As you age, your skin ages with you. Adults often have to contend with blemishes like wrinkles, scarring, and uneven skin tone and texture.
Luckily, there are advancements in the cosmetics industry that are helping adults age better than ever before. One of these advancements is the chemical peel, which we offer to our clients at Palms Wellington Plastic Surgery.
What Are Chemical Peels?
Chemical peels involve applying chemical solutions to the skin to remove its top layers. We use chemical peels to resurface our patients’ skin and make it smoother and healthier.
What Do Chemical Peels Do?
Chemical peels contain acids that increase your skin’s acidity. Altering the acidity levels of your skin forces the cells connecting dead skin with healthy skin to loosen. Once these bonds are loosened, we can exfoliate the dead skin to reveal the fresh, healthy skin underneath.
Types of Chemical Peels
There are several types of chemical peels: light, medium, and deep.
Light Chemical Peels
Light chemical peels are the mildest form of the treatment and only remove the outer layer of skin. These peels help treat acne, uneven skin tone, dryness, and wrinkles.
You can receive light chemical peels every two to five weeks.
Medium Chemical Peels
These chemical peels go deeper than light chemical peels. Medium chemical peels remove the epidermis, or top layer of skin, and portions of the middle layer of skin, called the dermis.
Like light chemical peels, medium peels can treat uneven skin tone, acne scars, and wrinkles.
Deep Chemical Peels
These are the most aggressive chemical peels, and they penetrate even deeper than the previous two. Sometimes, doctors recommend deep chemical peels for patients who have precancerous growths. Deep chemical peels can also treat deeper wrinkles and more severe scarring.
How Long Do Chemical Peels Last?
The length of time the results from your chemical peel last depends on the type of peel you receive.
The results from light chemical peels last one to two months on average. Medium chemical peel outcomes last two to six months, and results from deep chemical peels are ongoing.
The longevity of your light and medium chemical peel depends, in part, on individual factors like your lifestyle. We will educate you on any lifestyle alterations you should make so you can enjoy your chemical peel results longer.
Benefits of Chemical Peels
Chemical peels treat a variety of skin conditions by offering the following benefits:
- Acne treatment
- Texture balancing
- Pore minimization
- Smoother skin overall
- Discoloration treatment
- Skin tightening and lifting
- Scar treatment and smoothing
- Erasure of wrinkles and fine lines
Chemical peels offer numerous benefits for individuals who want smoother, healthier, younger-looking skin.
Chemical Peels for Acne Scars
If you’ve dealt with acne scarring, you know how frustrating it can be and how ineffective most topical solutions are.
Chemical peels exfoliate the skin at a deeper level than topical treatments. Chemical peels for acne scars cleanse your skin in a more thorough and targeted manner that allows for a new, fresh layer of skin that isn’t scarred by acne.
Chemical peels for acne scars are most effective when done in a series. We will create a custom peel schedule for you that will help you achieve blemish-free skin.
Chemical Peels for Dark Skin
Individuals with dark skin can also benefit from chemical peels. People of color produce more melanin in their skin than those with light skin, which means that their skin may be more sensitive to the results of chemical peels.
As such, light chemical peels are best for patients with darker skin. Light chemical peels provide all of the benefits without any potential irritation from more aggressive chemical peels.
What to Expect During a Chemical Peel
During a chemical peel, here’s what you can expect.
We will apply the chemical solution to the skin on your face, which will likely tingle for a few minutes before the solution neutralizes itself. During this time, we will provide you with a fan to keep you cool and comfortable. In some cases, we may also apply a numbing cream.
Once the chemical solution has done its work, we will give you cold compresses to help soothe your skin.
Recovering from a Chemical Peel
Your facial skin will have some redness for up to 12 hours following a chemical peel. If you have more sensitive skin or get a medium or deep peel, the redness may last around three days.
Once the redness has passed, your skin will exfoliate more than usual, revealing new, healthier skin. If you received your chemical peel to treat acne, you may not notice exfoliation but rather tightness as your oil glands and pores shrink.
With medium chemical peels, you’ll need a couple of days of downtime while your skin recovers fully. Stay out of the sun and apply the special moisturizer we provide several times a day.
How to Improve Your Results
To improve the results of your chemical peel, you should take some proactive steps.
If you are someone who likes working out in the morning, you should skip your morning workout on the day of your chemical peel. Exercise increases your skin’s circulation, which can leave your face feeling over-stimulated prior to the peel.
You should also be mindful of staying hydrated, especially in the days leading up to the treatment.
Finally, you should exfoliate your skin a few weeks before your procedure to help enhance the post-peel results. Be careful not to exfoliate in the days leading up to the procedure, however, so your skin isn’t too sensitive.
Chemical Peels in West Palm Beach
To learn more about the chemical peels we offer at Palms Wellington Plastic Surgery in West Palm Beach, FL, contact us today.