Dermatica Review: UK Prescription Skincare, Ingredients, Price and Results

Dermatica is a UK online prescription skincare service. You fill in an online consultation and upload selfies, its dermatology team chooses a personalized night formula, and a new bottle arrives about every 28 days. As of October 2026 it costs £24.99 a month after a £2.90 first month, or as little as £18.67 a month on a prepaid 12-month plan. Formulas can include tretinoin, hydroquinone, adapalene and clindamycin.

Below we go through how the consultation works, who writes the prescription, every active ingredient Dermatica lists with its strength, the full price table, realistic timelines, side effects and how canceling works. We didn't use Dermatica ourselves; this review is built from Dermatica's own pages and terms, plus dermatology references on the ingredients it prescribes.

Is there a better alternative?

It depends on what you're after. If you want a regular read on how your skin looks, plus an ingredient check tied to your skin type, Pori is built for that. It's an iPhone app that turns a selfie into a 0–100 skin score in about 10 seconds, with sub-scores for hydration, pores and texture, pigmentation and tone, and aging signs. Its ingredient scanner (Pro) flags each ingredient as beneficial, use with caution or avoid for your skin type. Pori isn't a prescription service and doesn't diagnose or treat anything, so it pairs with a service like Dermatica: you can scan weekly and see whether a formula is actually changing things, using the same approach as our guide on how to track acne progress.

If you want another prescription service, our Dermatica vs Skin + Me comparison covers the main UK rival side by side.

How does Dermatica work?

Dermatica works as a monthly subscription built around one prescription cream that you apply at night. According to its how it works page, the steps are:

1. Online consultation. You answer questions about your skin and history and upload selfies.
2. Review. Dermatica's dermatology team reviews your answers and selects a combination of active ingredients for you.
3. Delivery. Your formula ships to your door roughly every 28 days.
4. Check-ins. Subscribers get unlimited check-ins with the team, and the formula can be adjusted as your skin changes. You can upload new photos from your dashboard.

The treatments FAQ says every Dermatica formula is applied once daily at night: one to two pumps on dry, cleansed skin, followed by a simple moisturizer, avoiding the lips, nostrils and eye area. It also tells you to use SPF 30 or higher the next morning. Personalized formulas are sold only as a subscription; you can't buy a single bottle.

Dermatica's site says it only supports customers in the United Kingdom.

Who prescribes your Dermatica formula?

Dermatica's website terms say its Consultant Dermatologists are GMC-registered doctors who work under Central Medical Solutions Ltd, a CQC-registered organization. The same page says Dermatica is regulated by the MHRA and registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council, and names the company as Dermatica Ltd, part of the MedExpress Group. The marketing pages describe the wider team as including consultant dermatologists, pharmacists, GPs and formulation scientists.

What the site doesn't spell out is whether a consultant dermatologist personally reviews every consultation, or how long a review takes. If that matters to you, ask through the dashboard before you commit to a long plan.

What ingredients can a Dermatica formula contain?

Dermatica's ingredients page lists 12 actives, six of them prescription-only (marked Rx). Your formula combines a few of these at strengths your prescriber chooses, blended into a base cream Dermatica calls SmartBase, which contains hyaluronic acid, ceramides, glycerin and panthenol.

One point for people searching "Dermatica azelaic acid": azelaic acid isn't among the 12 actives for the personalized formula. Dermatica sells it separately as a non-prescription Clarifying Azelaic Acid Cream in 15% and 20% strengths, applied in the morning, so it's an add-on rather than part of your prescription bottle.

The tretinoin range matters. Dermatica's pages say your formula is prescribed at a strength that suits you and adapts as your skin progresses, so most people don't start at the top of that range. For what tretinoin does and how it differs from retinol, see tretinoin explained.

For acne, the acne page also offers oral doxycycline as an add-on, subject to clinical review, at £39.99 for a 16-week course.

How much does Dermatica cost in the UK?

Dermatica costs £24.99 a month on a rolling plan, with the first month at £2.90, as of October 2026. Its pricing page lists cheaper prepaid plans:

Every plan includes the formula every 28 days, free shipping, free dermatology check-ins and formula adjustments. Because a delivery comes every 28 days, a year on the monthly plan means 13 bottles, so budget about £325 a year at £24.99 a bottle. Dermatica also sells non-prescription products (a retinal serum at £30.00 and a 15% vitamin C at £15.50 were listed on its hyperpigmentation page), but you don't need them to use the service.

How long does Dermatica take to work?

Expect at least six to eight weeks before you see a visible change. Dermatica's treatments FAQ says that's typical in most cases and that it can take up to 12 weeks to notice significant results; its acne page says results within 8 weeks and its hyperpigmentation page says within 12. Independent references are similar or slower: DermNet notes that with topical retinoids for acne it may take 12 weeks or longer before improvement is seen, and that benefits for sun damage come with use beyond six months.

Acne may get a little worse before it gets better. Dermatica's acne page says it's normal for skin to break out before you see improvement. In pooled trial data, a week-two flare (at least 10% more inflamed spots) happened in 15.4% of people with mild acne using tretinoin 0.025% alone, against 8.7% on a vehicle cream, and was no more common with a clindamycin and tretinoin combination. So a short early flare is possible but far from universal. Our guide on purging vs a breakout explains how to tell the two apart.

What side effects should you expect?

Dryness, redness, flaking and some burning are the most common early side effects. Dermatica's FAQ lists exactly these as signs that skin is adjusting, and DermNet describes retinoid dermatitis (redness, peeling and dryness) as a known effect, with tretinoin the most irritating of the topical retinoids. Retinoids also make skin more sun-sensitive, which is why daily sunscreen is part of the plan.

• Hydroquinone: DermNet notes irritation is more likely above 4% and that exogenous ochronosis, a bluish-gray darkening, is linked to high concentrations used several times a day for years. Ask your prescriber how long you're meant to stay on it.
• Pregnancy: Dermatica says it offers formulas for people who are pregnant, breastfeeding or trying to conceive, with no antibiotics, steroids or retinoids. If you become pregnant while on a formula, its FAQ says to stop using it and contact the team. DermNet adds that retinoids are teratogenic and that hydroquinone's safety in pregnancy hasn't been established.
• Eczema-prone skin: retinoids can make eczema worse because of their drying effect, according to DermNet.

How do you cancel Dermatica?

You cancel from your dashboard, at least 48 hours before your next scheduled shipment. Dermatica's terms of sale set out the details:

• Cancel with less than 48 hours' notice and you're charged for that shipment; the cancellation applies from the next order.
• To change a delivery date, make the change at least 7 days before the next shipment.
• Your card is charged when the products are dispatched, and anything not yet dispatched is refunded.
• Prepaid 4-, 6- and 12-month plans aren't refundable if you cancel partway through.
• Medicines can't be returned once sent, apart from the specific cases the terms list.

The practical advice: start on the monthly plan. A 12-month plan saves about 25%, but you lose that money if the formula doesn't suit you in month two.

Is Dermatica worth it?

Dermatica is worth it if you have mild to moderate acne, pigmentation, melasma, rosacea or early signs of aging, live in the UK, and want prescription-strength actives without waiting for a GP appointment. The ingredient list is broad, the strengths are published, and the monthly plan lets you try it for £2.90 before paying full price.

It's a weaker fit if you want a face-to-face assessment, if you want azelaic acid inside your prescription formula, or if your acne is deep and painful. The NHS says to see a GP if you have lots of spots, or spots that are deep, painful or causing scars, or if acne is affecting your mental health. Nodular or cystic acne often needs treatments a topical subscription can't give; see our guide to cystic acne.

Whichever route you take, give a formula a full 12 weeks, take photos in the same light every couple of weeks, and report irritation to the team early instead of quietly stopping.