Lidlift Kenneth D. Steinsapir, M.D.
Cosmetic, Facial & Eye Plastic Surgery

Chemical Peel

Skin rejuvenation stimulated with the use of irritating acids of various strengths. Peels can be mild to very strong (see Gordon Baker peel). The mild peels can vary from the light glycolic acid peels performed by aestheticians to peels that can produce profound facial tightening. Generally, there is no free lunch with chemical peels. The more work that the must be done with a chemical peel the more down time is needed to heal the face. Moderate to medium depth peels produce results that are comparable to the best results seen with multiple passes of Fraxel® (fractional CO2 laser treatment) or erbium laser treatment. Lighter peels with trichloroacetic acid 10 to 20% improve skin tone and color, and firm the face with almost no downtime. These treatments can be easily combined with other office based services to produce easy to obtain yet profound results. 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 increases in complexity and length to ensure that the face heals quickly and with the best possible result. Generally, the deeper facial peels produce results that rival what can be accomplished with surgery and recovery to the point where make-up can hide facial redness occurs in 7-10 days. Men usually heal one or two days faster than women because they have a higher density of skin adnexal (hair follicles, sweat glands, etc.) structures from which the face heals from.