Glycolic Peel: Stories

After seeing great results on both my sister and cousin, I decided to get a consultation for a glycolic peel from my dermotologist. Since the esthetician at my office performs the procedure, I would have had to schedule a seperate appointment with her. Surprisingly, my doctor actually squeezed me in with the NP (I believe) right after my consultation (the esthetician was not there at the time)! She started me off with a 20% solution, and would increase the strength after each additional visit. She applied it and let it sit for about three minutes-- there was a very slight burning sensation, but she offered to put a fan on in front of my face to ease the process. Wiping the peel off was a little irritating, but nothing intolerable by any means.

She told me that I would notice my skin feeling more soft and supple by night time (I had it done ~9:30am)-- the results were not immediate. By late afternoon, I noticed my skin was very smooth. The next day and for almost a week after, my skin was EXTREMELY OILY! It was terrible. My face was covered in blackheads and whiteheads. I would put powder makeup on, but it would make my skin look 10x worse!! I do not normally have oily skin, but I was at the point where I was washing it 3x a day! I thought it was never going to go away. It calmed down after I must have dried it out and my skin actually did look great.

I told the esthetician about the oily skin at my next visit, which she said was a very peculiar side effect because it usually dries the skin out (my sister and cousin also complained of a little dryness after), so we switched me to a salycillic peel, which worked just as well for my skin without the oiliness.

In short, the glycolic peel gave me EXTREMELY oily skin for says after the procedure. It is a highly unusual side effect, but for this reason, my esthetician switched me to a salycillic peel which works out fine for me. I still recommend the glycolic peel because it eventually revealed nice skin, and I have seen it work for a few others as well. If you're normal (lol), the glycolic will probably work fine for you.

PS: make sure your derm/esthetician starts you off with a weaker solution and moves up the strength through a series of appointments. Though it may cost a little more, it is a much safer route!!!!