Start a retinoid at the right pace.
Four answers set a night by night ramp of 8 to 12 weeks, from one night a week to every other night. You get the calendar, the number of retinoid nights, the date of your 12 week check-in and a card you can share.
Are you pregnant, breastfeeding or planning a pregnancy?
Retinoids are not used in pregnancy or while breastfeeding, so the planner asks before it opens. Your answer stays in this browser.
Topical retinoids are not recommended in pregnancy or while breastfeeding, and oral isotretinoin is ruled out completely, so no ramp is built here. Ask your midwife, your doctor or a dermatologist which ingredients suit this time. The guide to the retinoid forms explains what waits for you afterwards.
Gate passed
Four answers, one calendar.
Which retinoid
How much you have used
How your skin reacts
Week 1 begins on this date.
Your nights
The stages
Hold a stage longer if the skin is still stinging or flaking when the next one starts. The calendar is a ceiling, not a target.
Five buffers that keep it calm
- Apply to dry skin, about 20 minutes after cleansing, so the surface is no longer damp.
- A pea-sized amount, roughly 0.25 g, covers the whole face. More does not work faster.
- Moisturiser before and after the retinoid on any night it stings.
- No acids, no scrubs and no strong vitamin C on a retinoid night. Keep them for the rest nights.
- Sunscreen every morning: a retinoid thins the stratum corneum and leaves skin more sun sensitive.
Purging can appear in weeks 2 to 6, and the first visible change in texture or fine lines is usually seen after about 12 weeks.
How it works.
- Answer the gate question first: a retinoid is not planned for pregnancy or breastfeeding, so that answer decides whether the planner opens.
- Pick the retinoid, how much you have used it, how your skin reacts and a start date. The calendar redraws with every change.
- Follow the grid, hold a stage longer if the skin stings, and compare your photographs at the 12 week check-in.
The conversion chain, and why a percentage lies
A skin cell can only read retinoic acid. Tretinoin is retinoic acid, so it needs 0 conversions, retinal is 1 enzymatic step away and retinol is 2, which is why a 2006 review put retinol at roughly 20 times less potent than tretinoin at the same figure on the label. Cosmetic retinol is sold at 0.1 to 1 percent, while EU face products have been capped at 0.3 percent retinol equivalent since Regulation (EU) 2024/996. Prescription tretinoin runs from 0.025 to 0.1 percent. Adapalene, a synthetic retinoid that also needs no conversion, is used at 0.1 to 0.3 percent, is sold without a prescription in some countries and stays stable beside benzoyl peroxide, which tretinoin does not. Two percentages from two different forms are not the same dose, so this planner counts nights rather than numbers on a bottle. The guide to the forms sets the strengths side by side.
Why the ramp is slow on purpose
Irritation, often called retinisation, peaks in the first 2 to 4 weeks: stinging, dryness, flaking and sometimes redness. Starting at 1 night a week and adding a night every 2 weeks keeps the dose under that peak while the skin adapts, and reactive skin holds each stage for 3 weeks instead of 2, which stretches the plan from 8 to 12 weeks. Spots can flare between weeks 2 and 6 as turnover speeds up. The purging guide explains how to separate that from a reaction to the formula, and if skin feels tight, sore and shiny rather than flaky, the barrier guide has the 14 day repair plan. A paused retinoid loses nothing. Trials of tretinoin for photoageing report visible change at 12 to 24 weeks, so the first check-in sits 12 weeks after your start date.
What this planner is not
It does not set a strength, it does not choose a product and it cannot see your skin. It is not used in pregnancy, while breastfeeding or while a pregnancy is planned, which is why the gate comes first and why the calendar stays closed on a yes. A pea-sized amount, about 0.25 g, covers the whole face, and more is not faster. Sunscreen every morning belongs to the plan, because a retinoid thins the stratum corneum and leaves skin more sun sensitive. If you take oral isotretinoin, or a doctor has given you a topical retinoid with its own schedule, follow that schedule and treat this grid as a picture of it.
Frequently asked.
Can I use a retinoid while pregnant or breastfeeding?
No. Topical retinoids are not recommended in pregnancy or while breastfeeding, and oral isotretinoin is ruled out completely, which is why the planner closes when you answer yes at the gate. Ask your midwife, your doctor or a dermatologist which ingredients suit this time instead.
What do I do if my skin stings or flakes in week 2?
Hold the stage instead of stepping up: stay at the same number of nights until 2 weeks pass without stinging. Moisturiser before and after the retinoid, and nothing acidic on those nights, usually carries skin through the first 2 to 4 weeks.
Is a flare in week 3 purging or a reaction?
Spots that appear where you usually break out, between weeks 2 and 6, and clear faster than your normal spots, read as purging. Burning, swelling, spreading redness or spots in places you never break out read as a reaction to the formula, and that calls for a pause rather than patience.
Can I use acids or vitamin C on the same night?
Not on a retinoid night. Keep acids, scrubs and strong vitamin C for the rest nights in the grid, and keep retinoid nights to cleanser, retinoid and moisturiser. Niacinamide and ceramides are calm company if you want something on top.
How long before anything is visible?
Acne often answers in 2 to 3 weeks, while texture and fine lines follow a slower clock: trials of tretinoin for photoageing report change at 12 to 24 weeks. The planner marks a check-in 12 weeks after your start date, so photograph your skin in the same light on day 1.
What does the planner store?
Four values stay in your browser under one key: the retinoid, how much you have used it, the reactivity answer and the start date. Nothing is sent anywhere, and the button marked Forget this plan deletes them.
Guides behind this tool
Ingredients
Retinol, retinal or tretinoin: strengths, conversion and results
Skincare
Skin purging or a breakout: how to tell them apart
Skincare
A damaged skin barrier: signs, causes and repairMore tools
The Retinoid Ramp Planner sets a pace, not a prescription. It does not examine your skin, it does not choose a strength or a product, and it does not apply in pregnancy or while breastfeeding. This page is for general information and does not replace advice from a dermatologist, physician or qualified practitioner.