The Many Uses of Retin-A

The Many Uses of Retin-A

It helps fight acne, but the returns aren’t in on cancer treatment

Unlike Dorian Gray’s temporarily flattering yet ultimately gruesome portrait, Retin-A has been shown in many tests to offset the effects of aging without causing diabolic side effects. Here, Dr. Wilma Bergfeld, who heads the Clinical Research Department of Dermatology of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation an is a past president of the American Academy of Dermatologists, answers questions about the currently accepted uses of tretinoin in the medical community.

What is Retin-A?

Based on a vitamin A derivative known generically as tretinoin, the drug was originally developed as a treatment for acne in the late 1960s. Doctors could prescribe it at their discretion, and many dermatologists have put people on tretinoin-based programs to treat light wrinkles, liver spots, freckles, pre-cancerous skin lesions.

How effective is Retina-A in treating acne?

Tretinoin is most effective in treating acne when it is combined with a tropical antibiotic. The antibiotic works in tandem with the tretinoin to reduce the blackheads, whiteheads, and pimples that are the primary lesions of acne by reducing inflammation and killing yeast and bacteria microorganisms. Cream-based tretinoin applications moisturize, while gels and the lotions dry out skin, which can lead to scaling. Both vehicles, however, aid in the healing process. Tretinoin itself may produce some redness and scaling, but that is a sign of the agent at work.

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Can it help with warts?

Warts are viral skin tumors, and it appears that tretinoin may have the ability to kill the wart virus, basically by destroying its cell walls. It has also been used to promote the healing of blisters and scars with some success.

Does Retin-A really make wrinkles disappear?

Actually, the best way to get rid of wrinkles is to not get them in the first place. You should always keep your skin well hydrated and as pale as possible. In fact, simply hydrating the skin with simple over-the-counter moisturizers can reduce wrinkles up to 30 percent. What makes tretinoin more effective from a cosmetic perspective, however, is that it not only removes light wrinkles, but it also bleaches some of the yellow in the skin to a more youthful pink by thickening the epidermis and peeling away the layers of skin in which small wrinkles and irregular pigmentation reside.

Who can prescribe it?

Any physician can prescribe tretinoin, but a dermatologist will be better able to help you because he or she will be aware of some of the adverse effects of the drug such as blotchiness and scaling. The treatment should extend two years for maximum effectiveness, and follow-up treatments can last indefinitely.

Can Retin-A help treat cancer?

Though some research has shown promise for the use of a vitamin A derivative similar to tretinoin in the treatment of cervical cancer and melanoma (a potentially deadly form of skin cancer), these conditions are far too serious to be dealt with by an unproven treatment. Tretinoin can help prevent melanoma, however, if it is used to bleach very flat lesions like freckles.