Retinol and Tretinoin Interaction
Drug interaction information between Retinol and Tretinoin.
Retinol and Tretinoin have a documented moderate interaction in FDA labeling.
FDA drug labeling documents a moderate-severity interaction between Retinol and Tretinoin. Major interactions are generally avoided, moderate ones may need monitoring or a dose adjustment, and minor ones are usually low-risk. This page shows the documented mechanism and guidance. Label-documented interactions are not a complete safety review, so always confirm your own medications with a pharmacist or doctor. Educational information, not medical advice.
How They Interact
Tretinoin is a type of Vitamin A, so taking it with other Vitamin A products can cause you to have dangerously high levels of the vitamin in your body.
What To Do
Do not take Vitamin A supplements or other Vitamin A products while you are using this medication.
FDA Label Information
( 7.2 ) • Vitamin A : Avoid concomitant use with vitamin A. 7.3 Vitamin A The concomitant use of vitamin A with tretinoin capsules may lead to vitamin A related adverse reactions. Avoid concomitant use of tretinoin capsules with vitamin A.
Tretinoin Also Interacts With
- Voriconazole moderate
- Itraconazole minor
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I take Retinol and Tretinoin together?
This is a moderate interaction. Do not take Vitamin A supplements or other Vitamin A products while you are using this medication.
How serious is the interaction between Retinol and Tretinoin?
This interaction is classified as "moderate" severity by the FDA. Moderate interactions may worsen your condition or change how your medications work.
Why do Retinol and Tretinoin interact?
Tretinoin is a type of Vitamin A, so taking it with other Vitamin A products can cause you to have dangerously high levels of the vitamin in your body.
Understanding the Retinol and Tretinoin Interaction
FDA-approved prescribing information for these two drugs flags their combination as a moderate-severity interaction. Retinol belongs to the Vitamin A Supplement class and Tretinoin belongs to the Retinoid (Topical) class - two categories that can collide when co-prescribed. The mechanism described in FDA labeling is: Tretinoin is a type of Vitamin A, so taking it with other Vitamin A products can cause you to have dangerously high levels of the vitamin in your body. Severity tiers matter: major flags generally advise avoidance, moderate flags often require monitoring or dose adjustment, and minor flags may only call for awareness.
Context around a specific patient determines real-world impact. Retinol has 3 total documented interactions on file in this dataset, and Tretinoin has 3. Each additional medication compounds the interaction surface, which is why pharmacists run full-profile checks rather than evaluating one pair at a time. FDA-derived guidance for this pair is: Do not take Vitamin A supplements or other Vitamin A products while you are using this medication. Timing of doses, renal and hepatic function, age, and other concurrent prescriptions all shape whether a labeled interaction matters clinically.
An interaction flag is not a verdict. A large share of labeled interactions are managed routinely in clinical practice, the fix may be as simple as spacing doses or adding a monitoring test. Others require the prescriber to choose a different medication entirely. This page surfaces FDA-sourced labeling and openFDA data for educational purposes only; it is not medical advice and cannot account for your full clinical picture. Never start, stop, or adjust either Retinol or Tretinoin based on a web page, speak with your prescriber or pharmacist before making any change.
Sources: FDA Drug Labels (SPL) via openFDA (2026). This is for informational purposes only and is not medical advice. Always consult your healthcare provider about drug interactions.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.