Informative Articles

The consumer should be fully informed about the peel before undergoing treatment

Peels

by Philippa Crichton

Make sure you are fully educated about peels and are informed by the therapist or doctor as to what to expect

Peels are potentially very dangerous treatments offered by skin care centres and you need to know what to ask and what to expect before you embark on having a peel of any kind.

Peels are divided into 3 categories:

• Light / superficial (removes the stratum corneum)
• Medium (removes the whole epidermis)
• Deep (goes down to the dermis).

Skin care therapists should only do superficial peels, although some who are working with doctors and under their supervision can offer mid peels, but only doctors can do deep peels.

1. Ensure that the therapist does a thorough consultation with you, discussing the potential outcomes and contra-indications and taking before photographs. Your expectations must be realistic, only deep peels offered by doctors can remove wrinkles, no other peel will have any effect on the depth of a wrinkle as they do not go down to the dermis. Realistically they will leave your skin softer, smoother and finer, and many peels will remove congestion and help control acne.


2. Ensure that the therapist is properly qualified and has had sufficient experience, this means that her under graduate qualification as a skin care therapist is sufficient and that the course she has done on peeling is sufficient. Bear in mind that most peeling training is offered by the suppliers of the peels and they are not generally discerning concerning whom they train. Their focus is on making a sale and they are often prepared to sell to anyone, and are under the impression that their training will be sufficient, but it is the underlining knowledge of peels and not just the specific peel information that is important.


3. Ensure that the quality of peel used is good and within the correct percentage allowed. A good therapist will offer various peels as every chemical has a different reaction with the skin and used for different purposes with varying results. Thus anyone offering just one chemical is not knowledgeable enough to be offering chemical peeling at all. 35% TCA is a deep peel and should only be in doctors hands.

Do your homework before undergoing any peel treatments.

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