I was thinking of mixing the mequinol 10% that some of the other members have ordered from the canadian pharmacy with my arbutin cream... will this lower the percentage and the burn factor of the mequinol? Like lets say I add it to 8oz or so of cream... How about adding a small percentage of kojic acid dipalmate to it? Also?. I don't want any counter reactions to mixing products but I'm still experimanting with products that work... and Mequinol works (so it seems) but 10% is a bit too much and that price online at the canadian pharmacy seems to be the best so far...

So I guess the final mix would be an 8oz cream with arbutin at about 12%, kojic acid at about 5% and the mequinol (the whole 10% tube... ) anybody know if this would work?. or is it a disaster waiting to happen?. LOL

Yes, technically speaking, you've diluted the cream and therefore the it's concentration (or in otherwords "percent" or "power") has been decreased. You'll have to be sure that the cream has been fully and properly diluted however. Simply topping each one over the other will not do anything.

I got some 5% Mequinol USP/.05% Tretinoin USP from a licensed US pharmacy, they compounded it into Versa Base and it has turned a SLIGHT PURPLE color already when I received it today. :(

Smells like gasoline! I called them today about the turned color, and they will provide a refund however on condition I don't order compounded stuff again. So I told them guess I will use it and see. I am glad to have an open prescription agreement with my uncle/doctor. No controlled substances allowed though!

KADP doesn't oxidize as readily as KA so at least that's good.

Indeed, I'd say that's the only downside to diluting products. It's best to know what or if any reactions will take place between the products and how it'll effect the product's use.

Reminds me of people who used to mix house cleaners like Bleach and Ammonia for "better cleaning compounds". Sadly enough, the result nearly killed them.

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Originally Posted by lilgreg1

Reminds me of people who used to mix house cleaners like Bleach and Ammonia for "better cleaning compounds". Sadly enough, the result nearly killed them.

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Bad pun... :D let's hope my "bleaching compound" won't have such results LOL!!

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Originally Posted by Golden_Boy

I got some 5% Mequinol USP/.05% Tretinoin USP from a licensed US pharmacy, they compounded it into Versa Base and it has turned a SLIGHT PURPLE color already when I received it today. :(

Smells like gasoline! I called em today about the turned color, and they will provide a refund however on condition I don't order compounded stuff again. So I told them guess I will use it and see. I am glad to have an open prescription agreement with my uncle/doctor. No controlled substances allowed though!

KADP doesn't oxidize as readily as KA so at least that's good.

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Whoa... gasoline... be careful before you put that on you or check again with your unc/doc... please we don't want to read about you on here with a horror story... :eek:

Boricua, do you plan to use the mix everyday, 2x a day, or everyother day?

GB, did they tell you if it should or should not be a purple color and if it had became innefective?

Thanks Boricua, they said yes that's why Solage is only 2% and it is in liquid alcohol rather than a cream.

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Originally Posted by Golden_Girl

Boricua, do you plan to use the mix everyday, 2x a day, or everyother day?

GB, did they tell you if it should or should not be a purple color and if it had became innefective?

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Yeah sis they said they compounded as ordered, that an antioxidant like vit C was not requested and that pharmacist even said she had never received a request to compound mequinol since others all use Solage. I didn't think Mequinol would start to oxidize so readily. I thought only hydroquinone would. It is in an oversize cylinder, at the bottom is a part like where a blender part goes. I think this container is the one they blend it directly in. Pretty neat! Except so costly since tretinoin in US is so expesive too.

It was only the top layer of the cream that was light purple, they said to remove that, so I skimmed the top off with a ladle and the remaining cream is white for now. Very fluffy, whipped texture. I used it this evening and it burned like crazy I got a tiny bit on my privates and it burned, for a few minutes I felt like dying! I can see how this stuff is meant to apply in spots like with a qtip, not all over the body because it burns so much and it is only 5%, what about 10%? I don't know if I would be able to apply it with my hands every day it seems to burn my hands a lot similar to getting clorox bleach on palms they are very dry now

It burns too much around eyes so, so much for that idea!

The active ingredient in menoquil is HQ as far as I know so oxidization is possible

Yep thanks lighterrr I read somewhere mequinol is also know as

4-Hydroxyanisole

Hydroquinone methylether

4-Methoxyphenol

Despite Mequinol having the term 'Hydroquinone' within it's scientific name (monomethyl ether of hydroquinone), it's not Hydroquinone. The chemical bonding between each of it's atoms provide that it reacts with skin and environment differently, just as Sodium Chloride is not harmful to the body in the sense that Chlorine is.

Lighterr... what you stated that it contains hydroquinone is not true..

Its like your saying

H2O or water is the same as H2O2 or hydrogen peroxide.. just because it contains the same ATOMS...

Mequinol is NOT hydroquinone... though their chemical structure may be similar... ITS NOT IDENTICAL !

Lighter I called back the pharmacist today and reassured them I'm not ranting about their compounding, but just trying to understand if the mequinol is oxidizing.

They said again that is why Mequinol is used in Solage in liquid form for cotton-swab application, that Versabase is their standard and that I didn't want the standard Acid Mantle used which is smart because acid mantle has more water and less lipids, whilst mequinol is more lipophilic and less hydrophilic, so it made sense to use the versabase. The most detailed thing they said was a hydroquinone derivate such as mequinol may oxidize or metabolize to benzoquinones and other metabolites, whether in the air or in the skin, as does hydroquinone , so the bulk of the cream is still going to be effective but next time to use solage if I'm too cranky about my own prescription of mequinol in a cream form.

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Originally Posted by Golden_Girl

Boricua, do you plan to use the mix everyday, 2x a day, or everyother day?

GB, did they tell you if it should or should not be a purple color and if it had became innefective?

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I was thinking 2x a day... that's my current ritual for everything but if it burns I'll do it one time a day..

I'm getting a little scared now about the burning.. lol... I wanted to use the arbutin cream with it cause I read that you may get darker at first from the mequinol... and arbutin in an inhibitor (I can't spell the word.. for what it inhibits in melanin production, but the t-word... tyrin... somethin... lol)... but you all know what I mean... anyway... We'll see..

Yes Boricua everyone I have read who used Mequinol said it made them dark for months to 2 years!

So a tyrosinase inhibitor like 5% arbutin should help counter the darkening.

Its all theoretical though. I'm worried a lot about developing confetti depigmentation since my skin is normally a brown color.

Wow... I thought it doesn't confetti the skin... maybe I am wrong... I thought it was suposssed to be more stables than mono and shouldn't depig or spot unless you use a concentration of 20% or higher...

Let's take a closer look at the Solage info. Though that's just 2%.

What canadian pharmacy are you guys ordering from? Alsoo, who said it made them darker, I've never heard that?

They must have been using a high percentage of mequinol and/or not exfoliating on a regular basis and using a strong sunblock.