Dear yreutishi223,Thank you for your question as it is an important one and also a source of some confusion. You mention a phenol peel, but most likely you mean a phenol/croton oil peel. These peels began being used by doctors in the early 60's and the formula used consistently left the skin hypopigmented, that is an unnatural white. For this reason, it was taught and practiced that you could not peel darker skin.In early 2000, thanks to the work of Gregory Hetter, it became understood that the whitening of the skin was caused by a too high concentration of croton oil. By altering the formulas, skin could be peeled to excellent clinical results while avoiding the troublesome lightening of the skin.The other, very important result was that by individualizing the formulas, darker skin could be peeled.An important aspect is to adequately prepare the skin with medicated products to stabilize the pigment cells.My name became associated with these peels, therefore, 8 years ago , Iwas contacted by a Mexican surgeon inquiring about peeling Hispanic skin as they were very dissatisfied with laser resurfacing. We organized a special seminar in Mexico and in two days peeled 19 patients! As was the case in most Hispanic groups, there was a range of skin color. The formulas were prepared for specific needs,and the results were quite good. One constant was thay daeker patients tended to have less wrinkles and more blotching and pigment issues. Because of this, the formulas and technique can be altered to target this. This also applies to Asian skin.What we found was that darker skin could certainly be peeled and that patients needed to be careful about the sun early on so as not to darken the skin.I recommend that you ask your surgeon about their training and experience and look at photos of results. The thought that you cannot peel darker skin is an outdated idea.Good luck!
