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PanOxyl Adapalene 0.1% Leave-On Gel ingredients: is it worth it?
Small formula, serious acne workhorse.

Small formula, serious acne workhorse.
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The efficacy score is high because adapalene 0.1% is a proven leave-on retinoid at a meaningful strength, and the base is simple enough to support delivery without burying the active; the score is held just below perfect because this is a very minimal gel, so it lacks added barrier support and can still be limited by irritation tolerance rather than formula sophistication.
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DemythSkin rates PanOxyl Adapalene 0.1% Leave-On Gel 4.7/5 for efficacy and 4.3/5 for safety.
ACTIVE INGREDIENTS BY TIER
Gold Standards
High clinical proof | Skin-transformativeReliable
Proven resultsPotent
Developing evidenceOverhyped | Marketing
Hype | Limited dataDocumented Irritants
Evidence-backed flagFORMULATION BASE (4)⌄
FULL INGREDIENT LIST⌄
Adapalene USP 0.1%, Carbomer Homopolymer Type C, Edetate Disodium, Methylparaben, Poloxamer 182, Propylene Glycol, Purified Water, Sodium Hydroxide
WHAT EACH INGREDIENT DOES (8)⌄
- Adapalene
- Retinoid acne treatment
- Carbomer Homopolymer Type C
- Thickener and gel base
- Edetate Disodium
- Chelator
- Methylparaben
- Preservative
- Poloxamer 182
- Emulsifier and solubilizer
- Propylene Glycol
- Humectant and solvent
- Purified Water
- Solvent
- Sodium Hydroxide
- pH adjuster
EXTERNAL CITATIONS
Adapalene: FDA-approved OTC topical retinoid for acne; leave-on use improves acne efficacy.
Propylene Glycol: Solvent/humectant that can help dissolve and deliver actives in gel systems.
DISCLAIMER: THIS ANALYSIS IS FOR INFORMATION ONLY. NOT MEDICAL ADVICE. AI-GENERATED DATA BASED ON PUBLICLY AVAILABLE INGREDIENT LISTS. VERIFY WITH A MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL.
PanOxyl Adapalene 0.1% Leave-On Gel: common questions
Is PanOxyl Adapalene 0.1% Leave-On Gel worth it?
PanOxyl Adapalene 0.1% Leave-On Gel scores 4.7 out of 5.0 for efficacy (Gold Standard) and 4.3 out of 5.0 for safety (Gentle) on DemythSkin's independent ingredient analysis. Small formula, serious acne workhorse.
What are the key active ingredients in PanOxyl Adapalene 0.1% Leave-On Gel?
PanOxyl Adapalene 0.1% Leave-On Gel contains these gold-standard actives with strong clinical evidence: Adapalene.
Does PanOxyl Adapalene 0.1% Leave-On Gel contain fragrance or known irritants?
DemythSkin flags these ingredients in PanOxyl Adapalene 0.1% Leave-On Gel as documented irritants: Methylparaben.
How is PanOxyl Adapalene 0.1% Leave-On Gel scored?
DemythSkin grades every product on two independent scores: efficacy (whether the ingredients have clinical evidence of working) and safety (irritation and sensitisation risk). Ingredients are graded S through D against a database of over 3,000 compounds. Brand and price are not part of the score, and no brand pays for one.
Free scores for every product in the database, or see them on Sephora, Ulta and Amazon with the Chrome extension.