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Skin Peels and Skin Resurfacing |
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Skin resurfacing is a category of techniques that deal with rejuvenating the skin. These techniques can be used for repairing sun damage, improving acne scarring, smoothing wrinkles, removing unwanted pigmentation, or simply maintaining smooth healthy skin. There are four main categories of skin peeling:
Very Superficial: These may be done at home and consist of exfoliation, mild AHA, Retin-a, and numerous other products as recommended for your personal skin care regimen.
Superficial: These peels provide more substantial treatment for the same conditions. They are esthetician grade, and usually require no down time. They are frequently repeated in a series over 2-6 sessions, (See Spa Services) for procedures performed in our office. Also available in our office, is the Obagi Blue Peel, which uses a controlled depth of mild TCA. This peel is applied in layers, thereby controlling the depth of the peel. Healing occurs in 7 to 10 days, but the side effects are minimal, compared to medium or deep peels.
Medium & Deep Peels: These are Physician grade peels. They are truly therapeutic and require a recovery period of up to 10 days for some of the deeper ones. They treat moderate to coarse lines and wrinkles, pigmentation disorders, dyschromias, blotchy skin, acne scars, and many other conditions. The key to the success, of the medium & deep peels, is the selection of the proper treatment for your type of skin. A consultation with Dr Mendelsohn will answer all your questions. He will customize a resurfacing procedure to meet your specific needs and skin type.
- Medium Depth Peels consist of TCA, 30-35% (Trichloroacetic Acid), and Jessner's Peels. Use of these peels is determined by a careful skin analysis, and customized for your skin type.
- The Croton Oil-Phenol Peel is the deepest of the peels used by Dr Mendelsohn. This peel offers the all the advantages of the traditional Phenol or Baker/Gordon Peel, with few of the undesirable side effects of those peels. Dr Mendelsohn will customize the solution used for your particular skin type. Since much less phenol is used, the toxicity frequently associated with phenol is alleviated. The Croton Oil-Phenol Peel can be done in localized areas such as under the eyes, for crepey lower lids, or around the mouth to remove the dreaded "smokers lines". Or it can be used on the entire face for an overall skin rejuvenation. The results of this peel are striking. Downtime is 7-10 days before the use of camouflage makeup, with redness persisting for up to 6 months.
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Croton Oil - Phenol Peel Questions & Answers
Q: What are the indications for this peel?A: Wrinkling, acne scarring and pigmentation disorders. Results depend on the depth of the peel.
Q: Does a phenol peel go deep enough to eliminate scars, or does it just firm the skin thru collagen regeneration?
A: No skin resurfacing procedure will completely eliminate scars, because to go deeply enough into the dermis would create a new injury and thus further scarring. Scars will be improved, but not eliminated completely.Q: Does this peel work for everyone?
A: Each patient is an individual, and there is no one peel that is "right" for everyone. Simply seeing someone with a great result does not guarantee that your skin will look like theirs, with the same peel.
Q: About how many years does the peel last in terms of smooth skin?A: At least several years, maybe 7-10. But, you must take care of the new skin; use sunscreen, a skin care program, and if you smoke, quit. The deepest motion lines will not be removed completely, depending on the depth of the peel. However the skin will continue to age.
Q: Do Phenol peels thin the skin?
A: Initially, when the skin is first peeled, the skin is thinner, since the outer layer is removed. But in time, the collagen layer thickens and the skin is less lax.
Q: Will I have pigmentation changes?
A: It depends on the skin type to begin with. Heavily freckled skin will not be freckled in the new area. A full face peel would be better for this type of skin. Also, no sun at all for 4-6 weeks after the peel, and use at least SPF 30 sunscreen. This peel does not give the hypo pigmentation of the traditional phenol peel
Q: How much skin tightening will occur?
A: This is NOT a facelift! In general, there is very little actual tightening, but the skin is smoother, and appears tighter.
Q: What about olive skin, or darker complexions?
A: Olive skin can be peeled, but must be pre-treated with bleaching creams.
Q: What about Asian, Indian and Black skin?
A: This completely depends on the darkness of the skin and amount of melanin content. Lighter skin in these categories can be done with salicylic peels, but darker skin is very difficult and in general should not be peeled.
Q: What is the recovery time?A: It depends completely on the depth of the peel, which is determined by the patient's skin type, and desired results. 5-10 days in general, before you can wear makeup, with redness lasting up to 6 months. During the first 5-10 days, you will wear an emollient dressing and need to keep the area from drying out.
Q: Is it painful?
A: Our Croton-Oil Phenol peels are done with IV sedation and you will be given pain medication for the first 2 or 3 days as you need it. The sensation has been compared to a strong sunburn. Most patients complain of very little pain.
If you have more questions about any of the peels, please call 513.351.FACE (3223) to schedule a consultation or send us an e-mail. Dr Mendelsohn will explain the skin resurfacing techniques and perform a careful skin analysis to determine what will work best for you.
