How does Differin help acne, and will it help wrinkles?

Sarah’s Story:
My doctor just prescribed Differin for my acne and for acne scarring. I’m wondering how exactly it works on my skin. Also, I understand it will cause my skin cells to regenerate faster, is it at all helpful for wrinkles then?

The Right Brain’s Response:
According to the Galderma, the
manufacturer of Differin, this drug (and we quote) “is thought to work deep inside your pores to control the cause of the buildup that leads to the formation of acne.”

Wait a minute. Did they just say it is “THOUGHT” to work inside the pores??? Can’t Galaderm be a teensy bit more definitive than that? We don’t know about you, but that doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence in us! Aw, what the heck – maybe we’re too critical. Considering this is an FDA approved drug it’s probably just fine. Right? But back to the rest of their quote:

The source goes on to say that the drug “normalizes the improper accumulation of skin cells that plug the pores, and effectively keeps them clear” and that it not only helps “prevent the formation of new acne lesions, it can also help get rid of the lesions that are already present.”

So does it really work on acne? Judge for yourself by taking a look at the before and after pictures that we *ahem* borrowed directly from their website.

The good news is that seems to effective in reducing severe acne. The bad news is, based on these pictures, it apparently causes blindness by painful scarring of the eyes. Oh well, beauty has its price.

But you really want to know if Differin work on wrinkles, don’t you Sarah? Well, we don’t see why it would. If the mode of action of this product is to clear the pores of debris, there’s no reason we can think of why that would affect wrinkles. It doesn’t appear to be an exfolliant like an AHA. (This might be interesting question to ask the folks at Wrinkle Cream Review. )

The Brains‘ Bottom Line:
Sarah, since you’ve already got a prescription, why don’t you try it on your bad self and let us know if you look less pruney. (Assuming you’ve got wrinkles in the first place.) Write back and tell us how that works out for you.