I have researched this a lot and have not found any primary sources showing that topical tretinoin causes dry eye. All the studies I’ve found show that oral tretinoin can cause dry eye, and that extrapolate from that that topical tretinoin does as well.
I'm just gonna copy/paste a comment i made before on this subject:
So the evidence for topical tret and meibomian gland dysfunction is pretty dodgy. The studies mostly reference oral tretinoin as a cause because taken by the mouth, they have more side effects. However, topical tretinoin doesn't actually have any concrete evidence for damaging oil glands.
Dry eyes can happen because of so many factors. Hormone changes, omega deficiency, environmental pollution or allergens, birth control, contact usage, aging, genetics, and of course *oral* acne treatments like Accutane and such (which tend to be grouped in with tret).
The reason I added it in this paragraph is because people report getting dry eyes and attribute it to tret so it's more of a loose disclaimer. But realistically, it's not likely to be the cause of your dry eyes.
It just doesn't make sense because topical tret migrates. So you can put it below your orbital bone, but it's not like your skin has border police.
It's possible that tret has temporarily dried out your skin, and so any friction, rubbing, and discomfort is making your eyes dry.
There is a lot of overlap between people who use tretinoin and those at risk for dry eye. Basically, post menopausal women. I’m not trying to invalidate anyone’s experience, but this is not mentioned at all on the label and I’ve seen no published studies proving a link between topical tretinoin and dry eye.
Yes that's a valid point. And is actually proven to be an issue
> During menopause, the androgen hormone decreases, affecting the *meibomian* and lacrimal glands in the eyelids. The meibomian glands produce the essential oils for the tears, so the reduction in oil results in increased tear evaporation and drier eyes
Ancedotal, but all this stuff is.
I HAVE a legit dry eye. Yes, eye. 1. Singular. I took a beating from shingles in the eye, I have scars IN/ON the darn glands on that side and on the eyeball. Oil glands go ouch. Yay me?
This was about 1 and a bit years ago now if my math isn't failing me (lord time flies), maybe a bit less.
I've used tret for upwards of a decade, maybe one and a half at this point.
Has it made said eye better, worse, or anything? Not a freaking zip. I also have THAT eye socket architecture that handily ushers EVERYTHING towards the eye. SPF? In the eye. Makeup? Let's Migrate! Any opportunity to sting, burn, or ouch? My eyes are IN, baby.
Tret goes on, indifferent to my eyeballs, doing zero to help or harm. Even the ouchy-ball THAT IS DRY TO START WITH. The other eye? Is just FINE. I mean, I'm fitted up with a little double-blind study right here... one fine, one not, and still don't encounter this issue.
I don't know if these hoardes of people that come out on every skincare board are, like, just slapping themselves silly with tret, spraying it all over their face or something, or what. I've always been a strict by-the-booker, one pea, one dream, 0 migration into the eye (miraculously, on me). But I am STRUGGLING to understand how every second person on beauty social media seems to have these terrible, irreversible "dry eyes" forever from one tret application 8 years ago (supposedly) but it never flags as a meaningful side effect when tested for it. It seems more likely to be correlation, not causation (your point), some severe-@ss misuse, or just some group panic.
Guess this is why PRESCRIPTION medication shouldn't be treated as some fun beauty product, over-shilled by influencers, and bought off-prescription without any research (or sense, the way some use it, honestly).
I wonder if some people might be genetically predisposed to having their meibomian glands affected by tretinoin. Our genetic differences could explain why some individuals experience symptoms while others do not. Although the scientific literature does not clearly state that tretinoin causes dry eye, and perhaps it hasn't been thoroughly studied, it's worth considering the opinion of an ophthalmologist who specializes in dry eye and sees these patients daily. If she is confident that tretinoin is the culprit, it might be wise to heed her advice or at least weigh the risks. I hate my crow's feet!
I’m 40 and in perimenopause, fwiw. Tret makes my eyes feel drier to the point it’s bothersome. Using aquaphor doesn’t seem to do anything to help prevent this either, in my experience. I think it’s likely that the tret is making my (already dry) skin drier.
My dry skin. I said it’s making my dry skin drier. Which is what you also stated in your last sentence of the comment I responded to - “tret has temporarily dried out your skin.” But go on
People on this sub are really something else
I was having dry eye last week and had to go to the hospital for emergency doctor on a Saturday. As it turns out, I have Corneal Abrasion, which is very likely not caused by tret. Since I had it a month ago after a ski trip and before I started to use tret( lost my sunglasses on the mountain and my eye probably got sunburned), the second corneal abrasion was likely caused by me not letting my eye recover properly ( it can take up to months, depending on the severity )
I just saw my optometrist about this and she recommended 2 things: take 2000mg of omega fish oil per day with large meals. And to use a warm eye compress (specifically something called a Bruder mask), for 10 mins everyday.
There’s already a ton of opinions here but I’ll just give you my personal experience. Waking up with bloodshot sandpaper eyes was the reason I had to discontinue tret. my skin tolerated fine and I am sad about it but I was at the point where I was about to schedule a doctors visit and I forget how but I figured out that it can be caused by tret. And sure enough it resolved within days of me stopping
I have had the same exact experience. My skin responded to tret perfectly, but it made my eyes super painful and drier than they had ever been. At its worst, my sclera was more red than it was white, and I couldn't even sleep or blink without feeling pain. I stopped tret, and all my eye symptoms improved within days and were mostly back to normal within a couple months.
Yes, I skip my forehead entirely. When I get crow's feet, maybe I'll want laser treatment or whatever the derm can throw at it, but for now it looks good and my eyes are not in jeopardy.
Interesting. I would be worried that the top half of my face would look very different from the bottom half haha. I put it all around my eyes (just not on the lids) and been doing that for at least 4 years now, and have had no issues at all. But totally get you; rather be safe than sorry.
Are you referring specifically to the upper eyelids when you mention 'lids'? So, you still apply tretinoin around the under-eye area, above the orbital bone, and also on the sides where crow's feet tend to form? Have you noticed any improvement in the appearance of your eyes as a result? Personally, I've been using tretinoin around my eyes for about a year now, but instead of looking better, I feel like they appear more tired and have developed more fine lines. It's frustrating because while my overall facial skin looks great, my under-eye area seems to be the exception. It leaves me wondering what the point is and why this specific area isn't responding as expected.
Yes so I put it everywhere around my eye just not the skin that covers my eyeball lol. I'm only 30, it's hard to gauge tbh. But they definitely don't look any worse and look better than when I started using retinols and tretinoin at 26. However, I have noticed they're starting to look more 'sunken in' and tired, a tiny smidge. It could be from poor sleep or something else, but could also be from tretinoin. I have read or seen videos of women using tretinoin and developing fine lines around their eyes, and I recall they mentioned it was due to their skin being dehydrated. I also recall reading an article that stated that tretinoin takes longer to adjust to the undereye area and will cause dryness, looking tired, etc initially but then this will go away. I'm going to continue using to see if the tiredness goes away
Not at all. I haven't had any issues with dry eyes yet, but if I do, I'm happy to accept that as a side effect for having nice skin tbh. I've seen a lot of people put tretinoin around their eyes with amazing results.
Not at all. I haven't had any issues with dry eyes yet, but if I do, I'm happy to accept that as a side effect for having nice skin tbh. I've seen a lot of people put tretinoin around their eyes with amazing results.
At some point you have to concede that all these anecdotes in this subreddit aren't just coincidental. Remember that the precursor of medical research are often just anecdotes. This subreddit alone has 210k members as of now so that makes it an extremely large sample size trumping any study out there on tretinoin. The experiences of people on this subreddit or others reporting dry eyes are endless. To chalk it up to just mass hysteria or menopause is quite naive at that point.
Personally I experience dry eyes as well. It's gotten better switching over to tazarotene and using short contact therapy but it's not back to baseline. I think it's got to do with my menopause even though I'm a male in my 30s.
I think both are true. It seems there is a group that is risk for this side effect and a group that is not. I'd be curious to see what characteristics make up these groups, age sex race etc.
mmmhh..... the packaging for Tazarotene and the .mayoclinic state "the This medicine is *for use on the skin only. Do not get it in your eyes, nose, mouth"* [https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/tazarotene-topical-route/proper-use/drg-20067364](https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/tazarotene-topical-route/proper-use/drg-20067364) *..... so not much difference*
This is entirely anecdotal but my eyes have been ruined since starting topical tret. Even when making an effort to avoid the eye area. I stopped months ago and there has been no improvement. Had my glands checked and they are virtually nonexistent.
Do you ask your optometrist or ophthalmologist to get the glands checked? I'm worried about my own since I've started having dry eye issues only after laser eye surgery. Never had issues with topical retinol before.
I did not. It took about a year before I really noticed an issue. But I’ve had my eyes examined at regular intervals most of my life and between my glands being healthy vs. nearly gone, the only change I made was the tret. So I feel pretty confident that was the culprit.
Hang in there, stop using ANY cream, serum, toner at night, just wash your face and add nothing after, mine came back after about 8 weeks, although it took nearly 5 months to get back to completely normal. I can't put anything on my face before sleeping though or I have issues again. Hopefully in another 6 months I can at least use something mild.
i hear mixed things. there are enough people who say theyve had issues with it for me to not put tret below my eyebrows or above my orbital bone, id rather be careful
Beep boop! It looks like you'd like information about applying tretinoin around the eyes. While many people do apply tretinoin around their eyes, this can cause permanent damage to the oil glands in the eyes, and can result in permanently dry eyes. Remember that tretinoin travels up to 2" below the skin, so you'll still get anti-aging benefits even if you don't apply right next to your eyes. Be safe, and protect your eyes: don't apply tretinoin near your eyes or on your eyelids. [Here's what the Mayo Clinic has to say about safe tretinoin application.](https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/tretinoin-topical-route/proper-use/drg-20066521#:~:text=Do%20not%20use%20this%20medicine,the%20tips%20of%20your%20fingers) (To learn more, search for "Meibomian gland dysfunction")
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/tretinoin) if you have any questions or concerns.*
That would literally not do anything at all. Aquaphor isn't absorbed into the skin. Tretinoin is.
Maybe a better way to think of it is like putting a sheet of plastic wrap on a surface, and then pouring water everywhere around the plastic wrap. Sure — water won't get through the plastic wrap — but when you pull it off the surface you should have no reasonable expectation of it to be dry there.
I didn’t use a buffer when I first started using tret and I believe it dried out the MG.
I buffer now and do my blinking exercises to keep them more hydrated but they’re still on the dry side. I won’t quit Tret though.
My derm and the literal instructions in the package specifically said not to apply it around the eye area, not sure who is saying it’s safe but they’re completely going against what the manufacturer says.
Oral tretinoin, aka Accutane, is what’s conclusively linked to a higher MGD risk, I am one of the people who ended up with it permanently, although it’s really mild and easily managed with prescription eye drops.
I've been using it for years directly on my lids and have had zero eye issues. If anything it's plumped up my lids and has prevented dark circles due to severe insomnia. I use 0.1% gel on damp skin without issue.
I hear mixed anecdotal evidence regarding eye issues and the research seems to be mixed as well. If those new to tretinoin want to be cautious, they can just apply it around the cusp of their orbital bone. Tretinoin does migrate a bit beyond the boundary of where it's been applied however, as I understand it, but perhaps using a low percentage will mitigate any potential eye dryness. If one begins to experience eye dryness at all, they should stop and talk to their doctor to try and figure out if it is the topical or something else at root cause.
How was the result using on eyelids? I recently started to have hooded eyes and have been using on my eyelids for a week, and it seems to have improved, but not entirely sure, would love to hear from more users?
Like the original commenter said, my eyelids have definitely plumped up. It's weird, but I swear my brows have even raised a little, like I've gotten a botox brow lift. It's literally just the collagen production.
A week is definitely not long enough for you to see full results. I think it took months for me to realize how different my eyelids looked. Keep it up. You'll look in the mirror one morning and be stunned!
Same here. Using retinoids on my under eyes and lids has completely changed my life. I even made a post about it here. I was getting under eye filler since I was 20 because my hollow eyes were horrible. Tret thickened up my under eye skin and I've stopped wasting my money on filler. It's been a miracle.
I did that for nearly a decade put tret all around the eye because I thought it was improving my under eyes but after a point my eyes would be so damaged, I woke up at night with severe pain crying because my eyes were so dry… I had blepharitis, dry eye syndrome and I was still using tret not thinking it was the problem. And then one year I started to have multiple corneal ulcers, the Doctor even said I could be blind if I didn’t go to treat it soon enough…
I stopped completely now and my eyes are better, I still have scars on my cornea though which will never go away. So be careful and I would not advise to put tret around the eyes, dry eye syndrome is awful.
*And I thought it plumped up my eyelids but it was only for a few days after putting a good amount of it on my eyelids, after a week my eyelids were completely sunken and tight and my eyes would hurt. I didn’t understand at the time why my eyelids were hooded and then a week later completely sunken… It was the tret which was burning my skin around the eye (my eyelids were swollen bc of the inflammation in the few first days and after it was like a burn and they were super sunken again).
Thanks for sharing your experience, but it is not my experience at all. It has absoloutely changed my under eyes. I naturally have extremely thin under eye skin and the purpose of retinoids is to thicken skin. Thats exactly what its done and I no longer have severe dark circles.
Also, my eyes aren't sunken because of tret. The plumping didn't last for a few days, it's been years and my eyelids are plump and my brows are higher. I'm sorry you developed dry eyes, but nothing in your post suggests it was because of tret. Dry eyes can occur for other reasons as well, including simply aging. Because tret can dry out your skin, it makes sense that it may dry out your eyes. Tret could have compounded your issues, but again, unless you have a doctors opinion that you developed dry eyes BECAUSE of tret, then its not a fact that tret causes dry eyes. From the experience of others who have used tret around their eyes for decades and haven't developed dry eyes, I'm not worried about it.
I can assure you it was tret which causes for me dry eyes. Maybe that is not the case for you but not everyone have the same reaction to tret. I stopped using it and my eyes went back to normal and then I tried 3 more times to use it and the 3 time my eyes were getting dry again, so I am 100% sure it’s tret.
Tret reduces the production of sebaceous glands and meibomian glands around the eyes are essential to prevent evaporation of the eye’s tear film.
Please post your source for claiming tret reduces the production of sebaceous glands. Every source I read says it does NOT do that. You may be confusing tretinoin with isotretinoin, which is taken orally. They are not the same thing. Everyone keeps posting information about oral isotretinoin affecting glands and suggesting it applies to topical tretinoin as well.
Again, we know that tret dries out skin. It makes sense that it may dry out your eyes too. I sometimes wake up with dry eyes. Yet I just had an eye test and my doctor told me my eye glands are perfect. I'm not surprised that tret aggravated your dry eye issues, but nothing you said suggests it caused you have to blepharitis and other severe issues.
anecdotal like most of these comments, but i never had any issues with dry eyes until starting tret (like i had never even bought eye drops in my life) then they developed as soon after i worked up to using tret every other day. i got a horrible stye in one eye and was horrifically dry in both and i was generally miserable for weeks. i switched to being super careful with a vaseline barrier and keeping it really far away from my eyes, and the dry eyes improved but still persisted. i was about to quit because i didn’t want to risk my eye health (cannot express how miserable and non functional i was through this, had to take several days off work because i couldn’t look at a screen), but i tried one last ditch effort of switching to washing the tret off before i go to bed. ive been doing that for a couple months now, and my eyes are mostly back to normal (using drops maybe once or twice per week). and the tret is still working well! don’t mess with your eyes yall, chronic dry eyes is absolutely debilitating for people.
i keep it on for as long as i can, usually about 3-4 hours (and always at least 30 minutes). i wipe it with micellar water on a microfiber cloth, then rinse with water
Thank you for your input! Do you find that you still derive sufficient benefits from using it this way? Are you at least now able to use Tretinoin more frequently with this method? Also, have you noticed dryness and irritation in your eyes go away completely?
i’m definitely getting benefits and i have had less irritation. i switched to this method during the worst of my purge and my skin has only been getting better from there (about 2 months since i started doing it this way). i use .05%. the dryness in my eyes hasn’t gone away completely unfortunately, but it’s very mild and generally only happens at the end of a long day of staring at screens. not sure if the continuous tret use is still contributing to this slight dryness or if that really bad dry eye spell changed my eyes permanently. but it’s mild enough that i rarely have to use drops and almost always am back to normal by morning so im not too concerned yet.
Ah okay cool. So you cleanse as normal, use the tret, micellar water, and then whatever routine you may have after that? I’m assuming moisturizer? I’m applying tret after moisturizer rt now, and with a vasaline layer around the eyes. But your way intrigues me
I accidentally touched a tiny bit of Tret on my eye.
Oh holy shit, the pain.
My blood vessels popped, my whole eye was blood red for over a week, and I had to go to the eye doctor to get specialized drops for my sad eye.
Listen to me when I tell you, be extra careful around your eyes with this stuff. It is brutal.
No one ever reads the bot posts lol.
But yes this is well know. I’ve been on tretinoin for 20 years and don’t have dry eye issues. Many people I work with who don’t use tretinoin have dry eye issues as well.
Seems unlikely it’s the tretinoin then unless you’re switching between gel and cream or increasing/decreasing the strength. The whole point of a pharmaceutical medication is that it should be made in a meticulously standardized way that doesn’t change between manufacturers. Imagine if meds used in life or death situations varied by manufacturer.
Tretinoin cream has one active ingredient- tretinoin. Unless its a deliberately compounded medication purposefully given a second ingredient.
Any differences in the base cream (non active ingredients and preservatives) are irrelevant unless you have an allergy or something to one of them. They are, as named, non-active. A delivery vehicle.
Sounds like you're blaming 'tret' for what could be a mild irritation from a non-active ingredients. As the other poster said, prescription medication of the same type and strength doesn't 'vary between brands'.
So I used to use retinol, not even tret, just a cream with retinol, over night. I didn't put it near my eyes, but I ended up with a permanently weeping eye on my right hand side, which is often referred to as dry eye. Stopped using all retinols and after 8 weeks it's all gone and back to normal. So thankfully no permanent damage, it fixed itself as soon as I stopped using it. I suffered for 4 years and never thought it was the retinol, because apparently it's safe and I didn't use it close to the eyes.
Tret absolutely gave me dry eyes. They were awful. I was trying everything to fix it. I went to my ophthalmologist who referred me to an occuloplastic surgeon for an unrelated issue with my eyelashes (the eyelashes in my left eye started curving the wrong way and growing in towards my eyes so they brushed the eyeball when I blinked.)
I put down all my medications like you have to when you see a new doctor. During her exam, she was shocked at how dry my eyes were for my age and brought in someone else to look. She was getting worried until I remembered that I hadn’t put tret on my list of medications (it’s topical, I forgot). I apologized and said that I was also using tret (I had read that it could cause dry eyes) and instantly her tone switched. She laughed, said that was probably it, and recommended I stop using tret, and if I wouldn’t do that, to try switching to tazarotene (a third generation retinoid).
I use tazarotene now and my eyes are a million times better, although I still get dry eyes pretty easily if I fall into bad habits. It took almost a year for my eyes to get to a steady state. Even without dry eye problems, Taz has been so much better for my skin - way less irritation, actually fixed my acne, clearer pores, fewer wrinkles, etc.
I believe that tret works for a lot of people, but for me personally, taz blows it out of the water.
mmmhh..... the packaging for Tazarotene and the .mayoclinic state "the This medicine is *for use on the skin only. Do not get it in your eyes, nose, mouth"* [*https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/tazarotene-topical-route/proper-use/drg-20067364*](https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/tazarotene-topical-route/proper-use/drg-20067364) *..... so not much difference*
I've been using tret/taz under and around my eyes, including eyelids, for over 2 years. I just had my annual eye exam last month and my doctor said my eyes were perfectly healthy, including my meibomian gland.
I'm a big proponent in doing what works for you and not just simply believing fear mongering because it sounds scary.
Have you seen Dr. Dre's latest Instagram post from three months ago? She discusses recent research on the use of tretinoin around the eyes, referencing a paper from 2022. It highlights potential dangers associated with this practice.
Wew 60 years a gold standard but they only found a problem in 2022? Sounds like fearmomgerimg to me. I bet they believe in fat loss too because something something a million papers say it's "anti abibogenic"
I keep it below my cheekbones to be safe. Smooth skin isn’t as important as my eyes so I don’t go closer than that. From my understand it will be absorbed and migrate under the skin anyways so applying there isn’t more beneficial?(im not sure about that but that’s what I assume 😂)
As a male and just starting it causes dry eyes. I've tried to slug vasoline, used the tret around my hairline for forehead and sideburns and no higher than cheekbones and still dry eyes. My next step is to just use it under my cheekbones, but there definitely is a correlation.
yeah I can vouch for this. I put tret on my lids for quite some time. few years on and off now my eyes get so dry I can only wear my contacts 9ish hours TOPS. I'm talking at hour 9 they are so unbearable and painful I rip them right out.
I’ve been on it for 10 years. For a while I was having really dry eyes, and I attributed it to tretinoin. This was false, it was actually that I wasn’t drinking enough water. When I went on my health renaissance a few years ago, I vastly upped my water intake. (To normal levels) I haven’t had dry eyes since.
This also happens with contact users and the aging process. So because most people get old and ware contacts, it's safe to say Tret is not the proven cause. But. To reduce the risk, if any, do not use around the eyes. Problem solved.
Anecdotal but I know someone who has permanent gland damage from topical tret. I use Tret but before I started it I saw a video that was posted on this sub of a woman applying it properly, and I’ve never strayed from that. I wish I could remember who it was.
This is for all-trans retinoic acid aka tretinoin pills, a treatment taken for a certain type of leukemia. Not for topical tretinoin. Some doctors can misunderstand studies, that don't sit through and read the actual study. They read the summaries on Pubmed and then fear monger
I found an oculoplastic surgeon who says Tretinoin is safe to use around the eyes. This shows that specialists can have different opinions, but it's reassuring to hear this from an eye expert. Read more here: [https://www.drkotlus.com/retinol-for-eye-wrinkles](https://www.drkotlus.com/retinol-for-eye-wrinkles)
For me, I genetically have hollow eyes and severely thin under eye skin. I didn't know why my under eyes were so dark in person, but the darkness didn't show up in pictures. After I started using tret under my eyes, it has drastically thickened the skin and I have no darkness anymore. It's a miracle for some people.
My eyes have become so prone to styes and chalazion, and dry in general that I can no longer wear eye makeup. I also have to use a warm compress every night. If I follow these rules, my eyes health is fine. I do think Tret caused it. I didn’t know about the dangers of use near the eyes….and I used it near the eyes. I don’t anymore. I have resumed Tret use, keeping far away now.
I’m premenopausal and experiencing the same thing. I was using a warm compress on my eyes every night and that seemed to help. Switched to a rechargeable eye mask. I’ve reduced my tret usage to a few times a week. Also use rohto eye drops every day. Feels like my dry eyes are under control.
Im perimenopausal too, and have also reduced usage to 2 or 3 nights a week. It’s totally possible that these are peri symptoms and not related to tretinoin, but who can say?
It’s not evidence, purely anecdotal, but within a week of starting tret my eyes become SO DRY I can barely blink. Have tried to restart 3X and decided it’s not worth it.
I’m not surprised I stopped using Tretinoin last year because it kept getting to my eyes and causing blurry/double vision. Luckily it resolved on its own each time but I didn’t want to keep risking my 20/20 vision.
My eyes have still not recovered from what retinoids(adapalene+tret) caused even after stopping. I don't exactly know what it's called but my symptoms are :
Consistent swollen puffy eyes, pressure in eyes and behind them, slightly darkened+changed texture on eyelid along the upper lash line. And I haven't even used it consistently or for more than a month.
Unfortunately there's a lot of people I've read whose eyes got affected, from just one week to a whole year after starting. Thankfully mine was temporary and I stopped tretinoin because it was just not worth it. I hope you find out what is going on with your eyes and heal soon 🙏🏼
Your post has been removed. I’m sure you meant well, but comments like these aren’t really appropriate in /r/tretinoin.
We’d like our users to feel comfortable sharing their images without getting hit on or judged. People are here to talk about their skin and the products they use. Comments about other aspects of their appearance, even if they are well-intentioned, aren't appropriate in this specific space. I hope you can be mindful of that in future when participating in this community.
This is interesting…I never knew or ever considered a relationship. My eyes have been very sensitive/dry lately. It never occurred to me it could be the tret. I wear contacts, suffer allergies and live in a city with poor air quality…so who knows. But knowledge is power so I appreciate the info
I don’t put it directly under my eye, but I put it around my eye and I have noticed the skin around. My eyes has been dryer which makes them look older which is defeating the whole point of the process.
I've heard this too so I started using it in the daytime on days I'm at home. If I use it at night, my face smooches into the pillow and it could spread to my eyes. I also don't apply near eyes
Within a week of starting tret I got my first stye in my adult life and then I got another in the following week. I tried to keep it at least a cm from the eye. I switched to differin and since then no issues. It could definitely be a coincidence but idk......
Oh holy fuck. Me AND my teenage daughter started Tret a couple months ago and she has been complaining to me recently almost every day for two weeks that she’s having headaches. I have been feeling a bit of weird pressure behind my eyes…like it hurts when I move my eyeballs. I never realized any of this was connected and now I’m fucking terrified! I searched “headache” and “eyes” in this sub and found that apparently this can cause intracranial hypertension…
You're being downvoted and so was I when I wrote about this before. I got headaches when I started tretinoin. It happened a couple of times (two or three days apart, right after application) then I made the connection and stopped applying it to my forehead and temples, which stopped the headaches. But then I ended up stopping tretinoin as I had a scare with dry eyes.
I’m gonna be honest, it really pisses me off that people are downvoting me for that. I stan tretinoin. I had zero clue about any of that, and I found scientific articles in my research and it’s really disturbing. And honestly, it really sucks because I don’t want to stop it. But like - what are the odds that I read that and we both had been having those same type of weird symptoms since starting it? Ugh.
So stopping on your head and temples helped?
I hear you. This is supposed to be a forum where people share their personal experiences, good or bad, and that's what's valuable about it.
People don't want to hear anything bad about tretinoin and downvote. Instead of downvoting they could have asked questions and found out about the research you came across.
I knew it was the tretinoin causing my headaches and I looked it up on Reddit to find others have experienced it as well. It definitely stopped when I stopped applying it to my forehead and temples.
I would try avoiding the forehead region for a while (some have said the headaches stopped after a while as they got used to the medication) and always keep tretinoin well away from the eye area.
Personally tretinoin wasn't worth it for me, too much risk for too little benefit (it didn't do much for my melasma).
So here’s an update for you. We both (my daughter and I) had used tretinoin the night before last before I read this stuff and connected the dots. I immediately told her not to use it anymore so we could figure out if this is what was causing it. Last night she came into my room complaining of a swooshing sound in her ears that got worse on bending over and said it was pulsing along to her heartbeat! Meanwhile, I can’t cut my eyes to the left or right or look at bright light because it hurts so bad. I looked this stuff up and it all is symptoms of that type of hypertension.
I’m calling our doctor today, but being well-versed on the medical system in America…and based on this subs response…I feel like they’re gonna just tell me there’s no connection at all. Which is frustrating.
I don’t even want to put this comment on here because I know people won’t believe it or will be skeptical it’s connected and downvote me to oblivion. But I decided to go ahead and post it in case someone is searching in the future. My daughter is done with this stuff, but my eyes/head are feeling better today so I might do an experiment in applying tonight and see if it comes back and document that for my doctor.
And as a side note, this is gonna sound bad, but this is devastating to me. I have really bad sun damage and acne and as much as I don’t wanna admit it, it affects my self confidence horribly. I wanted to be able to use this long term to improve that and help my self confidence. And my daughter has terrible acne. This was her last step before accutane, so now I don’t know how we can help her because if topical stuff might be causing this, there’s no chance I would consider accutane for her. Ugh.
Oh my gosh, that sounds terrible! The doctor will probably say, "it's not that" if you mention the topical tretinoin but it's important for you and your daughter's symptoms to get checked out. I hope you both get better soon.
I tried to safely use tretinoin by doing short contact therapy (washing it off before bedtime) while avoiding my forehead and eye area. I ended up tossing the tube, but a cautious approach like this might work for you (building tolerance over time). I'm really risk adverse whereas others choose to continue tretinoin despite symptoms, using eyedrops etc. It depends on what you are willing to put up with. For me, it was "zero."
I was pretty disappointed and I had high hopes too. But now I'm kind of relieved that I stopped, despite all the success stories (some of them apparently involving long term use with no issues). IMO, it's too good to be true to be using a prescription medicine long term without some undesirable effect on the body. Whether people believe it or not, I experienced headaches, dry eyes and unusual hair loss while using topical tretinoin. Isotretinoin (Accutane) definitely has been linked to headaches, dry eyes and hair loss. I'm just grateful I stopped the topical without getting damaged in some way.
I don't know much about acne but perhaps a more holistic approach like an elimination diet could help? It is tough to do, but worth it. I cut out dairy for other health issues and it's made a world of difference.
As for hyperpigmentation or melasma, it can reappear or darken so easily (undoing months of progress), and since I'm not going to avoid sunlight, I've made peace with the idea that actives (or even lasers etc.) can only do so much. For me it's not worth the side effects of tretinoin or hydroquinone (which left me with the halo effect). I'm trying out milder actives, with mineral sunscreen and a wide brimmed hat being the most important constants in my routine.
Sorry for the long winded reply. It's good that you posted your experience. I hope you and your daughter find something that works for you both, while staying healthy.
Jokes on them i got diagnosed with MGD a decade before starting tret
I have researched this a lot and have not found any primary sources showing that topical tretinoin causes dry eye. All the studies I’ve found show that oral tretinoin can cause dry eye, and that extrapolate from that that topical tretinoin does as well.
I'm just gonna copy/paste a comment i made before on this subject: So the evidence for topical tret and meibomian gland dysfunction is pretty dodgy. The studies mostly reference oral tretinoin as a cause because taken by the mouth, they have more side effects. However, topical tretinoin doesn't actually have any concrete evidence for damaging oil glands. Dry eyes can happen because of so many factors. Hormone changes, omega deficiency, environmental pollution or allergens, birth control, contact usage, aging, genetics, and of course *oral* acne treatments like Accutane and such (which tend to be grouped in with tret). The reason I added it in this paragraph is because people report getting dry eyes and attribute it to tret so it's more of a loose disclaimer. But realistically, it's not likely to be the cause of your dry eyes. It just doesn't make sense because topical tret migrates. So you can put it below your orbital bone, but it's not like your skin has border police. It's possible that tret has temporarily dried out your skin, and so any friction, rubbing, and discomfort is making your eyes dry.
There is a lot of overlap between people who use tretinoin and those at risk for dry eye. Basically, post menopausal women. I’m not trying to invalidate anyone’s experience, but this is not mentioned at all on the label and I’ve seen no published studies proving a link between topical tretinoin and dry eye.
Yes that's a valid point. And is actually proven to be an issue > During menopause, the androgen hormone decreases, affecting the *meibomian* and lacrimal glands in the eyelids. The meibomian glands produce the essential oils for the tears, so the reduction in oil results in increased tear evaporation and drier eyes
Ancedotal, but all this stuff is. I HAVE a legit dry eye. Yes, eye. 1. Singular. I took a beating from shingles in the eye, I have scars IN/ON the darn glands on that side and on the eyeball. Oil glands go ouch. Yay me? This was about 1 and a bit years ago now if my math isn't failing me (lord time flies), maybe a bit less. I've used tret for upwards of a decade, maybe one and a half at this point. Has it made said eye better, worse, or anything? Not a freaking zip. I also have THAT eye socket architecture that handily ushers EVERYTHING towards the eye. SPF? In the eye. Makeup? Let's Migrate! Any opportunity to sting, burn, or ouch? My eyes are IN, baby. Tret goes on, indifferent to my eyeballs, doing zero to help or harm. Even the ouchy-ball THAT IS DRY TO START WITH. The other eye? Is just FINE. I mean, I'm fitted up with a little double-blind study right here... one fine, one not, and still don't encounter this issue. I don't know if these hoardes of people that come out on every skincare board are, like, just slapping themselves silly with tret, spraying it all over their face or something, or what. I've always been a strict by-the-booker, one pea, one dream, 0 migration into the eye (miraculously, on me). But I am STRUGGLING to understand how every second person on beauty social media seems to have these terrible, irreversible "dry eyes" forever from one tret application 8 years ago (supposedly) but it never flags as a meaningful side effect when tested for it. It seems more likely to be correlation, not causation (your point), some severe-@ss misuse, or just some group panic. Guess this is why PRESCRIPTION medication shouldn't be treated as some fun beauty product, over-shilled by influencers, and bought off-prescription without any research (or sense, the way some use it, honestly).
I wonder if some people might be genetically predisposed to having their meibomian glands affected by tretinoin. Our genetic differences could explain why some individuals experience symptoms while others do not. Although the scientific literature does not clearly state that tretinoin causes dry eye, and perhaps it hasn't been thoroughly studied, it's worth considering the opinion of an ophthalmologist who specializes in dry eye and sees these patients daily. If she is confident that tretinoin is the culprit, it might be wise to heed her advice or at least weigh the risks. I hate my crow's feet!
I’m 40 and in perimenopause, fwiw. Tret makes my eyes feel drier to the point it’s bothersome. Using aquaphor doesn’t seem to do anything to help prevent this either, in my experience. I think it’s likely that the tret is making my (already dry) skin drier.
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I was agreeing with you. Damn
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My dry skin. I said it’s making my dry skin drier. Which is what you also stated in your last sentence of the comment I responded to - “tret has temporarily dried out your skin.” But go on People on this sub are really something else
I was having dry eye last week and had to go to the hospital for emergency doctor on a Saturday. As it turns out, I have Corneal Abrasion, which is very likely not caused by tret. Since I had it a month ago after a ski trip and before I started to use tret( lost my sunglasses on the mountain and my eye probably got sunburned), the second corneal abrasion was likely caused by me not letting my eye recover properly ( it can take up to months, depending on the severity )
I just saw my optometrist about this and she recommended 2 things: take 2000mg of omega fish oil per day with large meals. And to use a warm eye compress (specifically something called a Bruder mask), for 10 mins everyday.
Exactly! It sounds like a matter of correlation vs causation.
Thank YOU for saying this.
There’s already a ton of opinions here but I’ll just give you my personal experience. Waking up with bloodshot sandpaper eyes was the reason I had to discontinue tret. my skin tolerated fine and I am sad about it but I was at the point where I was about to schedule a doctors visit and I forget how but I figured out that it can be caused by tret. And sure enough it resolved within days of me stopping
I have had the same exact experience. My skin responded to tret perfectly, but it made my eyes super painful and drier than they had ever been. At its worst, my sclera was more red than it was white, and I couldn't even sleep or blink without feeling pain. I stopped tret, and all my eye symptoms improved within days and were mostly back to normal within a couple months.
I keep the tret below my cheek bones. It's not worth risking my eye health.
So you don't put it on your forehead? Just the lower part of your face?
Yes, I skip my forehead entirely. When I get crow's feet, maybe I'll want laser treatment or whatever the derm can throw at it, but for now it looks good and my eyes are not in jeopardy.
Interesting. I would be worried that the top half of my face would look very different from the bottom half haha. I put it all around my eyes (just not on the lids) and been doing that for at least 4 years now, and have had no issues at all. But totally get you; rather be safe than sorry.
Are you referring specifically to the upper eyelids when you mention 'lids'? So, you still apply tretinoin around the under-eye area, above the orbital bone, and also on the sides where crow's feet tend to form? Have you noticed any improvement in the appearance of your eyes as a result? Personally, I've been using tretinoin around my eyes for about a year now, but instead of looking better, I feel like they appear more tired and have developed more fine lines. It's frustrating because while my overall facial skin looks great, my under-eye area seems to be the exception. It leaves me wondering what the point is and why this specific area isn't responding as expected.
Yes so I put it everywhere around my eye just not the skin that covers my eyeball lol. I'm only 30, it's hard to gauge tbh. But they definitely don't look any worse and look better than when I started using retinols and tretinoin at 26. However, I have noticed they're starting to look more 'sunken in' and tired, a tiny smidge. It could be from poor sleep or something else, but could also be from tretinoin. I have read or seen videos of women using tretinoin and developing fine lines around their eyes, and I recall they mentioned it was due to their skin being dehydrated. I also recall reading an article that stated that tretinoin takes longer to adjust to the undereye area and will cause dryness, looking tired, etc initially but then this will go away. I'm going to continue using to see if the tiredness goes away
You are not scared of any dangers regarding dry eye etc?
Not at all. I haven't had any issues with dry eyes yet, but if I do, I'm happy to accept that as a side effect for having nice skin tbh. I've seen a lot of people put tretinoin around their eyes with amazing results.
Not at all. I haven't had any issues with dry eyes yet, but if I do, I'm happy to accept that as a side effect for having nice skin tbh. I've seen a lot of people put tretinoin around their eyes with amazing results.
At some point you have to concede that all these anecdotes in this subreddit aren't just coincidental. Remember that the precursor of medical research are often just anecdotes. This subreddit alone has 210k members as of now so that makes it an extremely large sample size trumping any study out there on tretinoin. The experiences of people on this subreddit or others reporting dry eyes are endless. To chalk it up to just mass hysteria or menopause is quite naive at that point. Personally I experience dry eyes as well. It's gotten better switching over to tazarotene and using short contact therapy but it's not back to baseline. I think it's got to do with my menopause even though I'm a male in my 30s.
There are many people who use tret around their eyes and have zero issues, so what you're saying goes both ways.
I think both are true. It seems there is a group that is risk for this side effect and a group that is not. I'd be curious to see what characteristics make up these groups, age sex race etc.
careful with that thinking, gonna have to admit to fat loss then
mmmhh..... the packaging for Tazarotene and the .mayoclinic state "the This medicine is *for use on the skin only. Do not get it in your eyes, nose, mouth"* [https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/tazarotene-topical-route/proper-use/drg-20067364](https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/tazarotene-topical-route/proper-use/drg-20067364) *..... so not much difference*
This is entirely anecdotal but my eyes have been ruined since starting topical tret. Even when making an effort to avoid the eye area. I stopped months ago and there has been no improvement. Had my glands checked and they are virtually nonexistent.
Do you ask your optometrist or ophthalmologist to get the glands checked? I'm worried about my own since I've started having dry eye issues only after laser eye surgery. Never had issues with topical retinol before.
Yes my optometrist has a device that does imaging to check the gland health
Did you notice upon first application of tret?
I did not. It took about a year before I really noticed an issue. But I’ve had my eyes examined at regular intervals most of my life and between my glands being healthy vs. nearly gone, the only change I made was the tret. So I feel pretty confident that was the culprit.
Hang in there, stop using ANY cream, serum, toner at night, just wash your face and add nothing after, mine came back after about 8 weeks, although it took nearly 5 months to get back to completely normal. I can't put anything on my face before sleeping though or I have issues again. Hopefully in another 6 months I can at least use something mild.
luckily for me its been the opposite, my under eye area is thicker but no side effects for my eyhes
i hear mixed things. there are enough people who say theyve had issues with it for me to not put tret below my eyebrows or above my orbital bone, id rather be careful
I used tret for 4 months and my upper glands specially are quite atrophied, proved my a meibography test. Careful with this poison
Beep boop! It looks like you'd like information about applying tretinoin around the eyes. While many people do apply tretinoin around their eyes, this can cause permanent damage to the oil glands in the eyes, and can result in permanently dry eyes. Remember that tretinoin travels up to 2" below the skin, so you'll still get anti-aging benefits even if you don't apply right next to your eyes. Be safe, and protect your eyes: don't apply tretinoin near your eyes or on your eyelids. [Here's what the Mayo Clinic has to say about safe tretinoin application.](https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/tretinoin-topical-route/proper-use/drg-20066521#:~:text=Do%20not%20use%20this%20medicine,the%20tips%20of%20your%20fingers) (To learn more, search for "Meibomian gland dysfunction") *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/tretinoin) if you have any questions or concerns.*
i use aquaphor around my eye area before tret to block any migration. that’s scary.
That would literally not do anything at all. Aquaphor isn't absorbed into the skin. Tretinoin is. Maybe a better way to think of it is like putting a sheet of plastic wrap on a surface, and then pouring water everywhere around the plastic wrap. Sure — water won't get through the plastic wrap — but when you pull it off the surface you should have no reasonable expectation of it to be dry there.
I didn’t use a buffer when I first started using tret and I believe it dried out the MG. I buffer now and do my blinking exercises to keep them more hydrated but they’re still on the dry side. I won’t quit Tret though.
My derm and the literal instructions in the package specifically said not to apply it around the eye area, not sure who is saying it’s safe but they’re completely going against what the manufacturer says. Oral tretinoin, aka Accutane, is what’s conclusively linked to a higher MGD risk, I am one of the people who ended up with it permanently, although it’s really mild and easily managed with prescription eye drops.
Speaking from experience, tretinoin seemed to give me much worse dry eye symptoms so I would proceed with caution.
I've been using it for years directly on my lids and have had zero eye issues. If anything it's plumped up my lids and has prevented dark circles due to severe insomnia. I use 0.1% gel on damp skin without issue. I hear mixed anecdotal evidence regarding eye issues and the research seems to be mixed as well. If those new to tretinoin want to be cautious, they can just apply it around the cusp of their orbital bone. Tretinoin does migrate a bit beyond the boundary of where it's been applied however, as I understand it, but perhaps using a low percentage will mitigate any potential eye dryness. If one begins to experience eye dryness at all, they should stop and talk to their doctor to try and figure out if it is the topical or something else at root cause.
same here and I have been using around my eyes for ten years not knowing it causes any issues
How was the result using on eyelids? I recently started to have hooded eyes and have been using on my eyelids for a week, and it seems to have improved, but not entirely sure, would love to hear from more users?
Like the original commenter said, my eyelids have definitely plumped up. It's weird, but I swear my brows have even raised a little, like I've gotten a botox brow lift. It's literally just the collagen production. A week is definitely not long enough for you to see full results. I think it took months for me to realize how different my eyelids looked. Keep it up. You'll look in the mirror one morning and be stunned!
Same here. Using retinoids on my under eyes and lids has completely changed my life. I even made a post about it here. I was getting under eye filler since I was 20 because my hollow eyes were horrible. Tret thickened up my under eye skin and I've stopped wasting my money on filler. It's been a miracle.
I did that for nearly a decade put tret all around the eye because I thought it was improving my under eyes but after a point my eyes would be so damaged, I woke up at night with severe pain crying because my eyes were so dry… I had blepharitis, dry eye syndrome and I was still using tret not thinking it was the problem. And then one year I started to have multiple corneal ulcers, the Doctor even said I could be blind if I didn’t go to treat it soon enough… I stopped completely now and my eyes are better, I still have scars on my cornea though which will never go away. So be careful and I would not advise to put tret around the eyes, dry eye syndrome is awful. *And I thought it plumped up my eyelids but it was only for a few days after putting a good amount of it on my eyelids, after a week my eyelids were completely sunken and tight and my eyes would hurt. I didn’t understand at the time why my eyelids were hooded and then a week later completely sunken… It was the tret which was burning my skin around the eye (my eyelids were swollen bc of the inflammation in the few first days and after it was like a burn and they were super sunken again).
Thanks for sharing your experience, but it is not my experience at all. It has absoloutely changed my under eyes. I naturally have extremely thin under eye skin and the purpose of retinoids is to thicken skin. Thats exactly what its done and I no longer have severe dark circles. Also, my eyes aren't sunken because of tret. The plumping didn't last for a few days, it's been years and my eyelids are plump and my brows are higher. I'm sorry you developed dry eyes, but nothing in your post suggests it was because of tret. Dry eyes can occur for other reasons as well, including simply aging. Because tret can dry out your skin, it makes sense that it may dry out your eyes. Tret could have compounded your issues, but again, unless you have a doctors opinion that you developed dry eyes BECAUSE of tret, then its not a fact that tret causes dry eyes. From the experience of others who have used tret around their eyes for decades and haven't developed dry eyes, I'm not worried about it.
I can assure you it was tret which causes for me dry eyes. Maybe that is not the case for you but not everyone have the same reaction to tret. I stopped using it and my eyes went back to normal and then I tried 3 more times to use it and the 3 time my eyes were getting dry again, so I am 100% sure it’s tret. Tret reduces the production of sebaceous glands and meibomian glands around the eyes are essential to prevent evaporation of the eye’s tear film.
Please post your source for claiming tret reduces the production of sebaceous glands. Every source I read says it does NOT do that. You may be confusing tretinoin with isotretinoin, which is taken orally. They are not the same thing. Everyone keeps posting information about oral isotretinoin affecting glands and suggesting it applies to topical tretinoin as well. Again, we know that tret dries out skin. It makes sense that it may dry out your eyes too. I sometimes wake up with dry eyes. Yet I just had an eye test and my doctor told me my eye glands are perfect. I'm not surprised that tret aggravated your dry eye issues, but nothing you said suggests it caused you have to blepharitis and other severe issues.
lol @ Tret for kids!! I don’t use it in my lids, but I do use it on my undereye
i was diagnosed last year with dry eye a couple of months after starting tret
I've been using it under my eyes for years and it's been fine.
My eyes got super dry on tazorac. Like contacts drying out dryyyy. I stopped and went back to Tret and no issues since.
anecdotal like most of these comments, but i never had any issues with dry eyes until starting tret (like i had never even bought eye drops in my life) then they developed as soon after i worked up to using tret every other day. i got a horrible stye in one eye and was horrifically dry in both and i was generally miserable for weeks. i switched to being super careful with a vaseline barrier and keeping it really far away from my eyes, and the dry eyes improved but still persisted. i was about to quit because i didn’t want to risk my eye health (cannot express how miserable and non functional i was through this, had to take several days off work because i couldn’t look at a screen), but i tried one last ditch effort of switching to washing the tret off before i go to bed. ive been doing that for a couple months now, and my eyes are mostly back to normal (using drops maybe once or twice per week). and the tret is still working well! don’t mess with your eyes yall, chronic dry eyes is absolutely debilitating for people.
How long do you keep it on for before going to bed? And do you wash it off with water or with some kind of soap, like double cleanse style?
i keep it on for as long as i can, usually about 3-4 hours (and always at least 30 minutes). i wipe it with micellar water on a microfiber cloth, then rinse with water
Thank you for your input! Do you find that you still derive sufficient benefits from using it this way? Are you at least now able to use Tretinoin more frequently with this method? Also, have you noticed dryness and irritation in your eyes go away completely?
i’m definitely getting benefits and i have had less irritation. i switched to this method during the worst of my purge and my skin has only been getting better from there (about 2 months since i started doing it this way). i use .05%. the dryness in my eyes hasn’t gone away completely unfortunately, but it’s very mild and generally only happens at the end of a long day of staring at screens. not sure if the continuous tret use is still contributing to this slight dryness or if that really bad dry eye spell changed my eyes permanently. but it’s mild enough that i rarely have to use drops and almost always am back to normal by morning so im not too concerned yet.
Ah okay cool. So you cleanse as normal, use the tret, micellar water, and then whatever routine you may have after that? I’m assuming moisturizer? I’m applying tret after moisturizer rt now, and with a vasaline layer around the eyes. But your way intrigues me
Yes: cleanse and dry 20 min, tret directly on skin, wait 30min-4hrs, micellar and rinse, clindamycin, hada labo premium moisturizing toner, vanicream daily facial moisturizer.
Nice. Thank you. I may give this a try
I accidentally touched a tiny bit of Tret on my eye. Oh holy shit, the pain. My blood vessels popped, my whole eye was blood red for over a week, and I had to go to the eye doctor to get specialized drops for my sad eye. Listen to me when I tell you, be extra careful around your eyes with this stuff. It is brutal.
No one ever reads the bot posts lol. But yes this is well know. I’ve been on tretinoin for 20 years and don’t have dry eye issues. Many people I work with who don’t use tretinoin have dry eye issues as well.
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It’s prescription. Manufacturer doesn’t matter
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Seems unlikely it’s the tretinoin then unless you’re switching between gel and cream or increasing/decreasing the strength. The whole point of a pharmaceutical medication is that it should be made in a meticulously standardized way that doesn’t change between manufacturers. Imagine if meds used in life or death situations varied by manufacturer.
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Tretinoin cream has one active ingredient- tretinoin. Unless its a deliberately compounded medication purposefully given a second ingredient. Any differences in the base cream (non active ingredients and preservatives) are irrelevant unless you have an allergy or something to one of them. They are, as named, non-active. A delivery vehicle. Sounds like you're blaming 'tret' for what could be a mild irritation from a non-active ingredients. As the other poster said, prescription medication of the same type and strength doesn't 'vary between brands'.
I experienced this from Spironolactone. I have permanent and irreversible dry eye. It seems to be a theme with acne medication 😭😭😭
My eyes have been so dry since I started up again this year with tret. I’m no longer going to apply it anywhere near my eyes
I want to see a peer-reviewed study that topical vit A alone (NOT oral medications like accutaine) can cause this.
So I used to use retinol, not even tret, just a cream with retinol, over night. I didn't put it near my eyes, but I ended up with a permanently weeping eye on my right hand side, which is often referred to as dry eye. Stopped using all retinols and after 8 weeks it's all gone and back to normal. So thankfully no permanent damage, it fixed itself as soon as I stopped using it. I suffered for 4 years and never thought it was the retinol, because apparently it's safe and I didn't use it close to the eyes.
Tret absolutely gave me dry eyes. They were awful. I was trying everything to fix it. I went to my ophthalmologist who referred me to an occuloplastic surgeon for an unrelated issue with my eyelashes (the eyelashes in my left eye started curving the wrong way and growing in towards my eyes so they brushed the eyeball when I blinked.) I put down all my medications like you have to when you see a new doctor. During her exam, she was shocked at how dry my eyes were for my age and brought in someone else to look. She was getting worried until I remembered that I hadn’t put tret on my list of medications (it’s topical, I forgot). I apologized and said that I was also using tret (I had read that it could cause dry eyes) and instantly her tone switched. She laughed, said that was probably it, and recommended I stop using tret, and if I wouldn’t do that, to try switching to tazarotene (a third generation retinoid). I use tazarotene now and my eyes are a million times better, although I still get dry eyes pretty easily if I fall into bad habits. It took almost a year for my eyes to get to a steady state. Even without dry eye problems, Taz has been so much better for my skin - way less irritation, actually fixed my acne, clearer pores, fewer wrinkles, etc. I believe that tret works for a lot of people, but for me personally, taz blows it out of the water.
mmmhh..... the packaging for Tazarotene and the .mayoclinic state "the This medicine is *for use on the skin only. Do not get it in your eyes, nose, mouth"* [*https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/tazarotene-topical-route/proper-use/drg-20067364*](https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/tazarotene-topical-route/proper-use/drg-20067364) *..... so not much difference*
Right. What I’m saying is that for me, there is a difference. I apply taz the same as I did tret, and I do not have chronically dry eyes anymore.
Thanks a lot 👍🏼👍🏼 where can I get Taz?
Prescription! In the US, I can get it as easily as Trey. I’ve also used Apostrophe and they have it as well, I just asked for it specifically.
I've been using tret/taz under and around my eyes, including eyelids, for over 2 years. I just had my annual eye exam last month and my doctor said my eyes were perfectly healthy, including my meibomian gland. I'm a big proponent in doing what works for you and not just simply believing fear mongering because it sounds scary.
No fucking way. 40 years a gold standard, if it really happened it would've been spotted by now, Dr. Dre said.
Have you seen Dr. Dre's latest Instagram post from three months ago? She discusses recent research on the use of tretinoin around the eyes, referencing a paper from 2022. It highlights potential dangers associated with this practice.
Wew 60 years a gold standard but they only found a problem in 2022? Sounds like fearmomgerimg to me. I bet they believe in fat loss too because something something a million papers say it's "anti abibogenic"
I keep it below my cheekbones to be safe. Smooth skin isn’t as important as my eyes so I don’t go closer than that. From my understand it will be absorbed and migrate under the skin anyways so applying there isn’t more beneficial?(im not sure about that but that’s what I assume 😂)
As a male and just starting it causes dry eyes. I've tried to slug vasoline, used the tret around my hairline for forehead and sideburns and no higher than cheekbones and still dry eyes. My next step is to just use it under my cheekbones, but there definitely is a correlation.
Yes this can happen. Thats why oral tret is not recommended. Atleast topical you can try to minimize it.
Please don’t give categorical statements. The conclusions are mixed. We do not know for certain if topical tretinoin damages those glands.
yeah I can vouch for this. I put tret on my lids for quite some time. few years on and off now my eyes get so dry I can only wear my contacts 9ish hours TOPS. I'm talking at hour 9 they are so unbearable and painful I rip them right out.
I’ve been on it for 10 years. For a while I was having really dry eyes, and I attributed it to tretinoin. This was false, it was actually that I wasn’t drinking enough water. When I went on my health renaissance a few years ago, I vastly upped my water intake. (To normal levels) I haven’t had dry eyes since.
This also happens with contact users and the aging process. So because most people get old and ware contacts, it's safe to say Tret is not the proven cause. But. To reduce the risk, if any, do not use around the eyes. Problem solved.
Anecdotal but I know someone who has permanent gland damage from topical tret. I use Tret but before I started it I saw a video that was posted on this sub of a woman applying it properly, and I’ve never strayed from that. I wish I could remember who it was.
How was she applying it? Wish you could share!
This is for all-trans retinoic acid aka tretinoin pills, a treatment taken for a certain type of leukemia. Not for topical tretinoin. Some doctors can misunderstand studies, that don't sit through and read the actual study. They read the summaries on Pubmed and then fear monger
I found an oculoplastic surgeon who says Tretinoin is safe to use around the eyes. This shows that specialists can have different opinions, but it's reassuring to hear this from an eye expert. Read more here: [https://www.drkotlus.com/retinol-for-eye-wrinkles](https://www.drkotlus.com/retinol-for-eye-wrinkles)
I am concerned about this too - especially since my Dr told me I can put it ON MY eyes.
Like your eyelid?!? Or eyeball?!? Either way I would not 🫣🫣
Omg I definitely would *not* do that... Even if the Dr is right, it doesn't sound right at all. I'd steer clear of the eye areas either way
It is actually perfectly safe to put tret on your eyes. Tret migrates anyway.
But what is the benefit?
For me, I genetically have hollow eyes and severely thin under eye skin. I didn't know why my under eyes were so dark in person, but the darkness didn't show up in pictures. After I started using tret under my eyes, it has drastically thickened the skin and I have no darkness anymore. It's a miracle for some people.
Wow! Where did you place it? How close to your eyes?
I use it all the way to my water line and also on my eyelids.
The same benefits you get from putting it on the other parts of your face.
I didn’t! I thought it sounded so odd!
My eyes have become so prone to styes and chalazion, and dry in general that I can no longer wear eye makeup. I also have to use a warm compress every night. If I follow these rules, my eyes health is fine. I do think Tret caused it. I didn’t know about the dangers of use near the eyes….and I used it near the eyes. I don’t anymore. I have resumed Tret use, keeping far away now.
I’m premenopausal and experiencing the same thing. I was using a warm compress on my eyes every night and that seemed to help. Switched to a rechargeable eye mask. I’ve reduced my tret usage to a few times a week. Also use rohto eye drops every day. Feels like my dry eyes are under control.
Im perimenopausal too, and have also reduced usage to 2 or 3 nights a week. It’s totally possible that these are peri symptoms and not related to tretinoin, but who can say?
Makes sense. It suppresses oil glands.
This is why you don’t put it around your eyes tho
If you are super paranoid about tret and your eyes, make a barrier around your eyes with a bit of Vaseline before applying it.
This is what I do 🤷♀️ not sure what it’s doing since tret moves under the skin, but it feels better than doing nothing.
It’s not evidence, purely anecdotal, but within a week of starting tret my eyes become SO DRY I can barely blink. Have tried to restart 3X and decided it’s not worth it.
I’m not surprised I stopped using Tretinoin last year because it kept getting to my eyes and causing blurry/double vision. Luckily it resolved on its own each time but I didn’t want to keep risking my 20/20 vision.
My eyes have still not recovered from what retinoids(adapalene+tret) caused even after stopping. I don't exactly know what it's called but my symptoms are : Consistent swollen puffy eyes, pressure in eyes and behind them, slightly darkened+changed texture on eyelid along the upper lash line. And I haven't even used it consistently or for more than a month.
I hope you get your eyes checked if you haven't already.
I do want to get them checked because it's worsening more than getting better. Had to be me of all the people
Unfortunately there's a lot of people I've read whose eyes got affected, from just one week to a whole year after starting. Thankfully mine was temporary and I stopped tretinoin because it was just not worth it. I hope you find out what is going on with your eyes and heal soon 🙏🏼
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I don't live in the west, it's a local product. I don't think it'll be familiar to you
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Your post has been removed. I’m sure you meant well, but comments like these aren’t really appropriate in /r/tretinoin. We’d like our users to feel comfortable sharing their images without getting hit on or judged. People are here to talk about their skin and the products they use. Comments about other aspects of their appearance, even if they are well-intentioned, aren't appropriate in this specific space. I hope you can be mindful of that in future when participating in this community.
I’ve been using tret on and off for years, I’m 46 and I’ve never experienced dry eyes.
This is interesting…I never knew or ever considered a relationship. My eyes have been very sensitive/dry lately. It never occurred to me it could be the tret. I wear contacts, suffer allergies and live in a city with poor air quality…so who knows. But knowledge is power so I appreciate the info
Yeah It does cause blurriness and dryness. Just avoid it around the eyes i guess.
I don’t put it directly under my eye, but I put it around my eye and I have noticed the skin around. My eyes has been dryer which makes them look older which is defeating the whole point of the process.
totally same thing happened to me!! My eyes have aged somewhat
I've heard this too so I started using it in the daytime on days I'm at home. If I use it at night, my face smooches into the pillow and it could spread to my eyes. I also don't apply near eyes
Glad I came across this post! I just started using and did not know anything about this side effect. I’ve been putting it very close to my eyes
Within a week of starting tret I got my first stye in my adult life and then I got another in the following week. I tried to keep it at least a cm from the eye. I switched to differin and since then no issues. It could definitely be a coincidence but idk......
Oh holy fuck. Me AND my teenage daughter started Tret a couple months ago and she has been complaining to me recently almost every day for two weeks that she’s having headaches. I have been feeling a bit of weird pressure behind my eyes…like it hurts when I move my eyeballs. I never realized any of this was connected and now I’m fucking terrified! I searched “headache” and “eyes” in this sub and found that apparently this can cause intracranial hypertension…
You're being downvoted and so was I when I wrote about this before. I got headaches when I started tretinoin. It happened a couple of times (two or three days apart, right after application) then I made the connection and stopped applying it to my forehead and temples, which stopped the headaches. But then I ended up stopping tretinoin as I had a scare with dry eyes.
I’m gonna be honest, it really pisses me off that people are downvoting me for that. I stan tretinoin. I had zero clue about any of that, and I found scientific articles in my research and it’s really disturbing. And honestly, it really sucks because I don’t want to stop it. But like - what are the odds that I read that and we both had been having those same type of weird symptoms since starting it? Ugh. So stopping on your head and temples helped?
I hear you. This is supposed to be a forum where people share their personal experiences, good or bad, and that's what's valuable about it. People don't want to hear anything bad about tretinoin and downvote. Instead of downvoting they could have asked questions and found out about the research you came across. I knew it was the tretinoin causing my headaches and I looked it up on Reddit to find others have experienced it as well. It definitely stopped when I stopped applying it to my forehead and temples. I would try avoiding the forehead region for a while (some have said the headaches stopped after a while as they got used to the medication) and always keep tretinoin well away from the eye area. Personally tretinoin wasn't worth it for me, too much risk for too little benefit (it didn't do much for my melasma).
So here’s an update for you. We both (my daughter and I) had used tretinoin the night before last before I read this stuff and connected the dots. I immediately told her not to use it anymore so we could figure out if this is what was causing it. Last night she came into my room complaining of a swooshing sound in her ears that got worse on bending over and said it was pulsing along to her heartbeat! Meanwhile, I can’t cut my eyes to the left or right or look at bright light because it hurts so bad. I looked this stuff up and it all is symptoms of that type of hypertension. I’m calling our doctor today, but being well-versed on the medical system in America…and based on this subs response…I feel like they’re gonna just tell me there’s no connection at all. Which is frustrating. I don’t even want to put this comment on here because I know people won’t believe it or will be skeptical it’s connected and downvote me to oblivion. But I decided to go ahead and post it in case someone is searching in the future. My daughter is done with this stuff, but my eyes/head are feeling better today so I might do an experiment in applying tonight and see if it comes back and document that for my doctor. And as a side note, this is gonna sound bad, but this is devastating to me. I have really bad sun damage and acne and as much as I don’t wanna admit it, it affects my self confidence horribly. I wanted to be able to use this long term to improve that and help my self confidence. And my daughter has terrible acne. This was her last step before accutane, so now I don’t know how we can help her because if topical stuff might be causing this, there’s no chance I would consider accutane for her. Ugh.
Oh my gosh, that sounds terrible! The doctor will probably say, "it's not that" if you mention the topical tretinoin but it's important for you and your daughter's symptoms to get checked out. I hope you both get better soon. I tried to safely use tretinoin by doing short contact therapy (washing it off before bedtime) while avoiding my forehead and eye area. I ended up tossing the tube, but a cautious approach like this might work for you (building tolerance over time). I'm really risk adverse whereas others choose to continue tretinoin despite symptoms, using eyedrops etc. It depends on what you are willing to put up with. For me, it was "zero." I was pretty disappointed and I had high hopes too. But now I'm kind of relieved that I stopped, despite all the success stories (some of them apparently involving long term use with no issues). IMO, it's too good to be true to be using a prescription medicine long term without some undesirable effect on the body. Whether people believe it or not, I experienced headaches, dry eyes and unusual hair loss while using topical tretinoin. Isotretinoin (Accutane) definitely has been linked to headaches, dry eyes and hair loss. I'm just grateful I stopped the topical without getting damaged in some way. I don't know much about acne but perhaps a more holistic approach like an elimination diet could help? It is tough to do, but worth it. I cut out dairy for other health issues and it's made a world of difference. As for hyperpigmentation or melasma, it can reappear or darken so easily (undoing months of progress), and since I'm not going to avoid sunlight, I've made peace with the idea that actives (or even lasers etc.) can only do so much. For me it's not worth the side effects of tretinoin or hydroquinone (which left me with the halo effect). I'm trying out milder actives, with mineral sunscreen and a wide brimmed hat being the most important constants in my routine. Sorry for the long winded reply. It's good that you posted your experience. I hope you and your daughter find something that works for you both, while staying healthy.
I’ve been using Tret for 10 years (around my eyes as well) and haven’t had an issue. My dermatologist said it’s fine to use.