Am I a candidate for a chemical peel?
Overview
The chemical peel is a minimally invasive, nonsurgical cosmetic procedure with the potential to vastly improve the appearance of damaged and aging skin on the face. There are different agents used for chemical peeling, including Alpha Hydroxy agents, Jessner’s Solution, Trichloroacetic Acid, and Phenol. The type or types of chemicals used depends on the type and extent of damage in each region. Receiving a carefully designed and performed chemical peel can make huge and rejuvenating impact on your looks.
Indications
Damaged skin is usually the greatest indicator that you may benefit from a chemical peel. They type and extent of the damage will determine what type of chemical peel(s) is right for you, as determined with your doctor. Sun damage and chronic exposure to UV rays over time is the most common cause of damage to skin, but the damage can also come from acne scars and intrinsic skin aging. Over time, these types of skin damage show up as irregularities in the epidermis, with abnormalities like fine lines, loss of elasticity, scaly skin, creases, brown spots, and a yellowish hue. These details are usually associated with an aged and tired look.
Expertise
For a refreshed look, you need a treatment that will address the root cause of your concerns. While there are “lay peelers” and medi spas that offer chemical peels, these tend to be very mild peels that require you to return for treatment each month, or they are given by underqualified “assistants” rather than a board-certified surgeons. The chemical peel can be understood as both a medical procedure that requires a high level of training and expertise, as well as an art form that necessitates experience and individualization for optimal results.
Dr. Steinsapir makes the chemical peel a major specialization of his private practice in Beverly Hills, where he provides sophisticated customizing chemical peels. He did not invent these skills after taking a weekend course. He was extensively trained in chemical peels as part of a two-year cosmetic surgery fellowship. Since his training, Dr. Steinsapir has developed his own system to make a full-face chemical peel a remarkably comfortable experience. The procedure is very effective due to a high level of individualization in your treatment planning, as well as the fact that Dr. Steinsapir always personally performs your chemical peel and never relies on “physician’s assistants” and technicians to administer your treatment. We welcome you to call us today to learn how a chemical peel by Dr. Steinsapir can rejuvenate your features.
About Dr. Steinsapir
Dr. Steinsapir is a board certified eye surgeon and fellowship-trained in oculoplastic surgery and cosmetic surgery in Los Angeles where he specializes in balanced facial cosmetic surgery for natural results, with an emphasis on minimally invasive techniques, fast recovery time, and leadership in medical technology. Dr. Steinsapir has a private practice and also serves as an Associate Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at the Jules Stein Eye Institute, at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Contact us today to learn how Dr. Steinsapir’s experience and training make him an expert in cosmetic surgery, which can be a vital part of your evidence-based treatment plan.
Services described may be “off-label” and lack FDA approval. This article is informational and does not constitute an advertisement for off-label treatment. No services should be provided without a good faith examination by a licensed physician or surgeon and an informed consent with a discussion of risks, benefits, alternatives, and the likelihood of treatment success. Only you and your treating physician or surgeon can determine if a treatment is right for you.
What should I expect with my chemical peel?
A chemical peel is a great way to refresh your appearance, renew your skin, reduce the appearance of fine lines, and even your skin tone, all in one go. But a chemical peel is no home remedy. Just because it sounds like an easy, nearly risk-free, non-invasive procedure doesn’t mean that you should try performing one at home. It’s important to find a skilled and experienced surgeon who has training in the performance of chemical peels. The results of a properly-performed chemical peel can be phenomenal, so choose your surgeon carefully to ensure the best possible outcome. There are significant risks associated with these procedures.
Where is Surgery Performed
Chemical peels are an in-office procedure that can be performed in a relatively short period of time. You can combine your treatment with other in-office procedures when appropriate. However, trying to perform a chemical peel on yourself is a sure way to turn a safe procedure into a disfiguring one. Chemical peels are safe and highly beneficial when performed by an experienced cosmetic surgeon. They are not appropriate as a do-it-yourself, home project to save some money.
It might be possible to obtain the agents used for a chemical peel from unscrupulous merchants from the Internet. However, if you try to perform this procedure on yourself, you can permanently alter the coloration of your face by introducing irregularities, scars, and hypopigmentation. Improperly performed, these agents can burn your skin with permanent consequences. A great deal of skill, judgment, and experience is needed to safely perform a chemical peel. A surgeon who has mastered chemical peels will also instruct you in follow-up care for your skin after the initial treatment and closely follow you. With this guidance in monitoring your progress, long-term problems that might develop can be managed, mitigated, or avoided altogether.
Types of Anesthesia
There are many different types of chemical peels. The type that is best for you depends greatly on your skin type and concerns. The issues that affect your skin determine the type of peel procedures that will provide the most benefit. Common concerns include: acne with or without scaring, dark spots that have developed over time, skin aging from sun exposure, and intrinsic skin aging including lines. As peels increase in strength, the need for anesthesia in the form of oral sedation, and local numbing of the face to make the procedure comfortable increases. Also the post-procedure skin care demands increase in complexity and length to ensure that the face heals quickly and with the best possible result. Please do not underestimate the need for expert care in this regard.
Common Complications
As with any cosmetic surgery procedure, invasive or non-invasive, complications can occur. Infections may occur anytime after the second or third post-operative day. The signs are prominent swelling, significant amounts of devitalized skin and redness beyond what would normally be expected, and pain. Infections are often the result of neglecting post-procedure instructions. It is for this reason that Dr. Steinsapir insists on close follow up. The procedure represents an important investment in time, energy, and expense but it is essential to proper healing. Other potential complications include: scarring, temporary or long term eyelid malposition, color and pigmentary change, persistent redness, and possible allergic reactions. There is no way you can handle these concerns on your own after try to do your own chemical peel.
Estimated Time for Recovery
Generally, the deeper facial peels produce results that rival what can be accomplished with surgery. Redness following TCA 35% can persist for 3 weeks to 6 weeks; following phenol 89%, redness can persist for 3 months to 6 months, and following a Baker’s phenol, it can persist for 5 months to 12 months. However, it will only take 9 days to 12 days to reach the point at which make-up can hide facial redness. Men tend to heal faster than women. Only a personal consultation with an experienced chemical peeler will provide a basis for estimating recovery time for your personal considerations.
About Dr. Steinsapir
Dr. Steinsapir is a board certified eye surgeon and fellowship-trained in oculoplastic surgery and cosmetic surgery in Los Angeles where he specializes in balanced facial cosmetic surgery for natural results, with an emphasis on minimally invasive techniques, fast recovery time, and leadership in medical technology. Dr. Steinsapir has a private practice and also serves as an Associate Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at the Jules Stein Eye Institute, at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Contact us today to learn how Dr. Steinsapir’s experience and training make him an expert in cosmetic surgery, which can be a vital part of your evidence-based treatment plan.
Services described may be “off-label” and lack FDA approval. This article is informational and does not constitute an advertisement for off-label treatment. No services should be provided without a good faith examination by a licensed physician and an informed consent with a discussion of risks, benefits, alternatives, and the likelihood of treatment success. Only you and your treating physician or surgeon can determine if a treatment is right for you.
Is it safe to do a home chemical peel?
Trying to perform a chemical peel on yourself is a sure way to turn a very safe procedure into a disfiguring one. Because chemical peels are safe and highly beneficial when performed by an experienced cosmetic surgeon, and because they are a nonsurgical treatment, many people wonder if they can give themselves a chemical peel at home to save some money. The internet has made these chemicals available. When someone asks us for advice on how to give themselves a home chemical peel, our advice is always this: Don’t!
Yes, the facial chemical peel cost is higher if you have it done right by a doctor, but that’s before you consider the cost of damaging yourself. If you try to perform this procedure on yourself, you will likely permanently alter the coloration of your face by introducing irregularities, scars, and hypopigmentation. Further, you will not know how to care for your skin after the initial treatment without a doctor’s guidance in monitoring your healing. In the end, you will have to bear the emotional cost of your damaged appearance and the financial cost of finding the best doctor who can help you reverse some of the destruction you have caused. You wouldn’t do brain or heart surgery on yourself, right? How about facial surgery? That really is what is involved in doing your own chemical peel.
What can a doctor do that I can’t?
A chemical peel may seem deceptively simpler than it is. Those who are just learning about the procedure often mistake it is merely a matter of dipping the face in a beneficial substance and then washing it off. In truth, correctly performing a facial chemical peel takes a cosmetic surgeon years to master through education and first-hand chemical peel experience. A licensed and highly trained cosmetic surgeon can perform a chemical peel so well because he or she understands the following:
• The indications for a chemical peel treatment
• The different skintypes classified in the Fitzpatrick scale
• How each skintype responds to chemical peels
• What concentrations and combinations help each skintype
• How to give you enough treatment to see results
• How to not give you too much treatment, which will damage you
• How each type of problem respond to different treatments
• How to assess the condition of your skin
• Factors like skin thickness, sensitivity, sun damage
• How your medical history effects your current treatment needs
• Who is a good candidate for a chemical peel
• Who is not a good candidate for a chemical peel
• What to do in the rare incidence in complications
• Post chemical peel treatment and how to follow up with care for your skin during and after the healing process
• How to apply the chemical peeling agents differently to each facial area depending on the needs of the skin in each area
• The powers and limits of each type of chemical peel
This is not something that any instruction manual can give you. This is not something you can learn without training in biology, anatomy, medicine, and chemistry and many years of clinical experience. This is not something you can learn without being mentored over a year or more. This is not something you can “pick up” this weekend with a kit you ordered on the internet. Most importantly, chemical peels are not a do-it-yourself activity.
Perhaps the most dangerous aspect of nonsurgical, minimally invasive treatments like the chemical peel is the fact that there are those who think that because it is so safe in a doctor’s office, it is something they can do at home in the kitchen. Individuals trying to save a few bucks by treating themselves may be surprised and upset to see their experiment go so horribly wrong, but these poor at-home results don’t surprise a cosmetic surgeon who specializes in chemical peels and understands their complexity. It is true that chemical peels are very safe, but only when performed in a medical setting by a qualified, experienced cosmetic physician who specializes in chemical peels.
Think of it this way: If you broke your leg, would you try to make a cast for yourself at home? Of course not! Doctors treat broken bones in emergency rooms everyday and consider this a safe, important procedure, but you would never dream of doing this to yourself. Similarly, there is a lot more to the art of a chemical peel than you may imagine.
Finding the Best, Safe Treatment
Dr. Steinsapir specializes in individualizing each chemical peel to a patient’s unique facial needs. He will answer your questions and develop a safe, effective treatment plan based on your individual goals. Call us today to find out how a chemical peel performed safely on an outpatient basis can help you.
