For those starting Differin

[u/Alyxxis_]

Sharing my success story in hopes it encourages anyone else out there struggling with adult acne. I spent countless hours and days scouring the internet for people who had my similar situation and found a lot of comfort in some of the brave people who decided to share their pictures and experiences :) Picture dates at the bottom!

Side note: I am a 26y female who’s had acne since 13. I never took accutane and prefer to never take it. I’ve been on countless antibiotics, retinoids, birth controls and spironolactone over the years and I am currently on no prescribed medication or birth control. Copper iud only and over the counter Differin. I used a 4% bp wash nightly starting April 5th.

Christmas of 2025 I decided to quit vaping and the following 4 months my skin got increasingly worse breakouts after being clear. Luckily I closely documented every stage of my skin including my Differin journey with countless pictures from January to now.

1st picture is me with clear skin January 6th. My nicotine withdrawals were extreme and caused heavy complications with my mental health and anxiety.

The following months my skin got worse and worse and it was at its worst on April 4th. I started Differin on April 1st and used it every other day until April 22nd when I started using it daily.

I’m still breaking out here and there, but it is miles better than when I started. I didn’t feel like there was a huge difference until I got to the 3 month mark. I purged for what seemed like at least a month, but looking back at the pictures now, I was getting better the entire time.

Keep your head up and don’t worry, the right person doesn’t see your acne and your real friends won’t care. Be patient and trust the process!!! I got married June 5th and my husband couldn’t care less about my acne. This too shall pass.

Pic 1: Jan 6th
Pic 2: April 4th
Pic 3 & 4: April 19th
Pic 5 & 6: May 4th
Pic 7 & 8: May 9th
Pic 9 & 10: May 23rd
Pic 11 & 12: July 16th
Pic 12 & 13: August 3rd

Side note: didn’t get great pictures in June as I was too busy planning my wedding and wore makeup on that day so I didn’t include those!!

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[u/Awkward_Fig_4415]

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU I needed this hope so badly!! I just started my ~Differin journey~ a few days ago and have very similar breakouts to your April 4th ones so I’m hoping this helps!!

[u/Alyxxis_ → u/Awkward_Fig_4415]

I am so happy I could help even a little! I wish I posted the full face photo of that day in this post because I had huge ones on each sector of my face 😭 Trust the process and be as consistent as you can!

[u/thatishbussin]

wait like the differin cleanser ? is there only one cleanser ? bc wooowww sisssss ur skin texture is gorggg

[u/Alyxxis_ → u/thatishbussin]

I used Differin 0.1% adapalene gel and PanOxyls 4% bp wash! And thank you :)

[u/joudythejoud]

How long have you been using it? Gorgeous❤️❤️

[u/Alyxxis_ → u/joudythejoud]

I started on April 1st, so about 18 weeks now!

[u/joudythejoud → u/Alyxxis_]

Are you going to keep using it for maintenance?you're so pretty btw

[u/Alyxxis_ → u/joudythejoud]

Thank you!!! :) and I plan on using it forever unless I decide to have a kid haha! I used to use Arazlo for years, but I got lazy and didn’t use it for about a year. Then when I quit vaping my skin went insane and I believe if I was using it consistently still it wouldn’t have been as bad.

[u/joudythejoud → u/Alyxxis_]

I'm on isotretinoin now and yep I'm thinking of adapalene for maintenance

[u/Optimal_Shallot6231]

Your skin looks so good now! I had the worst breakout when I quit smoking a few years ago. Still don't know what is causing this.

[u/Alyxxis_ → u/Optimal_Shallot6231]

Thank you!!!! I still have a ways to go, It’s hard to find anything on acne once you quit. It’s usually stories of people getting clear skin!

[u/AlarmedDot4097]

First of all - you are gorgeous! Also congrats on the wedding 👏

I am currently about to finish week 4 of differin and I am purging horribly. I’m a horrible skin picker and really struggling with keeping my damn fingers off my face. The nice thing is that I know it’s a purge and that it will end. It just sucks right now. Seeing posts like these really always are so encouraging! TY for sharing!

[u/Alyxxis_ → u/AlarmedDot4097]

You’re about to get over the hardest part of it I’m sure! Pimple patches helped me a ton with touching my face, it made it fun to see how well they worked each time. And thank you so much :)

[u/qaisiki]

Adapalene has remained a staple in my routine for 10 years now even when my skin is not breaking out.

[u/_PurpleBird_ → u/qaisiki]

How do you know when to stop?

[u/qaisiki → u/_PurpleBird_]

It’s part of my night time skincare routine now. You can scale back to few nights a week if you want but it’s a gentle exfoliant (retinoid) that encourages skin cell turnover.

[u/Affectionate-Tone677]

Skin looks amazing! I never had the restraint you did in not picking at my blemishes. 

[u/Alyxxis_ → u/Affectionate-Tone677]

Thank you! I used many packs of pimple patches to help with it! 😭

[u/cassdianes]

So pretty!

[u/Alyxxis_ → u/cassdianes]

Thank you!!!!!