TOP 3 MYTHS ABOUT CHEMICAL PEELS
1 Chemical peels all cause your face to be extremely red and painful.
Anyone who has watched ‘Sex and the City’ remembers the episode where Samantha got a chemical peel to freshen up her appearance. As she walked out of the clinic after the peel, she caused a young child on the street to scream at the sight of her red, raw-looking face. The next evening, with her face no-less hideous looking, she attended a party where she elicited many gasps of horror from people at the look of her face. In addition, the episode showed her in physical pain from the peel.
The truth is that there are different classifications of chemical peels (light, medium, or deep) and only the deeper peels will cause you face to look like, as Carrie said, ‘beef carpaccio’. Light, or superficial, chemical peels do not cause your face to look like raw meat or become painful to the touch.
The chemical peels offered at Self are light peels from AlumierMD, a medical-grade skincare line. Your skin may be red for a few hours (typically no more than 12) and your skin may flake in certain areas over the following days. There is minimal downtime with these peels.
2 Chemical peels are a ‘one size fits all’ treatment
Not all chemical peels are the same. There are different peels for different skin conditions. Light chemical peels typically consist of alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs), beta hydroxy acids (BHAs), and retinol.
Examples:
Acne prone skin is treated with our BHA 20 chemical peel from AlumierMD, which contains salicylic acid, a BHA.
Sensitive skin is treated with Renew 30 from AlumierMD, which contains lactic acid, an AHA.
We have a range of peels from AlumierMD to treat different skin conditions.
3 You will need to hide inside for days.
With lighter chemical peels, your face will only be red for a short while (most often an hour or two, no more than 12). While you may want to stay inside the day of your treatment, you do not need to avoid the outside world. Rest assured that you will not scare little children as Samantha did. However, it is extremely important that you wear sunscreen on the treated area in the days following the peel ( ***sunscreen should be worn daily, all year long).