Can you damage only part of your skin barrier?

So i recently, like two days ago, switched from 0.025% cream to 0.05% gel. My problem areas are my cheeks and chin. However for some reason my forehead stings really badly when I'm applying my regular moisturizer, while the rest of the face is completely okay (even though arguably I've applied more in quantity on my cheeks than my forehead). Is it possible that I've only partially damaged my forehead skin barrier? It's so weird

Tonight I'm gonna do the sandwich method on my forehead only and see how that goes. Has anyone else ever experienced something like this?

P.S: I do apply daily and kinda power through the irritation/adjusting period. Should I slow down maybe?