She has seen the light.
One skincare fan learned the hard way when a new product left her looking like King Tut.
“This is not a filter,” @lisat449 said in her recent TikTok PSA. “I look 80 years old.”
She had added retinol to her skincare routine — without realizing that the anti-aging vitamin famously doesn’t mix well with sunlight.
She also didn’t know that she was supposed to use it only once a week until her tolerance built up — whoops!
Now, she’s paying the price, as applying anything — makeup, lotion, even face wash — feels like “acid.”
“It welts up and burns,” she described. “I feel like it’s wind chapped, or there’s superglue on my face, and I can’t move it. It’s horrible. It is so miserable.”
Luckily, it won’t last forever, although it can take a few weeks to normalize.
“Imagine when you get a bad sunburn, how long it takes to feel better again,” NYC-based plastic surgeon Dr. David Shafer told The Post, noting that this is why prevention is key.
“With retinol and other medical creams and skincare products, you should always use them under the supervision of a medical professional,” he said.
That was the TikTokker’s first mistake — her second, Shafer shared, was stepping out into the summer sun.
“In the summertime, or if you’re going to warm climates, you might want to scale back sun-sensitive products to make sure you don’t have a reaction,” he said.
“You definitely don’t want to mix sun-sensitive products with sun or laser.”
And her third boo-boo was lathering it on like her life depended on it.
“While retinol is a really good treatment, some people can have skin sensitivities to them,” he said. “Usually, in the first week, you might feel a little bit of redness, and your skin gets used to it over time.”
If the worst does happen, Shafer recommends a good moisturizer to protect against further damage.
He also suggests using a physical sunblock — which sits on top of the skin and reflects UV rays, as opposed to a chemical sunblock, which absorbs into the skin and converts UV rays into heat to prevent damage — to not irritate the skin more.
Lesson learned!
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