Hi Natadaus, I hope I can better clarify your question for you, bear with me, I am a bit long winded! Okay, so believe it or not 99% or the population does NOT have herpes, but it is very common and accepted virus among society today. Most of the people I know don't have it, (not that we sit around asking who has what lol) but the only reason I know this is because they constantly hit me up for free skin care procedures, which I actually don't mind, but I must know medical conditions before I touch anybody, and any reputable doctor, nurse, facialist, and/or skin care professional should demand to know the same for the safety of themselves and their clients. That's why you should always be truthful on any medial questions, and it they don't ask you any prior medical condition questions then that's your cue to run, not walk out the door!
Okay so let's get to why you should be cautions. Anyone with Herpes, Aids, Lupus, Shingles, or going through Chemo should be very cautious and probably opt not to get a peel with a strong Glycolic or TCA strength, I won't post the level, because with these certain medical conditions a trained professional not some person who does facials at the local day spa should be giving you peels. In your case you need to see a trained and licensed dermatologist first, so you will not have to go through the heartbreak and burns that I have seen, and some of them are NOT pretty, and some scarring damage is so deep that it is pretty much permanent.
Because all peels are composed of "Acids" that's job is literally to burn off layers of old epidermis/ skin layers. If your immune systems is already not operating at full capacity you leave yourself open to it not being able to heal or regenerate itself properly leaving high chances of irreversible scarring, deep darkspots, and possible skin damage such as keloids (scar tissues that keeps building over itself to raised proportions). Remember you are putting acid on your face, it's as simple as that.
AHA/ Gylocics go to work by dissolving the glue-like lipids holding cells together, penetrating deep into the skin to loosen these clingy bonds, which exfoliate your skin in a quicker fashion that it normally does by itself. It takes 35 days for the epidermis to replace itself, and about 7 years for the largest organ in the body, the skin, of the entire whole body to replace itself fully, haha snakes be jealous of that! Ok, I digress, so let me explain what the different peels are so you get a better understanding of what actual peels are, and what you are putting on your face. AHA peels are broken down into different formats, thus,Glycolic acid is the smallest molecule, which works the quickest and deepest but it can also be one of the most irritating. Lactic acid is the second largest which is found in a lot of spas, because it does not irritate as much, but it doesn't penetrate as deeply, but it still gives visible improvement to the texture and smoothing of the skin.Then there are tartaric and malic acid peels, then citric, gluconic and some new synthetics acid peels that are popping up in the skin care arena. These work only on and near the skin surface, so they take longer to show improvement, but are virtually guaranteed not to sting, burn or redden the skin, so you can find these in over the counter, drug store or beauty supply shelves, but again all these are acids, never the less, and these peels max out at about 6 to 8 weeks depending on strength and then need to reapplied.
They are beneficial in getting rid of old skin cells which show signs of hyper-pigmentation, scarring, and some stages of wrinkles. Peels strip away damage ONLY, they MUST be teamed up with something else in order to be anti-aging. Like Vitamin C, very controlled doses of hydroquinone, soy, marine actives, and etc for hyperpigmentation, as an example.
If you are looking for anti aging, consider a derivative of retinoic acid (Retin-A).
AHA’s, Gylocic, and TCA peels ONLY exfoliate the skin while retinoic acid works at the nuclear level to produce collagen and skin turnover, BUT AGAIN, you need to see your doctor to see what strength of Retin-A, you can take with the Herpes Virus. Retinol is a lower strength of Retin-A and I'm pretty sure that's what they are going to tell you to go with, and can be found in over the counter skin care lines that won't cause an outbreak for you, with a low dose daily Gylocic like 10% cream INSTEAD of a peel, but again, you need to see a dermatologist for exact dosage, because I can't ethically give you that.
It's true that the Herepes Virus lies dominate, BUT what you don't take into fact, that much like acne patients, an outbreak could start days before you visibly see it because it has to work its way to the tissues and epidermis for you to "visibly" detect it, what you think is an outbreak that started yesterday actually started 4 days ago. Outbreaks are usually caused by stress, hormones, and external and internal irritant and inflammation, and an acid peel is definitely an irritant. Here is an excerpt from an article, I don't think the site will let me post the link so I copied it for you, that sums it up just in case I rambled to much,
"Not everyone is a candidate for chemical peels. If you have herpes( the article says oral, but any skin professional with any morals will take this to mean the Herpes virus period) cold sores or fever blisters and have an outbreak before your peel is completely healed, the virus can infect the treated area, causing severe scarring. Talk to your primary physician about a prescription for an oral antiviral drug if you have herpes. Taking an antiviral product can significantly decrease your chances of an outbreak. You should not have a chemical peel if you've used Accutane (isotretinoin) in the last year because it can increase your chances of excessive scarring. Other factors that may affect your candidacy include recent radiation or chemotherapy to treat cancer; sunburn, windburn or broken skin in the treatment area; and/or recent waxing or depilatory use in the treatment area. If you plan to tan, skip the peel."
I hope that answered the question for you! Best of Wishes and Great Skin !!!!
People with Herpes should NEVER get a glycolic peel. Any properly trained esthetician or doctor should have told you that. That is why they ask you are you taking any medications? Suffer from any diseases, when you get a consultation, but it seems you didn't get a proper consultation to have be forewarned. When you took the Valtrex your body counteracted in the form of swelling. You are very lucky that it all it did, there are a lot of people who have Herpes that have gotten severe chemical burns and now have permanent scarring from this procedure, and have had seizures so consider yourself lucky. People who have Herpes, AIDS, going through chemotherapy, or any other type of immune hindering disorders should NEVER get an glycolic peel, and definitely you never should have taken the Valtrex. Whoever your doctor who administered this did you a great disservice and if I were you I would find a skincare doctor who knows what they are doing because again you could have ended up much worse that what happened to you. even your follow up doctor doesn't seem to bright, but then again he might be an internist not a dermatologist so I will give him the benefit of a doubt, but the person who put it on you with out asking about your medications or medical background should be fired immediately. Next time try salicylic peel or AHA's which are much gentler and deemed safe for you reaction wise. AHA's take a little longer to work on a permanent level with good results with way less risks involved for you.
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Okay so let's get to why you should be cautions. Anyone with Herpes, Aids, Lupus, Shingles, or going through Chemo should be very cautious and probably opt not to get a peel with a strong Glycolic or TCA strength, I won't post the level, because with these certain medical conditions a trained professional not some person who does facials at the local day spa should be giving you peels. In your case you need to see a trained and licensed dermatologist first, so you will not have to go through the heartbreak and burns that I have seen, and some of them are NOT pretty, and some scarring damage is so deep that it is pretty much permanent.
Because all peels are composed of "Acids" that's job is literally to burn off layers of old epidermis/ skin layers. If your immune systems is already not operating at full capacity you leave yourself open to it not being able to heal or regenerate itself properly leaving high chances of irreversible scarring, deep darkspots, and possible skin damage such as keloids (scar tissues that keeps building over itself to raised proportions). Remember you are putting acid on your face, it's as simple as that.
AHA/ Gylocics go to work by dissolving the glue-like lipids holding cells together, penetrating deep into the skin to loosen these clingy bonds, which exfoliate your skin in a quicker fashion that it normally does by itself. It takes 35 days for the epidermis to replace itself, and about 7 years for the largest organ in the body, the skin, of the entire whole body to replace itself fully, haha snakes be jealous of that! Ok, I digress, so let me explain what the different peels are so you get a better understanding of what actual peels are, and what you are putting on your face. AHA peels are broken down into different formats, thus,Glycolic acid is the smallest molecule, which works the quickest and deepest but it can also be one of the most irritating. Lactic acid is the second largest which is found in a lot of spas, because it does not irritate as much, but it doesn't penetrate as deeply, but it still gives visible improvement to the texture and smoothing of the skin.Then there are tartaric and malic acid peels, then citric, gluconic and some new synthetics acid peels that are popping up in the skin care arena. These work only on and near the skin surface, so they take longer to show improvement, but are virtually guaranteed not to sting, burn or redden the skin, so you can find these in over the counter, drug store or beauty supply shelves, but again all these are acids, never the less, and these peels max out at about 6 to 8 weeks depending on strength and then need to reapplied.
They are beneficial in getting rid of old skin cells which show signs of hyper-pigmentation, scarring, and some stages of wrinkles. Peels strip away damage ONLY, they MUST be teamed up with something else in order to be anti-aging. Like Vitamin C, very controlled doses of hydroquinone, soy, marine actives, and etc for hyperpigmentation, as an example.
If you are looking for anti aging, consider a derivative of retinoic acid (Retin-A).
AHA’s, Gylocic, and TCA peels ONLY exfoliate the skin while retinoic acid works at the nuclear level to produce collagen and skin turnover, BUT AGAIN, you need to see your doctor to see what strength of Retin-A, you can take with the Herpes Virus. Retinol is a lower strength of Retin-A and I'm pretty sure that's what they are going to tell you to go with, and can be found in over the counter skin care lines that won't cause an outbreak for you, with a low dose daily Gylocic like 10% cream INSTEAD of a peel, but again, you need to see a dermatologist for exact dosage, because I can't ethically give you that.
It's true that the Herepes Virus lies dominate, BUT what you don't take into fact, that much like acne patients, an outbreak could start days before you visibly see it because it has to work its way to the tissues and epidermis for you to "visibly" detect it, what you think is an outbreak that started yesterday actually started 4 days ago. Outbreaks are usually caused by stress, hormones, and external and internal irritant and inflammation, and an acid peel is definitely an irritant. Here is an excerpt from an article, I don't think the site will let me post the link so I copied it for you, that sums it up just in case I rambled to much,
"Not everyone is a candidate for chemical peels. If you have herpes( the article says oral, but any skin professional with any morals will take this to mean the Herpes virus period) cold sores or fever blisters and have an outbreak before your peel is completely healed, the virus can infect the treated area, causing severe scarring. Talk to your primary physician about a prescription for an oral antiviral drug if you have herpes. Taking an antiviral product can significantly decrease your chances of an outbreak. You should not have a chemical peel if you've used Accutane (isotretinoin) in the last year because it can increase your chances of excessive scarring. Other factors that may affect your candidacy include recent radiation or chemotherapy to treat cancer; sunburn, windburn or broken skin in the treatment area; and/or recent waxing or depilatory use in the treatment area. If you plan to tan, skip the peel."
I hope that answered the question for you! Best of Wishes and Great Skin !!!!