I am so tired of looking at these age spots! No matter how good our faces looks, hands really tell our age! My spot treatment helped a tiny bit, but I needed a high-powered peel for these hands, so I applied a buffered 50% TCA solution to my hands; this is my 2nd all-over hand peel this winter, along with 1 spot treatment.
Here’s a picture before:
Here’s a picture after about 2 minutes with the solution, when it began to frost. My hands actually hurt after the frost went away on this peel. It was painful for a full day. I used a lot of copper peptide cream, and that helped:
Here’s day 3 (OMG). Only do this when you can wear extra-long sleeves to cover your hands because they really look bad:
Day 8, and I've begun to peel:
The red mark is where I decided to hit my hand on the door! I must be more careful because the skin is so vulnerable right now.
This peel is taking forever! I think the strength has some impact, but I also know from my many peels that my face turns over cells much faster than the rest of my body.
I'm also planning to do another all-over face peel on Wednesday night since I'm off on Thursday and Friday this week, and I don't have any plans for the weekend.
Hi Gabi~~
ReplyDeleteJust a little question, do you wait the full 14 days between peels? I am getting "antsy". My 18% the day after my birthday, on the 6th *I am old! I am 55! eeek.
And how soon after the peelies do you start up the retin a? I am getting confused for I have read no to do retin a for a week before a peel? Can I do glycolic? Mandelic? I just have teeny little flakes. ALLL over, yes, but tiny. Thanks!
~~Barb
Barb, It depends on the strength and the depth of the peel. If it was a mild flaking from a light peel--like you describe--I would easily do another the following week; in fact, I have and I am right now. With higher strengths, you do want to wait for the new skin to completely heal before doing another.
ReplyDeleteI usually wait 2-4 days before starting retin-a again after a peel, depending on my sensitivity level. If it was a stronger peel, I wait a full week because I know rosacea will flare if I don't.
You have to be able to judge the condition of your skin. This is what a professional would do for us, but in our case, we have to know our skin. If you're ever in doubt, wait.
With glycolic after peels, I try to wait 4-5 days, but I've actually used it before the peel was done, and I found that it helped exfoliate the remaining flakies, but if it starts to burn, rinse immediately.
With Retin-a before a peel, some drs will have you do it all the way up the night before the peel; my skin can't tolerate that, so I always wait a week; for example, the TCA peel I did yesterday was on day 8 after a retin-a application. I had done glycolic 4 days before though. With this TCA peel, I skipped the top portion of my face because I felt it didn't need another peel at this point, and that skin right on my cheek bones seems a little sensitive right now.
I tend to go as aggressively as I can, knowing how sensitive my skin is. The really hard part about doing this at home is that we have to figure out what we can tolerate...and some times that through trial and error.
Hope that helps. :-/
P.S. You look fabulous for 55!
ReplyDeleteHa! Thanks for the compliment, Gabi. But it's good lighting, mostly.
ReplyDeleteThis is sooo helpful. I am a very cautious peeler - for I know the damage that can be done. I have noticed I am NOT frosting - so perhaps I am applying too lightly a mixture (and waiting too long in-between peels).
:)
You can apply more than one layer. I do that on problem areas. Once you've got an even layer on everything, go back and do another layer where you want more, or on everything.
ReplyDelete