Sorry to say, but Differin made my skin much much worse and it took me quite a long time to clear up the mess, which I even think I may still be working on...8 months later? And I only used Differin for about a month, if even.

Of course not everyone has the same reactions, so you might be able to heal your breakout faster than I did!

After I stopped using Differin I decided that if prescription stuff had such ugly side effects with no guarantee of working I might as well take a natural approach and started using lemon juice- and it actually works. You should really check out the lemon juice reviews (applied topically/ taken as a drink) in the Reviews section!

Goodluck!

Hey oneredwine - sorry it's taken you so long to recover from Differin!! For me, Differin never really made my skin worse, it just didn't seem to make it better. Hopefully the natural approach will yield much better results for you. Personally, I've tried lemon juice before (on it's own and mixed with things like Tumeric powder), but it actually breaks me out more... no idea why.

I've been off Differin for a little over a week now, and I still don't really know what to expect. My skin has greatly improved since my last, horrible breakout, but since this has been a common pattern for me (having a breakout, gradually improving, having 3-4 really great days, and then breaking out again), even when I was on the Differin, I don't know if I can attribute this progress to quitting the retinoid, or if I'm simply in the good stages of my typical breakout cycle; I guess only time will tell on that one.

Anyone else with a similar experience/advice to pass on? If you were like me, and had little to no response to Differin after months and stopped using it, did you notice an immediate improvement, an immediate breakout, or did your skin continue to behave the exact same way? I've read a few threads about people not using Differin for about a week, and then returning to it and experiencing a subsequent IB, which makes me think it stops affecting your skin as soon as you stop applying it, but I could be wrong. Anyone know how long Differin affects the skin?

bump.

I'd say give it 3 - 4 weeks. Tazorac made my skin really dry, flakey and red. My oil production is just slowly coming back and I'm so freaking happy. You think oily skin is bad its the opposite, having dry skin is the devil. My redness is going away as well. But that means the spots also stick out more. ;-( which sucks. Remember nothing is permanent.

Sorry to be all over this board right now, but after almost 4 months (3 months and 3 weeks) on Differin .1% cream, I stopped using it 4 days ago. I never cleared up or noticed much of a change, and I had a really terrible breakout last week, so I finally gave up under the assumption that it simply wasn't going to work. Right now I'm washing and exfoliating, and using Aczone as a spot treatment, but I'm wondering how long Differin stays in your system - for lack of a better term. Although I'm no longer actively applying it, I'm curious if after 4 months of use it is still having some effect on my skin, so I'm unable to tell if any new breakouts should be attributed to the lingering effects of Differin or not.

Does anyone know if Differin continues to have some effect on the skin once you stop applying it (and if so, for how long), or does it immediately stop working as soon as you stop using it? Thanks!

Also, for anyone else in the same/a similar boat - did you experience a breakout as a result of coming off the Differin, or did your skin just regulate to your pre-Differin levels?

so what happened after a while of stopping? im curious about stopping too cause i live in the medditeranean and the sun is realy strong and i dont want to be photosensitive