CHEMICAL PEELING OF THE SKIN

Glycolic Acid – an AHA

Glycolic acid is one of the chemical compounds that occur naturally and is found abundantly in fruits and other food that we eat. These include Lactic acid in milk, Tartaric acid in grapes, Citric acid in oranges, Glycolic acid in sugar-cane and Malic acid in apples.

Glycolic Acid one form or another has been in use for centuries for skin beauty. Cleopatra used to bathe in sour milk to enhance her skin beauty and French women used to wash their faces with old wine for the same reason.

Glycolic Acid is useful in treating a variety of skin disorders. These mild acids have been shown to increase the skin thickness by up to 15% in patients with sun damaged thin skin. This occurs by increasing the collagen contents of the skin and deeper tissues and by loosening and removing dead skin cells, thus improving the texture of the skin.

Skin Conditions That Can Be Treated With Glycolic Acid, includes:

Acne / Pimples; White & Black Heads

Fine Wrinkles of the Skin

Multi-Toned Skin / Blemishes

Pregnancy Marks / Cholasma / Melasma

Black Spots / Marks of Chicken Pox

Dry Skin Conditions

General Photo-damage of Skin

The Peel Procedure

At-least 2-weeks before the first peel, stop using Retin-A / Retinoic Acid creams or lotions usually prescribed for acne.

At the same time also stop using facial scrubs and other exfoliating agents.

Do not wax, thread or tweeze or use depilatory creams for hair removal. If shaving, then do not shave on the day of peeling.

Come to the clinic with a fully cleansed face with no make-up at all.

Your skin will be thoroughly cleansed at the clinic with alcohol or acetone or with a combination of the two. After the skin preparation, a stiff 'fan brush' is used to apply Glycolic acid. The application is started from the forehead and is applied in the clock-wise manner very quickly avoiding the upper and the lower eye lids, tip of the nose and the lips.

Duration of the acid that remains in contact with the skin is very important. The longer it remains in contact with the skin, the deeper will be the penetration thus more peeling. For superficial peeling that is required for acne and black marks, contact is typically between 2 – 5 minutes. During this time the skin may slightly itch and tingle. After the desired contact time is over, complete removal of the acid is of utmost importance. This is done by; (a) application of water soaked gauze to the face to remove excessive glycolic acid, (b) spraying an acid buffering solution to the skin to neutralize the acid, and (c) wash the face thoroughly with cold water. With this, the treatment procedure is over.