Tretinoin vs Vitamin C for skin & hair
Short answer: For skin & hair, more users report improvement with Vitamin C — 97% of 29 reports, versus 91% of 35 for Tretinoin.
Tretinoin has 76 meta-analyses and 265 randomized trials on PubMed; Vitamin C has 738 and 2,072.
Based on 50 reports about Tretinoin and 928 about Vitamin C. Not medical advice.
| Tretinoin Medication | Vitamin C Supplement | |
|---|---|---|
| Users say it helped | 91%helped23 reports · medium confidence | 64%helped204 reports · high confidence |
| Verdict | Mostly positive | Mostly positive |
| Research | AResearch: Strong | AResearch: Strong |
| Meta-analyses / RCTs | 76 / 265 | 738 / 2,072 |
| Mainly used for | ||
| Skin & hair % reporting improvement | 91% (35) | 97% (29) |
| Immunity % reporting improvement | — | 90% (40) |
| Energy % reporting improvement | — | 94% (34) |
| Mood % reporting improvement | — | 88% (25) |
| Anxiety % reporting improvement | — | 94% (17) |
| Common side effects | sunburn, irritation, skin peeling | kidney stones, stomach issues, insomnia, bone pain |
| Typical dose reported | Not listed | 2000 mg / daily |
These guidelines provide evidence-based recommendations for the management of acne vulgaris.
J Am Acad Dermatol, 2024 ↗“I have gotten good result on the acne front with tretinoin and azelaic acid.”
The failure of vitamin C supplementation to reduce the incidence of colds in the general population indicates that routine vitamin C supplementation is not justified, yet vitamin C may be useful for people exposed to brief periods of severe physical exercise. Regular supplementation trials have shown that vitamin C reduces the duration of colds, but this was not replicated in the few therapeutic trials that have been carried out. Nevertheless, given the consistent effect of vitamin C on the duration and severity of colds in the regular supplementation studies, and the low cost and safety, it m
Cochrane Database Syst Rev, 2013 ↗“I know people say you get enough vitamin C from diet but I feel and look better when I supplement it.”
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Percentages come from first-hand user reports and are not clinical outcomes. Talk to a doctor before starting, stopping or combining anything. How we rate