Acne is a family of disorders that vary greatly in pathogenesis and clinical manifestation. Accordingly, no simple recipe for treatment can be given, and treatment options vary with the stage and intensity of the disease. Topical retinoids are the mainstay for treating common varieties of acne vulgaris. They also prevent development of comedones, halting progression to inflammatory lesions. Tretinoin was the first retinoid used in the topical treatment of acne more than 25 years ago. Isotretinoin, which has recently become available, is less irritating, but is probably somewhat less effective. Adapalene is a recently introduced topical retinoid used to treat acne. It enjoys therapeutic equivalence to tretinoin but is less irritating. Except for very mild acne cases, topical retinoids should be used concommitantly with other drugs. The operating principle is to choose drugs whose modes of action are different from topical retinoids, that is, antibiotics or benzoyl peroxide. Topical retinoids, however, constitute the core of nearly all therapeutic programs for acne. (J Am Acad Dermatol 1997;36:S92-5.)