Are you struggling with acne, uneven skin tone, or fine lines? These common skin concerns can have a huge impact on your confidence, but there’s a solution that delivers noticeable results: chemical peels. Chemical peels are gaining popularity for their ability to address various skin concerns with minimal downtime.
The idea of peeling might cause some anxiety, but rest assured, a chemical peel can be a gentle process and is nothing to fear. With the right guidance, you can fully enjoy the experience and achieve glowing skin.
What Are Chemical Peels?
Chemical peels are a non-invasive cosmetic treatment in which a precise blend of chemical ingredients is applied to your skin to create a controlled injury, encouraging the natural process of renewal to help the health and radiance of your skin. Depending on the ingredients used, the effects of chemical peels include:
- Removal of dead skin cells, clogged pores and superficial pigmentation.
- Stimulation of the production of collagen and elastin, the building blocks of youthful, supple skin.
- Delivery of important active ingredients including vitamins & antioxidants to nourish the deeper skin layers.
How Chemical Peels Help With Acne
Not all chemical peels help with acne, it is important the right combination of ingredients are selected and combined with medical-grade skincare. When used correctly, chemical peels can help to improve acne by controlling oil production and reducing clogged pores. At The Calla Clinic, when treating acne, we prefer to use salicylic acid-based chemical peels, as this ingredient is oil-soluble, meaning it can effectively penetrate pores where blackheads and pimples form. The benefits of chemical peels in acne include:
- Exfoliation and Unclogging Pores: Peels remove dead skin cells and clear pores, preventing breakouts caused by oil buildup.
- Oil and Bacteria Control: Ingredients like salicylic acid regulate oil production and reduce acne-causing bacteria.
- Anti-Inflammatory Effects: Peels calm redness and swelling, promoting faster healing of active acne.
- Scar and Texture Improvement: By stimulating skin cell turnover and collagen production, peels improve acne scars and help your skin to become smoother.
The goal of treating acne is to control the breakouts as quickly as possible to prevent scarring and reduce the negative effects on self-confidence. If you do develop scarring, chemical peels can be helpful to reduce the appearance of scars by encouraging the skin to re-build the layers of damaged collagen. For these cases we usually recommend a different type of chemical peel which targets the deeper layers of skin, such as TCA Cross or The Perfect Peel.
Chemical peels are typically more effective for mild to moderate acne. Severe acne that is causing scarring or cystic acne may require additional treatments like oral medications or dermatologist-administered therapies such as Isotretinoin.
Reducing Pigmentation With Chemical Peels
Hyperpigmentation and uneven skin tone can result from sun damage, genetics, medications, hormonal changes, or after skin-inflammation such as acne scars. Chemical peels can be an effective treatment for pigmentation, creating an even skin tone. Why is this important? Well, an uneven skin tone is a sign of unhappy skin and can impact your confidence. Chemical peel ingredients like glycolic acid, lactic acid, TCA, kojic acid, retinol, vitamin C and mandelic acid promote even skin tone by breaking down and shedding excess melanin ‘trapped’ within the upper skin layers.
The effectiveness of chemical peels in treating pigmentation depends on:
- The depth of your pigmentation – melanin pigment in the deep dermal layer of skin can be harder to target with chemical peels. This may require more treatment sessions and, in some cases, only mild improvements can be achieved.
- Skincare- it is important to remember that your chemical peeling journey is a process. To achieve the best results, you should invest in medical-grade skincare with targeted active ingredients to continue to prevent new melanin production and to help boost the effects of the peel.
- Lifestyle factors- to really stop pigmentation, you need to commit to preventing melanin formation by religiously wearing daily SPF (must be broad-spectrum) and curbing your unhealthy sunbathing habits. Our best advice is trying to become a lover of hats- not only does this help with pigmentation but reducing the risk of sun cancer in those common areas on your scalp, ears and face.
The most suitable chemical peel and number of treatments needed to treat your pigmentation will depend on the underlying cause and how deep the pigmentation is.
It’s important to note that for deeper pigmentation issues, stronger treatments or combined therapies may be required.
Reversing Fine Lines and Wrinkles
One of the main reasons for having a chemical peel is to reduce the signs of ageing, and chemical peels do this effectively. Removing old and damaged skin cells encourages the skin to rejuvenate and repair itself. This smooths fine lines, wrinkles, and creases, leaving skin looking more youthful. Medium-depth chemical peels can be helpful to boost your skin collagen without having significant downtime and our favourite choice is The Perfect Peel. When treating skin aging, prevention is always best, so starting with a twice-yearly chemical peel can be an effective way to achieve this in the long-term.
What To Expect During a Chemical Peel Treatment
Here at The Calla Clinic, all our chemical peels are comfortable, painless treatments.
The Biorepeel and The Perfect Peel are performed by our medical team only, and the Alumier Bespoke peels are performed by our skin therapists. Each chemical peel slightly varies in the application process and duration it’s left on your skin.
The side effects will vary according to the strength and type of chemical peel you receive. These side effects can range from mild redness, dryness, and visible peeling to more intensive peeling or no side effects at all.
See For Yourself
It is important to know that not all chemical peels are the same! Chemical peels vary widely according to how deep they penetrate your skin and the concentration of ingredients they contain.
Here at The Calla Clinic, we are well-equipped to advise which type of chemical peel would be best for you according to your individual skin type, treatment goals and acceptable downtime. We currently offer three types of chemical peel, each of which has different pros and cons. The best chemical peel for you will be discussed at your consultation.
Choosing the right skincare treatment starts with finding a provider you can trust, check out our Google Reviews to see what our clients have to say! Start your journey to healthier, radiant skin with a team you can rely on.
