Everyone’s Obsessed With Tretinoin — But I Don’t Have A Prescription

With 38.1K posts waxing lyrical about the topical skincare medication on TikTok, there’s simply no escaping it: Tretinoin is a skincare sensation. And with each scroll, we bet you’re asking yourself, Should I get in on the hype?  You can’t just go out and buy tretinoin; you need a prescription from a dermatologist. That said, if you’ve recently come across tretinoin online, you can infer that it’s more widely prescribed today than ever before. “I’ve been prescribing it for 15 years,” says NYC-based dermatologist Michelle Henry, MD, “but there’s been a constant uptick in interest as people have become more educated about it.” Similar to a skincare medication like Accutane or spironolactone, tretinoin requires a doctor to write you a pharmacy prescription and teach you how to use it safely and accurately. But unlike Accutane or spironolactone (a diuretic used to treat chronic hormonal acne), tretinoin is not an acne-specific medication.