hi all! please be gentle, as i may be ovethinking this, but i'm curious if it is plausible to already be breaking out from doing a 10 minute SCT with retin-A cream, 0.025, only 5 days ago?
i washed with an extremely gentle, glycerine wash, as usual. i allowed my face to completely dry for about 20 minutes. i then proceeded to occlude my smile lines and the corners of my mouth (ive had spells of perioral dermatitis before, unrelated to any skincare), and my undereyes as well. i dabbed a pea sized amount of the tret onto my cheeks, temples, chin, and forehead. i let it sit for 10 minutes before washing it off, again, with the glycerine wash. i then moisturized with my normal moisturizer.
im acne prone. they are typically small/medium whiteheads, and i get them just about everywhere on my face, but they usually go away within a week or two. i always have some form of active acne, though.
i am noticing that, within these 5 days, i have noticeably more acne than usual. currently, 2 on my chin, small clusters on both cheeks, some around both sides on my mouth, some on both sides of my jawline, and a big cluster on my right temple, which is especially unusual. the sheer amount all at once is not normal for me at all, and im really upset.
i find it hard to believe that 10 minute SCT would cause this, but i really just have no clue. nothing else in my skincare routine, diet, or daily life has changed. im no more stressed than normal. could it be the tret?
anything helps.. im wanting to go *extremely* slow with tret, once a week, 10 min SCT for 2 weeks, increasing by 10 minutes every 2 weeks until i can tolerate 2/3 hours.. but now im scared to apply it again. a lot of my confidence rides on my skins appearance, unfortunately.
TL;DR: is it possible for one, 10 minute session of SCT with 0.025% retin-A, to cause a pretty dramatic breakout, within 5 days??