Prescription skincare, priced honestly
Telederm's favorite trick isn't the medicine, it's the billing: "$36 a month" charged $72 every two months, "monthly" bottles that ship every 56 days, quarterly tubes with monthly support fees. Here's the market with the billing truth attached.
| Channel | Product | Advertised price | How it's actually billed | Extra fees | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Curology | Custom Formula Rx (acne), 30-day | $29.95/mo sub ($34.95 one-time) | billed per 30-day shipment | none · promo: First month free + $5.45 shipping | listed price · 2026-09-06 source |
| Curology | HydroTret Rx (tretinoin, anti-aging) | $29.95/mo sub | billed per 30-day shipment | none · promo: First month free + $5.45 shipping | reported · 2026-09-06 source |
| Agency (by Curology) | Future Formula custom anti-aging | ~$30/mo ($30–46 with add-ons) | reported; site blocks verification | none reported · promo: $4.95 first order | reported · 2026-09-06 source |
| Musely | Spot Cream (hydroquinone + tretinoin) | $36/mo advertised | BILLED $72 PER 2-MONTH SHIPMENT on auto-refill | $20 doctor visit fee (first order + new treatments, nonrefundable) · promo: 30%-off codes rotate | reported · 2026-09-06 source |
| Musely | Other Rx formulas (acne $30 → cell repair $49) | $30–49/mo advertised | 2-month billing pattern presumed per product | $20 doctor visit fee | reported · 2026-09-06 source |
| Hims | Tretinoin Rx (custom) | "$10/mo" intro claim; ~$39.95/mo typical reported | recurring price gated behind intake — audit scheduled | consult included per marketing · promo: $10/mo intro framing | reported · 2026-09-06 source |
| Hers | Acne cream / anti-aging tretinoin | ~$29/mo acne; $25–75/mo custom (reported) | reported; audit scheduled | unknown | reported · 2026-09-06 source |
| Dermatica | Personalized Rx formula (incl. tretinoin) | $29.95/mo | bottle ships every 56 DAYS; 12-mo plan $269 = $22.42/bottle. Whether the $29.95 is billed per shipment or per calendar month is unresolved and changes the effective rate materially — needs a checkout walk. | $4.99 one-time prescribing fee · promo: First month $4.99 | listed price · 2026-09-06 source |
| Nurx | Tretinoin 0.025% (one tube = 3-month supply) | $30/mo ($90 per quarterly tube) | quarterly product advertised monthly; +$3/mo support fee | $40 medical consult + $3/mo support fee | listed price · 2026-09-06 source |
| Retail generic (GoodRx) | Generic tretinoin 0.025% cream, 20g | from ~$38.68 with coupon ($27.59 w/ membership); ~$120 retail | prices float daily by pharmacy and zip | prescription required (any prescriber) | reported · 2026-09-06 source |
Gone Apostrophe — Shut down 2025-03-07 by parent Hims & Hers; subscriptions canceled. Stale listings persist on affiliate networks. source
Tretinoin cost without insurance: Curology, Musely, pharmacy prices →
Buy tretinoin per tube, not per month: what a tube costs at every layer →
The billing tricks in prescription skincare: what you actually pay →
The billing fine print, spelled out#
- Musely: "$36/mo" is charged $72 every two months on auto-refill, plus a nonrefundable $20 doctor fee on your first order and each new treatment.
- Dermatica: "$29.95/month" — but the bottle ships every 56 days, which works out to roughly $32 per 30 days on the base plan.
- Nurx: a quarterly $90 tube advertised as $30/month, plus a $40 consult and a $3/month support fee.
- Curology: current plans bill per 30-day shipment; legacy large-bottle plans bill per 60 days. Mixed formulas are final sale.
The generic escape hatch: tretinoin itself is a cheap generic. With any prescription (your own doctor or a one-off telehealth visit), retail tretinoin with a discount card runs well under most subscription prices. Custom compounds add real convenience and combination actives; know that that's what you're paying for.
News & moves#
The teledermatology brand closed and subscriptions were canceled — but stale affiliate listings for it still float around the internet. It stays in our records as a dead channel.
The telederm market, priced →All tracked news → · Subscribe to this beat (RSS) · Fed by a daily automated scan; entries publish only after primary-source verification.
Diet and skin: the one food link with real trial evidence →
Draft rows come from published pricing and third-party reporting, flagged until verified. Pricing journalism, not dermatology advice. No link on this page earns us a commission; rankings never bend — disclosure.