What to Expect From a Chemical Peel
Disclaimer: This post is informational only and is not a substitute for medical and/or dermatological advice. If you are in doubt, please seek advice from your physician. The advice on this website is the opinion of Sahily Perez from PrettyinPigment.com, I am in no way responsible for the effects of said advice.
The chemical peel discussed in this post was provided as a complementary service by Ress Plastic Surgery for editorial consideration. This did not influence my opinion and all thoughts remain 100% my own.
When I first told my friends that I was going to get a chemical peel, I got a lot of odd stares. A few of my friends thought I was nuts and instantly referenced to the famous Sex and The City episode, where Samantha had a chemical skin peel a few days before Carrie’s book signing party. As a matter of fact, most of the responses were fearful and ended with, “let me know how it goes.”
Well, here’s how it went!
I had my chemical peel done at Ress Plastic Surgery in Boca Raton, Florida. Alena Kuneff, Advanced Aesthetics Manager, preformed my peel and walked me through the whole treatment. Alena was super friendly and informative, took time to address all of my questions and educated me about peels.
For starters, most people (including myself prior to my peel), don’t really know what to expect from a chemical peel or understand what a chemical peel entails.
Here’s my sweet and simple explanation: a trained professional applies TCA (Trichloroacetic acid) to the skin to create a controlled wound, which will in turn cause the body to replace the damaged skin with new, radiant skin.
I know what you are thinking, “Acid on her face…is she crazy?”
Relax my friend, this isn’t battery acid. TCA is a medical grade solution, specifically used by medical professionals to perform skin peels and other medical procedures. The solution will cause the skin to peel over the course of several days, depending on the intensity of the peel.
In my case, Alena performed a mild peel. She warned me that my skin might be red, appear sun burned and would probably peel for about 5-7 days. For best results, she suggested that I stay out of the sun and use sunscreen daily, moisturize and avoid picking at my skin while my peel is healing.
The treatment itself is a pretty quick procedure. Alena went through a few steps of applying different products to my face, and within a few minutes the whole thing was complete and I was out the door.
But, I know you are not worried about how long it took, you are probably curious to know how bad it hurt.
To be honest, I was initially expecting my face to feel like it was scorched by a fireball, but to my surprise it was nearly pain-free. I simply felt mild tingling while the solution was on my face, but it was very tolerable. I would put this procedure in the same category as getting my eyebrows threaded. It’s obviously not too bad, considering that I get my eyebrows threaded every two weeks.
All in all, my recovery went very smoothly. I didn’t have any pain or discomfort and the majority of the peeling was complete within 5 days. I followed all of the directions Alena gave me during my recovery, but found myself breaking one rule– picking at my skin. It was so hard to resist considering that I looked like a snake for a few days.
It’s been two weeks since my peel and I’m ecstatic with my results. The chemical peel helped to shrink my pores, diminish scarring and reduced the amount of oil on my face. I also noticed that my acne scarring improved, as well as a reduction in my acne breakouts.
My skin now has a natural glow that hasn’t existed in years, probably since I was 21. I’m not the only one that has noticed, a few of my friends are shocked to see how much improvement one treatment can do.
This is definitely not going to be my last chemical peel. I plan on going back for my second treatment in a few months to reduce my acne scarring even more and keep my unruly pores under control. For best results, Alena suggested that I do a series of peels. If possible, getting a peel every season would be the ideal option for me, plus it would help to keep my skin fresh all year long.
Ress Plastic Surgery is currently running a Glow For The New Year special. A single peel is $150 and if you purchase 3 peels, you will receive one for FREE! This offer is valid through 1/31/2014.
For more information about Ress Plastic Surgery, please visit their website or call them directly at 561-347-1611. You can also connect with Ress Plastic Surgery on Facebook and Twitter.
Ress Plastic Surgery is located at 6877 SW 18th Street Suite H201 Boca Raton, FL 33433
Have you ever had a chemical skin peel?
Disclaimer: This post is informational only and is not a substitute for medical and/or dermatological advice. If you are in doubt, please seek advice from your physician. The advice on this website is the opinion of Sahily Peres from PrettyinPigment.com, I am in no way responsible for the effects of said advice.
The chemical peel discussed in this post was provided as a complementary service by Ress Plastic Surgery for editorial consideration. This did not influence my opinion and all thoughts remain 100% my own.
dawn says
Wow! The results are amazing!
http://www.simplysassysstyle.blogspot.com
Dawn
Bee says
honestly, i was a bit scared when you mentioned peel a few weeks before. even I thought of Samantha. looking at the pics, by week 3 I was still scared…
but by ur last pic, I’m thinking I should do it too. i have some large pores & acne scars – and i’m oily!
hope it reacts this well on me 😉