Is Retinol comedogenic?

No, for nearly everyone. This ingredient is rated 1 out of 5, a very low pore-clogging risk.

Breakouts in the first weeks of retinol use are usually purging (clogs that were already forming, surfacing faster), not the retinol clogging pores. If breakouts persist past roughly eight weeks, suspect the rest of the formula.

Comedogenic rating: 1/5; Very low risk
Evidence confidence: moderate; Most published lists include this ingredient, with ratings that vary by about one point.
Also appears as: vitamin a

What is Retinol?

The best-studied over-the-counter form of vitamin A, used for acne, texture, and photoaging. Retinoids normalize the way pore-lining cells shed, which is why prescription versions are first-line acne treatments.

What to do if you're acne-prone

There's no pore-clogging reason to avoid this ingredient, even in leave-on products. If a product containing it breaks you out, the culprit is almost certainly elsewhere on the label. Paste the full list into the checker to find it.

Where this rating comes from

Our ratings consolidate two lineages: the original rabbit-ear comedogenicity assays published by James Fulton and colleagues (Fulton, Pay & Fulton, Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 1984; Fulton, Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists, 1989), and the pore-clogger lists maintained by acne-specialist estheticians in the Face Reality lineage. This ingredient rates 0–1 across those sources (or doesn't appear on the flagged lists at all), which is why our checker doesn't flag it.

Last reviewed 2026-08-16 by the PorePass editorial team.

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Other ingredients that don't clog pores

Wondering what does clog pores? Browse the full pore-clogging ingredients list.

Comedogenicity ratings come from published ingredient studies and esthetician-compiled lists. They are imperfect and formulation-dependent, and this page isn't medical advice. Reactions vary by skin, concentration, and the rest of the formula.