoin cream can cause side effects, although not everyone gets them.
Uncommon side effects
- Acne
- Dry skin
- Redness of the skin
- Increased sebum production
- Photosensitivity reaction
- Itching
- Rash or scaly rash
- Scaling of the skin
- Sunburn
- Application site burning, inflammation, dryness, or redness
Rare side effects
Rare side effects may affect up to 1 in 1,000 people and may include:
- Hypersensitivity
- Underactive thyroid gland
- Headache
- Eye irritation
- Skin burning sensation
- Loss of skin pigmentation
- Skin irritation
If you experience side effects, speak to your doctor, prescriber, or pharmacist. You can also report side effects through the MHRA Yellow Card Scheme at www.mhra.gov.uk/yellowcard or by searching for MHRA Yellow Card in the Google Play or Apple App Store.
How to store this medicine
- Keep out of the sight and reach of children.
- Do not store above 25°C.
- Do not use after the expiry date shown on the dispensing label.
- Protect from sunlight.
- Do not dispose of medicines via wastewater or household waste. Ask your pharmacist how to dispose of medicines no longer required.
Contents of the cream and other information
The active ingredient is tretinoin.
Other ingredients
Aqua purificata, Cetearyl alcohol, Glyceryl stearate, Isohexadecane, Isododecane, Stearyl behenate, Cetyl alcohol, Polyacrylate-13, Polysorbate 60, PEG-75 stearate, Polyisobutene, C13-C15 alkane, Polyurethane-39, Tocopheryl acetate, Ascorbic acid, Sodium bisulfite, Benzoic acid 0.1%, Sorbic acid 0.1%, and Polysorbate 20.
What the medicine looks like
Tretinoin cream is a slightly pale yellow cream.
Compounding Chemist contact information
HUB 30, LondonEast Business & Technical Park, Yew Tree Avenue, Dagenham, RM10 7FN
Telephone: +44 (0) 2037732729
Email: info@cchemist.com
Website: www.cchemist.com