Overall Good Results - San Antonio, TX

Due to ongoing issues with melasma I decided to do the VI peel per my estheticians recommendation. My skin care regimen is morning/night washing and retin-a at night. I am 43 yo caucasian with medium skin color. I stopped the retin-a 2 weeks before the peel. I had microdermabrasion done in Sept and saw a reduction in melasma secondary to that. I use to use hydroquinone to manage symptoms but I can no longer get a prescription for that due to state law regulations. I have mild melasma (most notable in the summer if I have been out doors alot). I was hesitant to do the peel as I had seen a fairly good improvement from the microderm, however, I had already paid and scheduled, so I just went ahead and did it. I feel the results were quite good. I would say there is a 70-75% reduction in the dark spots. That being said, no one noticed that I had the peel done. This may be do to the fact that my makeup typically covers the darker areas. Here is how my treatment went:
Day 1 (day before Thanksgiving)- Had peel put on at 1:30 in the afternoon. Mild burning upon application. Cont burning with a bit more intensity for 4-5 hours after it was applied. All was manageable. Face was red. Washed off around 6 hours after applied. Used towelette they give you. No burning when I used towelette.
Day 2- Face red and appeared tight and shiny. No peeling. Went to an all day event and had full make-up on. I probably looked a bit weird but not to bad. No burning when I used towelette that night.
Day 3- Peeling started around mouth and nose. Cont to peel all day. Slow process.
Day 4-6- continued to peel quite extensively. Really dry around mouth/nose and it seemed that this area almost peeled twice.
Day 7- Still small amount of peeling left. Went to work. No makeup except on eyes and lips. Just wore sunscreen and peel protectant that they give you.
Day 8- All done and wore makeup. Still dry around mouth and nose area.
Day 9- Full makeup, skin was still a bit red and still a bit dry but easily manageable.
Day 13- Not dry and back to normal.

Overall my experience was just as the website says it should be. My personal recommendation: plan for down time. I looked a mess from day 3-6. My skin was noticably peeling. There was no hiding it. I was definitely homebound. I did use scissors to trim the skin when it would peel. I did not pick the loose skin but I was trying to move my face around, scrunching it as to encourage skin to peel, because I was in a rush to get back to work and I did not like the feeling of the skin peeling. It felt like I had a super tight skin mask on and it was just slowly coming off. However, in hindsight I wish I would have just been more patient as my face was back to normal by day 8-9 and I really just needed to leave it alone. I see patients for a living so it would have been unusual for them to see my skin peeling off but if you worked in a small office where you know your coworkers really well (and you could stay hidden) then you could probably go back to work earlier than I did. I would air on the cautious side as I had to end up rescheduling my patients due to taking 1 extra day off on day 6 of the peel and I did not like having to do that.
My skin is noticeably lighter, brighter and there is a signficant overall reduction in darker areas. I am now 13 days out from peel. I would definately do it again. The down time and the peeling is the hardest part. I took Benedryl at night to help with sleep and had no problems with sleeping. My neck did itch and burn quite a bit on the area that they applied the peel. I could see where you could benefit from a series of peels as I still have a few small areas that are dark. Again, not noticable by others. However, I just can't take that amount of time off again and, I am not sure I would want to in the next 6-9 months. I would definately do the peel in the winter when sunlight is less. I think this is a great option for reduction of melasma.