Can I Get a Chemical Peel After IPL?

I would recommend to wait at lest two weeks, to give enough time for your skin to recover after the IPL. Try to be safe and choose a mild chemical peel, such as 15-20% glycolic or salicylic acid peels. Having a Chemical Peel 1-2 weeks before the IPL will be a good idea as well. When the skin is exfoliated, the light from the IPL will penetrate better and you will have a more beneficial treatment.

Our office has many different treatments for scars depending on the depth of atrophy or hypertrophy. Scars require a combination approach using our HI DEF protocol which uses a combination of lasers, topical scar modulation, and RF treatments to pixelate scars, improve contour, reduce hyperpigmentation, and improve the visibility of the scars so that they are no longer visible in ambient light. Everyone has a unique pattern of scarring and we employ our HIDEF technique to improve texture, color, contour, and topography. We often use a combination of treatments that begin with a careful examination to examine the micro texturing of the acne scars. Atrophic scars and indented scars can benefit from injectable fillers such as Radiesse, Sculptra, and Restylane with or without subcision to remove tethered scars and atrophic depression. Hyper-redness in scars can be improved with V beam laser, Excel V, BBL, IPL, and Venus RF to improve the redness and reduce the visibility of deep scars. Fractional Thulium laser and clear & brilliant can also reduce the inflammation and redness of the scar when combined with topical therapy. Fractional lasers such as Fraxel, erbium, and CO2 laser can be combined with radio frequency and also fractional RF to improve textual issues and microtopography. Subcision and TCA cross are also used for deep ice pick scars and narrow valley scars in order to improve the micro texture. Above all, our combination approach with our clinical nurses and board-certified plastic surgeons can improve the quality of your skin by using at home Melarase creams combined with PRP treatments in our office to improve your skin quality and tone. I recommend getting a formal evaluation with an experienced team of experts in order to reduce your scarring.

Finally, hyperpigmentation of scars can be improved with at-home Melarase AM, Melarase PM, and Melapads to help reduce active PIH and melanin deposition.

Best,
Dr. Karamanoukian
Realself100 Surgeon

I recommend that you wait at least 2 weeks after IPL treatment that you get a chemical peel.  Your skin will need some time to recover. 

The reason the other practitioners are suggesting a 2 week wait is that your skin has undergone some trauma during the IPL treatment. A chemical peel also causes some trauma by exfoliating the skin aggressively. Using two treatments very close together may cause too much irritation and some unintended side effects like raw skin or itching. Give yourself some time to heal from the IPL and then after 2 weeks feel free to get a chemical peel.

Thank you for your message! I would recommend that you wait at least 2 weeks after the IPL treatment to get any type of chemical peel. Even if you feel that your skin is healed, it takes time for it to fully heel and you do not want to push your skin irritation wise. 2 weeks should give your skin enough time to recover prior to the peel! 

I would wait until the skin has fully healed from your IPL procedure and there is no residual inflammation, the reason being that doing another procedure that causes the skin to become inflamed soon places you at greater risk for pigmentary problems. This may be as early as 1 week, depending on how your skin recovers from the IPL treatment.
I would start with a light chemical peel such as Jessner, glycolic acid, 10% TCA, or salicylic acid.

Thank you for your question.
I think it would be in your best interest to wait approximately 2 weeks before pursuing a chemical peel. Granted, IPL is not an invasive procedure and the downtime is minimal, but it does involve a degree of inflammation, and potentially crusting for freckles/lentigos.
Adding to this inflammation with a chemical peel could theoretically result in much worse inflammation and potential hyperpigmentation (darkening) of the skin.
The effects of your IPL will show their results within the 2 weeks following the procedure, and waiting for your chemical peel is well worth the wait. Doing it earlier would not add too many more benefits, but may in fact add to the risk.
Best of luck!

The timing of the peel and which one to choose would depend on your skin type and goals.  I often perform light laser resurfacing (micro laser peel) and IPL at the same time (IPL first, then laser) for lighter skin types and therefore it is not necessarily something you have to separate. That being said, I would do them at the same time rather than a few days later so in your case it's probably better to just wait a couple weeks before getting the chemical peel. It also depends on which peel you are wanting. Generally speaking, a lighter glycolic peel would be advisable but it really depends on your skin type and what you are looking to treat and accomplish. Darker skin types are more prone to hyperpigmenation and combining a peel and IPL may not be advisable due to increased risk of hyperpigmentation if you have this skin type.