What It’s Like To Get A Chemical Peel For Acne Scars | Beauty Explorers

Caroline Aghajanian: Oh, it burns. Today I'm doing a

chemical

peel

on my face. I have struggled with

acne

growing up and some

acne

as an adult, and it left me with a lot of acne

scars

and large pores. I've been putting off this treatment for so long just because, for a week, my face is going to

peel

off and it's going to be really scary, so I'm a little nervous, but maybe this is the treatment that will finally solve some of my problems. my acne

scars

. I am visiting Blue Medi Spa in Sherman Oaks, California to try the Perfect Derma Peel.

The spa treatment lasts about 20 minutes and costs $295 per treatment. Racquel Crownover: It is a specific

chemical

peel for pigmentation. It has many acidic ingredients, ingredients that help brighten the skin. So usually people will need about four of them to see really good results. Anyone who has pigmentation really gets this peel done. So whether it's trauma, acne scars, sun damage, or in some cases melasma, this peel will help because it has a majority of brightening ingredients. Glutathione, vitamin C, kojic acid, all of these elements work together to help brighten the skin and reduce pigmentation. Caroline: The first step is to put a prep solution on your face, which is actually acetone, to get your skin completely clean.

I have never put acetone on my face, but Racquel told me that it is a protocol set by the company that manufactures the peel. It smells like nail polish remover. It doesn't burn though. Racquel: Does it burn? Caroline: It doesn't burn me. The next step is the peel. The solution is applied all over the face with a quick swipe to deposit the product. Does this smell too? Racquel: More or less it does. Caroline: Oh, it smells. Racquel: You'll probably feel it more. Caroline: Wow, it hurts. Oh, it burns. Racquel: So, that's the first step. You're turning very red.

You've got some frosting right there. Caroline: Am I frosted? Is it so bad? Racquel: Not bad. It's just that we don't need to go over it. Caroline: The solution is applied a few more times. This time it's not so bad. Racquel: This is where you can see that she has some acne scars left. So I'm going to go ahead and apply this product to my skin to help brighten it. Made. Carolina: Done. Raquel: You're done. caroline: That was fast. Painful, but fast. You leave with an aftercare kit to use all week while you peel. The aftercare kit includes a cleanser, two wipes to use on the second day, a moisturizer with 2% hydrocortisone to help with itching, and SPF.

I made sure to stay out of the sun and tried not to sweat excessively or touch my face after the treatment to let the exfoliation do its job. This is how it all happened. Eight hours post-treatment. My face is itchy, red and my head hurts a little. I can't wait until the peeling starts and ends. This way I will be driving to work all week, protecting myself from the sun. On the second day I began my after-care treatment. I washed my face in the morning with the cleanser they provided, which, by the way, is quite small for a week, so use it sparingly.

Then I went in with a post-peel wipe. It didn't burn or sting; instead, I felt it very refreshing on my face. But it didn't smell too good. Afterwards, I put on the provided moisturizer. It feels like I'm putting Neosporin...new-sporin. Neosporin,

what

ever. You all know

what

I mean. It feels like you're putting that on your face. And lastly, SPF. It feels pretty tight. I feel like I don't know what a facelift feels like, but I feel like it would be like that. Who knows? I mean, some people know that. Maybe I'll know in the future. That night, I used the second wipe right after washing my face.

As expected, on the third day, my skin started peeling around my nose and mouth. The area that was peeling was very itchy and the rest of the skin that wasn't peeling felt very tight and dry. Throughout the third day, the peeling worsened. But that's nothing compared to the fourth day. This is the fourth day. It's getting out of hand. I'm going to have to cut these pieces. I couldn't let all my dead skin flap around town, so I carefully cut off some of the larger pieces without pulling on my skin. It is very, very important to let your face peel off naturally to avoid scarring.

Throughout the day, I kept applying moisturizer to my face, especially on the parts that were peeling. Also, I'm sorry to all my coworkers who had to look at my face that week and endure me cutting off dead skin at work. Okay, let's move on. By the fifth day, the peel went up to the forehead, eyebrows, nose and around the neck. Once I washed my face and put on moisturizer, I kind of liked the look of my new skin. It seemed very cool and humid. After a full week, the intense peeling had stopped and I had mostly small flakes around my hairline, ears, and neck.

It's been nine days after the peel and although my skin is still healing, the storm of the peel has passed, so I thought it would be a good time to give my final thoughts. I am in a love-hate relationship with this treatment. The moment my skin started peeling, the new skin felt so fresh and so reborn. And then as the days went on, it became a little dry and flaky, so I kept applying moisturizer and SPF like I was told, and that helped a lot. I have some new friends with pimples joining us here today, but I read online that that's completely normal after a peel or this intense facial.

Then it will go away, it's just my pores getting rid of all the gunk that's in there. Now obviously we are two weeks post treatment and my face is completely healed so I thought this would be a good time to do my final check up. While the treatment made my skin feel smoother and look much brighter, did it heal my acne scars and large pores? I would say not. Maybe if you did the treatment five times in a row, you would see visible results, but the treatment costs almost $300, so it's more than $1,400. You'd have to have a lot of money to spend, a lot of patience, and a high pain tolerance to really see some serious results, and I don't have any of those.

So maybe in 50 years when I really need this treatment, I'll love it. But for now, it's really not for me. Ew, it's just hanging there.