Skin + Me / The Daily Doser
PERSONALISED PRESCRIPTION CREAM, SEVEN-ACTIVE POOL
The only product in this register that solves the dose problem mechanically: a twist-and-click dispenser that meters one evening's cream and will not give you two. The seven-active pool is published in full, the base creams are published to INCI level, and the concentrations still arrive after you have paid.
Worth buying for a specific person with a specific problem. Read who.
ASSESSED ON 75% OF THE MODEL. 2 CRITERIA LEFT UNSCORED — SEE SCORING FOR WHY.
Prescription product. Introductory offers are common and the headline monthly price has been quoted at both £24.99 and £29.99 — check what you will actually be billed from month two.
The verdict
The Daily Doser is a genuine idea, not a packaging flourish. Every other topical in this register asks the patient to judge a pea-sized amount nightly, which is the least controlled variable in topical dermatology — the same tube produces a fivefold range of applied dose depending on who is squeezing it. A dispenser that releases one metered dose per evening removes that variable entirely, and no manufactured product in this register does it either.
The disclosure of what can be in it is above average. Skin + Me publishes the complete pool of seven actives — tretinoin, clindamycin, niacinamide, metronidazole, hydroquinone, hydrocortisone and azelaic acid — and both base creams to full INCI, including that tretinoin formulas carry BHT and hydroquinone formulas carry ascorbic acid and sodium metabisulfite as antioxidants. That last detail is real formulation competence, and it is the kind of thing most compounders never mention.
What you cannot know is your own formula. The support centre states plainly that they are unable to tell you what you will be prescribed until a prescriber has reviewed your consultation, and the concentrations only appear in your treatment plan after you have joined. Published third-party accounts show real assignments — tretinoin at 0.006% in a first month, 0.024% later, niacinamide and azelaic acid at 4% — and 0.006% is a quarter of the lowest concentration the tretinoin literature has ever tested.
Two of the seven actives make the absent stop date matter. Clindamycin is a topical antibiotic and antimicrobial resistance is the reason topical clindamycin is conventionally paired and time-limited. Hydrocortisone is a facial corticosteroid, and the approved product built on the same hydroquinone-tretinoin-steroid logic is licensed short-term only. A monthly dispenser that arrives automatically is the format least likely to prompt anyone to ask when to stop.
- A metered daily dispenser — the only mechanical dose control in this register.
- Cost per application is effectively fixed by the format: one dose, one evening.
- The complete seven-active pool is published before purchase.
- Both base creams are published to full INCI, including preservative systems.
- Declares that tretinoin formulas carry BHT and hydroquinone formulas carry ascorbic acid and sodium metabisulfite.
- Ingredient descriptions are accurate and unusually restrained, including an admission that metronidazole's mechanism is unknown.
- States that clindamycin is best combined with other agents to reduce resistance.
- Fragrance-free, non-comedogenic, vegan, with allergens explicitly excluded.
- A named menopausal skin route, which is directly relevant to this readership and rare in the category.
- £29.99 includes ongoing consultations, not just product.
- Ancillary cleanser, moisturiser and sunscreen are all sold with volumes and expected duration published.
- Your concentrations are not disclosed until after you have joined and been reviewed.
- Reported starting tretinoin of 0.006% is around a quarter of the lowest trialled concentration.
- No per-dose volume published, so the dispenser's precision cannot be quantified.
- Clindamycin and metronidazole are dispensed monthly with no stated review point.
- Hydrocortisone is dispensed monthly with no stated duration, on the same logic as an approved product licensed short-term only.
- No published concentration for hydroquinone, the molecule where concentration matters most.
- The monthly price appears as £29.99 on the support centre and £24.99 in editorial coverage and promotions.
- No published clinical data of the company's own.
- UK only.
Every active, assessed
- TretinoinPATIENT-SPECIFIC — REPORTED FROM 0.006%
Retinoid — the backbone of the acne and skin-ageing routes
- BENCHMARK
- 0.025% is the acne trial floor; 0.02% is the approved photoageing strength
- ASSESSMENT
- Published customer treatment plans show starting concentrations around 0.006% rising to 0.024% and 0.05%. The top of that progression is squarely evidenced. The bottom is roughly a quarter of the lowest concentration ever trialled — defensible as a deliberate first rung on a titration ladder, and indistinguishable, from the customer's side, from a homeopathic starting point.
- ClindamycinPATIENT-SPECIFIC
Topical antibiotic against Cutibacterium acnes
- BENCHMARK
- 1% is the standard topical concentration
- ASSESSMENT
- Skin + Me's own ingredient page states that clindamycin is best combined with other ingredients such as azelaic acid to reduce the possibility of antibacterial resistance — which is exactly right, and better stewardship language than most competitors offer. What is missing is the other half: how long a course runs before it is reviewed.
- HydroquinonePATIENT-SPECIFIC
Tyrosinase inhibitor for melasma and post-inflammatory pigmentation
- BENCHMARK
- 4% is the conventional prescription strength
- ASSESSMENT
- Described accurately on the ingredient page, including that the strongest evidence is for triple therapy with tretinoin and a steroid. Formulations carrying it also carry ascorbic acid and sodium metabisulfite as antioxidants, which is the correct stabilisation. The concentration is not published, and hydroquinone is the molecule where concentration matters most.
- HydrocortisonePATIENT-SPECIFIC
Mild topical corticosteroid — suppresses irritation from hydroquinone and tretinoin
- BENCHMARK
- Tri-Luma uses fluocinolone 0.01% and is licensed for short-term use only
- ASSESSMENT
- Honestly described as being there to minimise irritation from the hydroquinone and tretinoin combination, which is the correct pharmacological account. It is also the component that makes an indefinite monthly dispenser the wrong delivery model, and no duration is stated anywhere.
- Azelaic acidPATIENT-SPECIFIC — REPORTED AT 4% AND 14%
Anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, keratinisation, tyrosinase inhibition
- BENCHMARK
- 15% approved for rosacea, 20% for acne
- ASSESSMENT
- Reported customer formulas span 4% to 14%, both below the approved strengths. In a blend that is expected; at 4% it is well under a third of the lowest trialled concentration and is unlikely to be contributing much beyond its pairing role with clindamycin.
- NiacinamidePATIENT-SPECIFIC — REPORTED AT 4%
Barrier support, anti-inflammatory, oil regulation
- BENCHMARK
- 2–5% is the usual effective range
- ASSESSMENT
- Correctly dosed where reported, and sensibly present alongside irritants. The ingredient page also notes it increases ceramide production, which is a fair reason to include it in a retinoid formula.
- MetronidazolePATIENT-SPECIFIC
Anti-inflammatory topical antibiotic — long-standing first-line rosacea agent
- BENCHMARK
- 0.75% and 1% are the approved concentrations
- ASSESSMENT
- Accurately described, including the admission that the precise mechanism is unknown — an unusual piece of candour on a consumer page. Same stewardship point as the clindamycin: an antibiotic on an indefinite monthly dispenser needs a stated review interval.
| ACTIVE | CONC. | BENCHMARK | ASSESSMENT |
|---|---|---|---|
| TretinoinRetinoid — the backbone of the acne and skin-ageing routes | PATIENT-SPECIFIC — REPORTED FROM 0.006% | 0.025% is the acne trial floor; 0.02% is the approved photoageing strength | Published customer treatment plans show starting concentrations around 0.006% rising to 0.024% and 0.05%. The top of that progression is squarely evidenced. The bottom is roughly a quarter of the lowest concentration ever trialled — defensible as a deliberate first rung on a titration ladder, and indistinguishable, from the customer's side, from a homeopathic starting point. |
| ClindamycinTopical antibiotic against Cutibacterium acnes | PATIENT-SPECIFIC | 1% is the standard topical concentration | Skin + Me's own ingredient page states that clindamycin is best combined with other ingredients such as azelaic acid to reduce the possibility of antibacterial resistance — which is exactly right, and better stewardship language than most competitors offer. What is missing is the other half: how long a course runs before it is reviewed. |
| HydroquinoneTyrosinase inhibitor for melasma and post-inflammatory pigmentation | PATIENT-SPECIFIC | 4% is the conventional prescription strength | Described accurately on the ingredient page, including that the strongest evidence is for triple therapy with tretinoin and a steroid. Formulations carrying it also carry ascorbic acid and sodium metabisulfite as antioxidants, which is the correct stabilisation. The concentration is not published, and hydroquinone is the molecule where concentration matters most. |
| HydrocortisoneMild topical corticosteroid — suppresses irritation from hydroquinone and tretinoin | PATIENT-SPECIFIC | Tri-Luma uses fluocinolone 0.01% and is licensed for short-term use only | Honestly described as being there to minimise irritation from the hydroquinone and tretinoin combination, which is the correct pharmacological account. It is also the component that makes an indefinite monthly dispenser the wrong delivery model, and no duration is stated anywhere. |
| Azelaic acidAnti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, keratinisation, tyrosinase inhibition | PATIENT-SPECIFIC — REPORTED AT 4% AND 14% | 15% approved for rosacea, 20% for acne | Reported customer formulas span 4% to 14%, both below the approved strengths. In a blend that is expected; at 4% it is well under a third of the lowest trialled concentration and is unlikely to be contributing much beyond its pairing role with clindamycin. |
| NiacinamideBarrier support, anti-inflammatory, oil regulation | PATIENT-SPECIFIC — REPORTED AT 4% | 2–5% is the usual effective range | Correctly dosed where reported, and sensibly present alongside irritants. The ingredient page also notes it increases ceramide production, which is a fair reason to include it in a retinoid formula. |
| MetronidazoleAnti-inflammatory topical antibiotic — long-standing first-line rosacea agent | PATIENT-SPECIFIC | 0.75% and 1% are the approved concentrations | Accurately described, including the admission that the precise mechanism is unknown — an unusual piece of candour on a consumer page. Same stewardship point as the clindamycin: an antibiotic on an indefinite monthly dispenser needs a stated review interval. |
Scoring
- EVIDENCE FOR THE ACTIVEWEIGHT 30%66/100
Seven actives, every one of them a genuine first-line agent for the condition it is used in, described accurately and without inflation on the company's own ingredient page. Marked down because no combination is trialled, because reported starting concentrations sit well below the evidence base, and because the company publishes no clinical data of its own.
- FORMULATION INTEGRITYWEIGHT 20%78/100
Two published base creams, fragrance-free, non-comedogenic, with the correct antioxidant systems declared for both the tretinoin and hydroquinone formulas. And a dispenser that genuinely controls the applied dose, which nothing else in this register attempts. Held back because the per-dose volume is not published, so the control is real but unquantified.
- DISCLOSUREWEIGHT 15%66/100
Publishes the complete active pool, both base creams to INCI, the antioxidant systems, the monthly price and what it includes, and an honest account of each ingredient including one admission that a mechanism is unknown. Undercut by concentrations that arrive only after purchase, no per-dose volume, no stated durations for the antibiotic or steroid routes, and a headline price quoted differently in different places.
- TOLERANCE IN USEWEIGHT 15%NOT ASSESSED
Not assessed. The low starting concentrations and the metered dose are both tolerability strategies, and the second is the more interesting one — a fixed dose removes the commonest cause of retinoid irritation, which is applying too much. A panel would establish whether that translates.
- TEXTURE & WEARWEIGHT 10%NOT ASSESSED
Not assessed. Two published base creams — a hydrophilic gel cream with safflower oleosomes — and a novel dispenser both warrant a panel.
- COST PER APPLICATIONWEIGHT 10%70/100
£29.99 a month including ongoing clinician access and a metered daily dose is fair for a prescription formula, and unusually the cost per application is trivially known — it is one dose, every evening, thirty times a month. What is not known is how much product a dose contains, so cost per gram remains incomputable. Ancillary products are priced and sized separately and clearly.
What it is
A UK prescribing service founded in 2018, offering a personalised compounded cream dispensed from a metered daily dispenser and shipped monthly. £29.99 a month includes the prescription, the dispenser and ongoing consultations with the dermatology team. Routes are published for acne, rosacea, melasma, hyperpigmentation, skin ageing and menopausal skin.
The dispenser is the actual innovation
Forty-four reviews into this register, the most consistently unmeasured quantity in topical treatment is how much product a person applies. Every label says a thin layer or a pea-sized amount. Nobody weighs it. The same prescription, in the same tube, delivers wildly different daily doses depending on the hand holding it — and almost all retinoid irritation is a dose problem before it is a molecule problem.
The Daily Doser dispenses one evening's cream per twist-and-click and will not give you two. That is dose control by mechanism rather than by instruction, and neither Galderma, Bausch Health nor Sun Pharmaceutical does it in any product in this register — their tubes are as squeezable as anyone else's. It is the single most useful piece of design we have found in a compounded product, and it is genuinely to Skin + Me's credit.
The gap is the obvious one: nowhere does the company publish how much cream a dose contains. A metered dispenser without a stated dose volume is an instrument without units. Alloy's rosacea cream at R-33 publishes a 0.3 ml actuator and no frequency; Skin + Me publishes a frequency and no volume. Between them they have the whole number and neither has printed it.
Seven actives, published before you buy
Tretinoin, clindamycin, niacinamide, metronidazole, hydroquinone, hydrocortisone and azelaic acid. Each is described on the company's own ingredient page, and the descriptions are accurate in a way this register has not often been able to say.
To reduce the possibility of antibacterial resistance, Clindamycin is best combined with other ingredients like Azelaic Acid.
Skin + Me ingredient page, on clindamycin
That is correct, and it is the kind of stewardship sentence most consumer skincare pages omit entirely. The metronidazole entry goes further and concedes that the precise mechanism of its action is unknown — an admission a marketing team would normally strike out. The hydroquinone entry accurately identifies triple therapy with tretinoin and a steroid as the best-evidenced combination.
The base creams are published to INCI, and one detail in them is worth flagging as competence: treatments containing tretinoin also contain BHT, and treatments containing hydroquinone also contain ascorbic acid and sodium metabisulfite. Both are the correct antioxidant systems for those actives. Someone who understands oxidation wrote that page.
And the number that arrives after you have paid
Unfortunately, we're unable to let you know what you'll be prescribed before your Prescriber has reviewed your consultation.
Skin + Me support centre
This is the standard position across compounded telehealth and it is defensible as a regulatory stance: a prescriber cannot promise a prescription in advance. But it means the two decisions a buyer makes — whether to join and what to pay — are both taken without the specification.
Published customer treatment plans give a sense of the range. Reported formulas include tretinoin 0.006% with azelaic acid in a first month, tretinoin 0.024% with niacinamide 4% and azelaic acid 4% later, azelaic acid 14% with niacinamide 4%, and tretinoin 0.05% with niacinamide 4% and azelaic acid 4%.
Concentrations drawn from published customer treatment plans and press accounts, not from the company's own pages. The progression is a real titration ladder and its top rung is well evidenced; its first rung is roughly a quarter of the lowest concentration any trial has tested.
A deliberately sub-therapeutic first rung is a legitimate clinical strategy — you are buying tolerance, not effect, in month one. The problem is that from the customer's side a starter strength and an ineffective one look identical, and the only way to tell which you have been given is to be told the number and the plan. Skin + Me does provide both in the treatment plan. It provides neither before the first payment.
The two actives that need an end date
Of the seven, two are antibiotics and one is a corticosteroid. A monthly dispenser arriving automatically is the delivery format least likely to prompt anyone — customer or prescriber — to ask whether the course should have stopped.
Skin + Me's own page says clindamycin should be combined with other agents to limit resistance. That is the first half of antibiotic stewardship. The second half is duration, and no route on the site states one. The same applies to metronidazole, and more sharply to hydrocortisone: the approved product built on the hydroquinone-tretinoin-steroid logic states in its own labelling that it is not indicated for maintenance and that therapy should be discontinued when control is achieved. A subscription's default is continuation. These three ingredients' default requirement is a stop.
The price, quoted twice
The support centre states £29.99 a month. Editorial coverage and current promotions widely quote £24.99, with introductory offers as low as a few pounds for the first month. The ancillary products are priced and sized clearly — an 80 ml cleanser and 50 ml moisturiser at £29.99 for about eight weeks, and a 55 ml sunscreen at £19.99 — which makes the ambiguity on the main product more conspicuous.
It is not a large sum either way and both figures are reasonable for a prescription plus clinician access. But anyone signing up should confirm what the second month costs, because the first month is frequently discounted and the headline figure is not stable across sources.
If you are considering it
- Read the treatment plan the moment you have one and write down every concentration.
- If your first month is around 0.006% tretinoin, ask when it steps up and to what.
- Ask how much cream one dose delivers. It is the number that turns a good dispenser into a specification.
- If your formula contains clindamycin or metronidazole, ask how long the antibiotic runs and what you step down to.
- If it contains hydrocortisone, ask for a review date. This is the single most important question on this page.
- Confirm what you will be billed from month two.
- If you are pregnant or trying, say so before consultation — the pool contains tretinoin and hydroquinone.
- Use their sunscreen or another — a formula containing tretinoin and possibly hydroquinone requires daily photoprotection.
Where we stand
At 70 this is among the better compounders in the register, and the reasons are unusual ones. The actives are described honestly. The bases are published. The antioxidant systems are right. And the dispenser addresses a variable that the entire pharmaceutical industry has been content to leave to the patient's thumb.
Publish the per-dose volume and this becomes the best-specified compounded product we have seen. State a duration for the antibiotic and steroid routes and it stops being a subscription wrapped around drugs that need a stop. Neither is a hard change, and the company has already done the harder parts.
The other product that publishes half of the dose equation — an actuator volume with no frequency.
The approved product whose label limits the hydroquinone-tretinoin-steroid pattern to short-term use.
The compounder that does publish concentrations before purchase.
Who this is for
- Someone who over-applies, under-applies or cannot judge a pea-sized amount — the dispenser genuinely solves that.
- Someone starting from scratch who wants a prescriber to build the formula and step it up over months.
- Someone in perimenopause or menopause looking for a route built around that, which few competitors name.
- Someone who wants the base cream composition before committing, which this company actually publishes.
- Someone in the UK, since the service is not available elsewhere.
- You want to know your concentrations before you pay.
- You are pregnant, trying to conceive or breastfeeding — the pool contains tretinoin and hydroquinone.
- You want a treatment with a defined end, and your formula contains clindamycin, metronidazole or hydrocortisone.
- You already know which active and strength works for you, in which case a named generic is cheaper and more precise.
- You need cost per gram, which no published figure allows.
Prescription product. Introductory offers are common and the headline monthly price has been quoted at both £24.99 and £29.99 — check what you will actually be billed from month two.
This is an editorial assessment of published information about a prescription product. It is not a diagnosis, not a prescription and not a substitute for your own prescriber. Hydroquinone and tretinoin are drugs. Decisions about them belong with a clinician who has seen your skin.
Sources
- S-01Skin + Me — What is Skin + Me? (support centre) The £29.99 monthly price and what it includes; the founding date of 2018 and the partnership with UK consultant dermatologists and pharmacist independent prescribers; the Daily Doser description and monthly shipping; the cancellation policy; and the sizes and prices of the cleanser, moisturiser and sunscreen. Read 2 August 2026.
- S-02Skin + Me — What ingredients will be in my treatment? (support centre) The complete seven-active pool; the descriptions of each active including the clindamycin resistance note and the admission that metronidazole's mechanism is unknown; both base cream INCI lists; and the statements that tretinoin formulas also contain BHT and hydroquinone formulas also contain ascorbic acid and sodium metabisulfite. Also the statement that the prescribed formula cannot be disclosed before consultation review. Read 2 August 2026.
- S-03Cosmopolitan UK — a year of Skin + Me, tested A published first-month formula of tretinoin 0.006% with azelaic acid, and the monthly price as charged at the time of writing — the source for the reported starting concentration.
- S-04Skin + Me — What people say Customer-reported formulas including tretinoin 0.024% with niacinamide 4% and azelaic acid 4%, used here as the mid-ladder reference point.
- S-05FDA-approved labelling — TRI-LUMA cream The limitations of use for the approved hydroquinone-tretinoin-corticosteroid combination — not indicated for maintenance, discontinue when control is achieved — used as the comparator for the hydrocortisone route here.