Chemical peels can help turn sun damaged skin into fantastic, radiant skin. This type of treatment helps reduce hyper-pigmentation and improves skin tone, while leaving the skin noticeably brighter and smoother.
Once you’ve invested the time for a chemical peel, it’s equally important to have a good after-treatment plan to see the best results possible.
Chemical Peel After Care
Here are a few great tips for chemical peel after care, so you can maintain the best results from your treatment:
1. Hands Off
The main goal of a chemical peel is to pull up and slough off the damaged skin cells, revealing healthy, glowing skin underneath. When the dead skin starts to shed, avoid touching, picking or scratching it with your fingers. Let the dead skin shed off naturally, and don’t peel the skin off with your own fingers - using fingers to remove the dead skin can lead to possible scarring.
2. Pull It Back
Pulling your hair back away from the face with a hair band can help prevent you from touching, and keep breakouts at bay. It's important to allow the skin to go through its naturally peeling process, without accidentally contacting your skin while brushing back your hair. Touching the skin with dirty fingers and hands will only aggregate the new skin and may lead to breakouts. If breakouts do occur, don’t treat them yourself! Have your aesthetician treat them for you or just leave them alone.
3. Moisturize - But Just Enough to Be Comfortable
After receiving a chemical peel, your skin will be sensitive. There may be certain products in your normal skin care routine that you'll want to avoid, as they may have active and irritating ingredients. The only two products you will want to use on your skin during the peeling process are sunscreen and just enough of a bland (neutral) moisturizer to be comfortable. The skin feeling and looking dry is part of the peeling process, and your moisturizer won’t be able to correct that.
Our advice is to use little to no moisturizer for the first couple days after treatment. In some cases, there will be a specific post care moisturizer provided at the time of treatment, which is safe to use, and your SkinSpirit aesthetician will walk you through the details. For some people, the only thing that won’t sting the skin is Aquaphor, which is easily available over the counter.
When applying moisturizer to the skin, be careful as well not to rub or scrub it in. Gently apply a thin layer of moisturizer all over the skin multiple times throughout the day, as needed. You’ll be able to go back to your regular skincare routine once the peeling process is complete and skin no longer feels sensitive - generally within a week of receiving your chemical peel.
4. Protect Your Skin With SPF
You’ve just gone through the process of getting rid of damaged skin with a chemical peel - so it's important to avoid damaging the new, vulnerable skin coming through by protecting it with a layer of sunscreen anytime exposure to the sun is possible.
Whether sitting by a window, spending time outside, or in front of a screen of any kind, you need to protect your newly brightened skin. Be sure to choose a physical sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher and broad spectrum high safety ratings - your skin will thank you later!
We recommend Colorescience Sunforgettable Total Protection Brush-On Shield, which is an easy, gentle and effective way to apply sunscreen protection to overly sensitized skin.
We've also put together this SPF guide to help you know what to look for from a sunscreen, and can offer personalized recommendations during a complimentary product consult any of our Bay Area, Orange County, Salt Lake City, Texas or Seattle Area clinics.
5. Let It Peel
Do not remove any of the dry, dead skin with any sort of rubbing, peeling or pulling during the peeling process. Safe exfoliation can be done as soon as skin is no longer hyper sensitive.
We recommend the perfect post peel exfoliating duo: Jan Marini Skin Zyme and Clean Zyme, products containing gentle enzymes that soften and melt away dead skin. All facial scrubs, resurfacing acids, Retinols, and even Clarisonic Cleansing Brushes are off limits until the skin stops shedding - usually up to a week after treatment.
6. Lighten Up
Now is a good time to come in for a consult and get a custom home care regimen to maintain your newly brightened skin! You want to be sure to have a great antioxidant, which is your first line of defense against free radicals each and every day. Specialized melanocyte down regulators can help with tougher pigment - see your skin care professional to learn more!
7. Don’t Worry
It’s also a good idea to just read a book and don’t worry about how your skin looks for a few days. The end result is more than worth the investment!
If you have any concerns at all, please call us at (855) 383-7546. We would never want you to be home alone wondering if things are okay, and are happy to address any questions or concerns you have throughout the peeling process!
Want to see if you’re a perfect candidate for a chemical peel?
Please keep in mind that your after care regimen may vary slightly based on the type of peel you receive, and that all skin responds differently. Peeling is not the main indicator of success - it’s the transformation in tone and texture. Some skin may peel very little and some may peel several times.
We recommend visiting one of our experts for a complimentary consultation to discover if a chemical peel would be the right treatment for you. Click here to request your complimentary consultation at any one of our locations in the San Francisco Bay area, Orange County, Texas, Salt Lake City, UT, or metro Seattle. Or, give us a call at (855) 383-7546 to book by phone.
Disclaimer: Information and content within this blog is provided for informational purposes only. This blog is not intended to provide medical advice, and anything read here should not be construed as such. Reading this blog or communicating with our staff does not create a physician-patient relationship. If you have questions about any health issue, including something you may have read here, please consult a licensed, trained physician or health professional immediately.
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