How to Care for Your Skin During a Chemical Peel

I recently did a chemical peel on my skin and I wanted to show you the progress. When I’m treating acne in the office a lot of times we will do chemical peels to reduce inflammation and shed away dark spots and uneven pigmentation. I am always treating my clients skin that I can neglect my own sometimes, so it was time for a good deep peel to get rid of a lot of pigmentation and dead skin that has accumulated over the mast several months.

 

First I did a microdermabrasion exfoliation followed with a gentle enzyme. Then I put about 4 layers of a medium strength peel that has a combination of Glycolic, Lactic, Mandelic and TCA alphahydroxy acids. That took my pain level up to about an 8 out of 10, I was burning pretty bad, lol.

 

The first day or two there wasn’t much peeling at all but my skin felt very tight. as the days went on it got tighter and as I would talk or eat, moving my mouth would make the skin begin to shed around my mouth. Peels always begin shedding around the mouth because this is the area we move the most on our face. Once the mouth begins to shed, the peeling will continue on the cheeks and then the forehead and nose.

 

The key to a great peel is how you care for your skin during and after peeling.

1. Wash with Gentle Cleansers. Nothing with extra active ingredients for a few days.

2. Keep the skin protected with a Recovery Ointment

3. Use an exfoliating scrub when the skin begins to shed a lot

4. SPF IS IMPERATIVE!! Wear it every single day even if your not leaving the house, just make it part of your daily routine.

 

I generally begin using my active serums after about 3 days as long as my skin isn’t too sensitive. When treating pigmentation, I always use Bleaching Serum every day, another reason to keep that SPF on heavy. Active serums make the skin more photosensitive so keep it protected at all times. After a week, I am back on all my serums like Mandelic Acid and Retinol.

 

 

If you have any questions or are interested in getting a chemical peel, reach out to me or schedule your appointment online.

 

Hope to see you soon!

xoxo,
Elle