Considering a peel? TCA Chemical Peel Questions and Answers and what a chemical peel can and cannot do for your skin

TCA Chemical Peel: This is a continuation of our discussion about getting TCA chemical peels. In this beauty post I will talk about the merits and pitfalls of undergoing a TCA chemical peel and answer some of the most commonly asked skin peel questions. Most women do not realize that completely healing from a medium strength TCA skin peel can take 4-8 weeks and before and after results from a peel may not be picture perfect. The good thing about TCA peels is that they are inexpensive and effective but the bad thing is that they mar the skin and take a long time to completely heal. The major part of the peel takes less than two weeks but you can have red discoloration splotches for months after that (and sometimes permanently).

If you are interested in undergoing a skin peel you would probably have consulted your plastic surgeon or dermatologist and checked out their book of chemical peel before and after photos. From those and my prior post you would be able to see that a TCA peel can definitely help you get rid of brown spots and irregularities on your skin’s surface as well as smooth out superficial wrinkles around the eyes and mouth that women deplore. Be forewarned that a skin peel is not for the faint hearted. While you don’t have to go under the plastic surgeon’s knife for this procedure, the healing process is rather hideous and you better be the type of woman that can handle looking really awful if you are getting one. The photograph shown of a person’s face with brown icky-ish looking skin is about what you will look like during part of the healing process!

What parts of the body do people get peels on?

Most people get chemical peels on their faces. If you get a peel all over your face you are going to look a bit like a leather face for a few weeks. You can get a skin peel under your eyes and you will look like you have goggle or raccoon eyes during healing. You can get a skin peel around your mouth and look like bozo the clown during healing. More sensitive areas such as the tear trough area (your eyes but around your nose and the upper lids) and the chest area can be treated too though these (upper eyes, neck, chest) tend to heal even slower than that common areas (face, under eyes, around lips, hands). Older women sometimes get chemical peels on their hands for really bad age and liver spots. Some women get a peel to try and rid themselves of that pesky brown pregnancy line from belly button down however that mask is pretty deep seated in the skin and I don’t think a peel will do much to help it (try laser instead).

Am I a good candidate for a chemical peel?

If you have really dark ethnic skin I would be concerned about getting a chemical peel. I’ve read for example that Hispanics, Orientals and Blacks can get the peels safely and that TCA peels usually do not lighten the skin permanently, but I would be wary. I personally would not get one of these if I had olive skin as I would be way too worried about getting hyper-pigmentation or permanent mismatched skin splotches. Even though they say TCA peels work on most anyone I would be concerned if I had a darker skin type. I don’t think that everyone is a good candidate for a peel. I think women with average colored typical skin tones will do the best but you should really check with a doctor to see if a peel could be right for your specific situation.

How is the peel performed on me?

Getting a TCA peel is pretty simple, it’s the healing process that is problematic. You essentially go into your doctor’s office, they clean and prepare your skin with your hair out of the way. Then they apply the solution containing the TCA solution to your skin, going over the entire area that you paid to treat. You normally don’t need any kind of anesthesia or sedation for this. If you’ve had electrolysis or bikini waxing done, it is not much more painful than that. It stings and burns for a minute or two and that’s it. The burning is quite brief and most women can handle it. If you can handle getting botox, electrolysis, laser hair removal, or a lip injection, then you can handle having the tca solution applied to your skin.

How does the peel work – what happens to my skin during the peel?

When you first get the solution applied to you it stings but only for a minute or two, it’s really not that painful at all. Right after the peel you look and feel like you got a very bad sunburn and your skin will be pretty red. If you get a peel near your eyes they will probably be swollen up too. Over the next few days, the red sunburn will turn brown and you will look like your skin is brown and crusty, kind of like a very mild scabbing with a few minor cuts. During that time you might be told to only use a tad of neosporin because essentially you want that to keep things uninfected and relatively dry so that the brown skin can dry up and peel off over a period of a few days.

Depending on the person, the initial sunburn look with some swelling will last a few days, followed by a browning phase of a few days, followed by several more days of the brown skin finally peeling off. Once the old brown skin peels off, it exposes a new layer of undamaged skin which has a smoother texture and more even color. So, technically speaking, the tca peel is pretty much over after 7-10 days. But the problem is that the new skin is delicate and can be really pink or red and not the same color as your real skin. And this pinkness can last for months and in some cases for ever.

For several months after the peel you could have splotchy sensitive red areas that need to covered with sun screen with vigilance. You might have a few spots that didn’t peel perfectly and still look brown. Usually you can disguise the remnant irritation from the peel with derma-blend special cover up or thick makeup like MAC concealer. Of course everyone heals differently, but be aware that you can have spots left on the skin that either doesn’t peel and stays a bit brown, or that peels too soon and the skin under it is really red and itself has to go through another healing process. If there are some brownish or darker red spots left that never quite peeled, you may even need to use a bleaching cream such as hydroquinone for several months to speed up the lightening up phase. So, while the main peel is over in 7-14 days the remnant healing can take many months more than that.

How much time will I miss from my job – Do I need to take days off Work?

Well this really depends on the TCA peel that you are getting. Some doctors will day 5-7 days however I would expect closer to 10 days. That means you would maybe get the peel on a Friday, essentially stay out of sight that weekend, the next week and all the next weekend. After about 10 days you would probably feel comfortable to go back to work with some strategic makeup over any remaining healing spots. The brown crusty skin phase is the worst and remember that doesn’t happen until a few days into the peel. Since a chemical peel on your face is visible in plain sight, there is little you can do to hide it while it is happening. If you get only your eyes done you could wear big sunglasses to hide that and run to the store, but you can’t really be at work in humongous glasses.

The bottom line is that a chemical peel is time involved, you want to have a significant chunk of time without responsibility. Since there is healing that still goes on a few months after that I certainly would not do a peel for a wedding or big function. Do a peel in the dead of winter when you have a big chunk of time all to yourself and can just hibernate without pressure. Since many woman don’t have that kind of time, they just don’t get a peel. A TCA peel is kind of a big undertaking and without a big chunk of free time you won’t be calm about it.

Are there any restrictions on my activities during or after the skin peel?

The biggest restriction is that you will look hideous during the peel and need a chunk of time where you don’t have to be anywhere or do anything. You would want to stay home with a triple stack of movies essentially. You also don’t want to be anywhere near the sun! Do not do a peel during a time of year when you are going to be in the sun or prior to a vacation. Be vigorous about wearing sun screen because you cannot risk burning already sensitive skin by the sun’s rays. The peel is at it’s worst during the brown crusting stage which usually doesn’t even start until 3-5 days after the peel. This is not an overnight procedure.

What are the complications that could happen from getting a TCA chemical peel?

In a way, chemical peels are pretty risky. A plastic surgeon who is experienced will know just the strength peel to give you to get the result you want without damaging your skin. But let’s face it, you are really burning your skin with a chemical. There are so many variables in healing and how a particular woman may or may not heal. I mean, you are taking a chance if you get a tca chemical peel. And this is on your face or a very visible part of your body. If you really dislike something with your skin – like brown spots, irregularity and fine lines, then a peel can definitely be worthwhile as it will greatly diminish these problems. It’s a personal decision whether you want to risk getting one.

The biggest problem is that you get left with some sort of hyper-pigmentation or red zones that don’t really go away. The brown spots might be gone but now you’ve introduced a different genre of problem. Sometime you can use bleaching skin to bring up any discolored areas left behind after the peel. Most peels heal perfectly once a few months go by. And, your skin ends up looking better than it did before. As long as it was an improvement, it’s a success.

A smaller problem is that you had unrealistic expectations about the peel results and it really didn’t do what you wanted. I will give an example. Some women have deep deep lines around their lips and think a peel will eradicate them. A peel just eradicates the very top surface layer of skin. It literally does nothing for deeply set in wrinkles. Women should know this. It can remove discolorations but wrinkle-wise, it is only going to hit the surface of the skin. Some problems don’t get completely fixed with the peel but they get improved. In this situation a women might go back for a peel many years later again, of course requiring her to go through the same healing process and having to take time off from her work or personal life yet again.

I have read on many beauty sites that peels are cancer causing horrors, that damage and destroy your skin, and cause radical harm to it. These type of sites promote healthy eating and natural skin care as an alternative which is a pretty good suggestion. But some woman who messed up and over tanned when she was younger and now her face is splotchy and affected, and she desperately wants to do something about it, may not be worried about natural beauty. The damage is done and she wants to remove the spots. She is willing to put chemicals on and get a chemical peel her to try and reverse the visual damage that already exists. She missed the prevention stage and blew it so now she’s dealing with it.

Finally, there may be less caustic ways to get rid of brown spots. For example, some laser treatments are effective in zapping brown spots and lightening them up substantially. This is far easier to recover from and less severe but does cost money. There are definitely alternatives to getting a chemical peel such as paying for laser treatments. A woman who is concerned should look into all the alternatives. She should also avoid the things that cause the damage, most notably sun tanning which is also toxic to the skin and smoking which thins and weakens the skin and greases the way for damage to happen..

How much does a skin Peel Cost

Like all types of plastic surgery and cosmetic procedures, the prices for these skin treatments is literally all over the map. Obviously the big cities and more well known doctors in the big cities with credentials and top reputations are going to charge more. You could pay $150.00 for a TCA peel around your eyes in Arizona, and $500.00 for a TCA peel around your eyes in a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon’s office. A whole face peel could cost you $750.00 in the mid west, yet it could cost anywhere from $1500 to $3000 at a top dermatologist office in New York City. The prices are literally all over the map. But relatively speaking, TCA peels are poor man’s plastic surgery (actually they aren’t plastic surgery at all). They tend to be cheaper than having a series of laser treatments or plastic surgery, for example.

Remember, TCA peels can only fix the outermost layers of your skin, they are a bit scary and dicey during healing and can take a long time to fully heal from, they require about ten days of hiding around your house, and they can leave pink/red splotchy spots behind for months and sometimes for ever. If every thing goes well with your peel and you survive it without any major complications, six months later you might think it was worth it and be glad that you suffered to get a smoother skin for a relatively small amount of money. From there on out, try to listen to those natural beauty advisors telling you to take care of your skin so you don’t have to go through a caustic chemical process ever again hopefully.

Chemical face peels using TCA chemical require serious downtime and a good sense of humor to endure the healing process. FAQ Q&A, What to expect from a TCA chemical peel