Chemical Facial Peel

Best Lunchtime Glycolic Facial Peel

Great news! There is a new and gentler chemical facial peel with no downtime, no healing and may even save lives for those prone to skin cancer.

Chemical facial peels have been around for many years and are one of the most popular cosmetic procedures used today.

Basically, a chemical peel helps improve the skin tone, texture, and color by removing the damaged upper layers restoring a more youthful fresher look to the skin.

When we use a glycolic facial peel or exfoliates like alpha hydroxy or beta hydroxy acids – usually found in at home facial peels - we're essentially exfoliating the upper damaged cells….…

This can over time  improve the appearance of our complexion with regular use.

However, for more serious conditions or for very dramatic results, some people resort to deeper chemical peels performed in a doctor's office or professional spa.

This is especially the case for those with deep or cystic acne scars, super hyperpigmentation or severely sun damaged wrinkled skin.

The problem with this procedure was the side effects. The healing process and downtime of a deep peel is not fun and can actually be painful……..

And the deeper the peel, the longer the recovery time. Side effects include swelling, redness, and inflammation, oozing, crusting, and peeling of the skin.

Also, not everyone is a good candidate. For example, those with a fair complexion often obtained better results than those with darker color due to post inflammatory hyperpigmentation.

And while peels can improve tone and texture, it won't help those with sever sagging and deep folds. A face lift or dermal filler (or both) may be more appropriate.

New Gentler Chemical Facial Peel

According to Bruce Katz, MD Dermatologist at Juva Skin and Laser Center, there is a new gentler superficial chemical peel called the Pulse Peel.

This procedure uses a combination of two chemicals - 70% glycolic acid (GA) and 5-fluorouracil (5FU).

5FU is an anti-cancer cream used for solar keratoses and intraepidermal squamous cell carcinoma or Bowen disease.

As Dr. Katz describes …."it's like a heat seeking missile seeking and destroying sun damaged skin cells," and can help treat early signs of skin cancer.

However, it was mostly effective only on the face or scalp. But when combined with glycolic acid, the combination proved to be powerful in reducing signs of aging on the arms, legs, back and chest.

Clinical studies showed that the two chemicals used together offered over 90% reduction in rough scaly bumps (called actinic keratoses) which is an early sign of skin cancer – in as little as 6 months.

Whereas the glycolic acid alone only provide a 19% clearing.

The best part is there is no blistering, peeling, or excessive redness…..which is why it's called the lunch time peel.

Insurance Note Update: This procedure maybe covered by your insurance. According to Aetna Insurance company – they consider any type of dermabrasion using surgical scraping, chemical or laser procedures to remove superficial basal cell carcinoma or pre-cancerous actinic keratoses a medical procedure.

So keep that in mind and speak to your doctor about that on your next visit and you may be able get beautiful skin, and save some money, save your life too.

Sources: WebMed

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