Using retinol after it's PAO has passed

Hello everyone, I started using The Ordinary 0.2 retinol in squalane in August. I purged and everything. My purging lasted for almost a month. Everything was okay and my acne was (almost) gone.. until now. My acne is back, two or three weeks ago i started having really bad break outs. At first i thought it's caused by my new cleanser, i stopped using it and i thought that my skin got little bit better. But i still have break outs even though im using retinol. Today i realized that TO's retinol's PAO is 3 months, i thought it was 6. I was using it for 6 months. So i think that retinol stopped being effective after the third month? So maybe i need to buy a new one, ugh the bottle is still almost full 😑 also im scared that i will purge again 😭

3 Comments

theartofskincarett

Dry/Sensitive

You’re risking contact dermatitis Once PAO has passed, my advice would be to discard Also next time you start using Retinoids, I’d advise not to stop as the acne will only return

glowyskiinn

Oily/Resilient

Thank you! I haven't stopped using it. I was using the retinol for 3 months without realizing it's PAO has passed. 😭

Cheersskin

Oily/Resilient

The PAO of this retinol is so short 😭how can we finish within 3m😢

Kelnph

Oily/Sensitive

apply on neck and body 😂

qilss

Oily/Resilient

Yeah, The Ordinary's retinol range have extremely short PAOs. No one can truly finish it all on time unfortunately. Mine was still full too so once it passed 3 months, I used it on my body instead. To answer your question, yes it would become less effective beyond its PAO so it's best to get a new bottle.

glowyskiinn

Oily/Resilient

I don't want to purge again 😢 I bought The inkey list's retinol couple months ago. I think I'll start using it.

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