Chemical Peel
Procedure:
Restores wrinkled, blemished, unevenly pigmented, or sun-damaged facial skin, using a chemical solution to peel away the skin’s top layers. This procedure works best on fair, thin skin with superficial wrinkles.
Length:
The procedure takes approximately one hour for regional areas and two hours for the full face.
Anesthesia:
Topical anesthetic or sedation combined with local anesthesia are used. When sedation is given frequently, EKG monitoring is used.
Inpatient/Outpatient:
Usually this is an outpatient procedure. Full-face Phenol Peel may require hospital admission for a short period of time.
Possible Side Effects:
Both Phenol and TCA can cause temporary throbbing, tingling, swelling, redness and acute sensitivity to sun.
Phenol: may cause permanent lightening of treated skin and permanent loss of the ability to tan.
Risks:
Phenol and TCA: Tiny whiteheads (temporary), infection, scarring, flare-up of skin allergies and cold sores, excessive temporary skin pigmentation.
Phenol: Abnormal color changes (which may be permanent) and heart irregularities (these are extremely rare and occur during the procedure).
Recovery:
Phenol: Formation of new skin takes seven to twenty-one days. The patient may resume normal activities: two to four weeks. Full healing and fading of redness may take three to six months. TCA: New skin forms within five to ten days. The redness will fade over several weeks
Results:
Phenol: Permanent, although new wrinkles may form as skin ages.
TCA: Results vary and the effect is tempora
