Chemical Peel: Stories

I had a chemical peel one month after undergoing fractional laser treatment with a Palomar laser. I originally had the laser treatment for mild acne scarring and melasma. While the laser broke up some of the melasma on my jawline, it created hyperpigmentation on my temples, and even a few spots on my cheeks and forehead. The medium depth peel I received was a combination of Salicylic 30%, Glycolic 40% to 70%, modified Jessner 14%, Alpha Beta 17%, and Retin A. I experienced a bit of stinging during and immediately after the procedure, but nothing severe like the laser treatment which was quite painful. After, I looked a bit sunburned but at least the redness was even, not like the horrible blotches I had post-laser treatment. By that evening I was bronzing. My skin got very tight and dry over the next 24 hours and started wrinkling between 24 and 48 hours. I looked 20 years older. I started getting tiny flaky patches after 48 hours and by day 3 started peeling here and there. Days 4 and 5 had lots of severe peeling but the skin underneath was smooth and pink. Most of the skin had peeled off by day 5 but I still had some minor peeling and flaky areas through day 8. One area near the corner of my mouth was kind of raw and actually peeled twice. I followed all the post-op instructions to a T and made sure not to pick or peel off any flaking skin.The peel helped even my skin color out after the laser treatment and helped with the acne and milia that appeared post-laser as well. I did not notice that it did anything for fine lines or acne scarring. Overall, I think my skin reacted much better to the peel and I would consider doing a bit stronger peel again before I would ever consider going another round with the laser.