By Dr Maria Lombardo
It’s that time of year we all want to look our best for the Holiday Season. Having glowing skin and an increased sense of confidence is a great gift you can give to yourself. Everyone should be doing a few basics to take care of their skin (and men, this means you too!):
AM: wash, moisturize using a lotion with SPF for sun protection
PM: wash, mechanically exfoliate and moisturize with a richer/heavier lotion. AND… every 6 months to a year…. Get a chemical peel! (some people more frequently)
A TCA (trichloracetic acid) Chemical Peel is a powerful and effective tool for resurfacing your damaged skin to yield the skin you are looking for and deserve. This medium depth peel will improve many of the skin conditions that we all see (and wish we didn’t!) when we look in the mirror. After peeling, your skin will be softer, smoother, with improved texture and tone and greatly reduced hyper-pigmentation (sun damage). Those are the differences on the surface of your skin. But the real magic is going on under your skin where collagen is being stimulated. This is what plumps up the lines and scars, yielding a smoother, more refined and beautiful complexion. This light to medium peel helps with the following skin conditions: IMPROVES: Fine Lines, Acne, Sun damage, Blackheads, Improves skin Tone, Improves skin Texture, Rosacea, Milia, Age Spots, Shallow Acne Scaring, Enhanced penetration of topical skin care products (moisturizers, serums etc.)
How it works: Chemical peels are versatile tools that are used to resurface the upper layers of your skin by loosening the bonds between the dead skin cells that dull your skin, while stimulating the collagen beneath the skin to form and align, which in turn plumps up the fine lines and scars from below the surface. They have been around since Cleopatra bathed in sour milk (containing lactic acid!) to make her skin smooth. Fortunately, science has made a lot of progress since then and the chemical peels available now are sophisticated and effective. Peels vary in strength and provide different benefits. Light peels (15% TCA) provide substantial results by removing sun damage and over time will help smooth very superficial lines. These peels have light peeling and flaking, not usually enough to avoid social situations. Medium peels (TCA 20% – 30%) are where the results really start to show. These peels can have heavy peeling, crusting and take 7–10 days to completely finish the peeling process. These are our most popular peels because they make the most difference, helping to smooth lines, plump up skin, strip off sun damage and reveal smooth, even skin. Skin must be taken care of very gently and carefully, but these peels are fantastic for damaged skin. This is one of the most commonly performed chemical peel in medical offices because it is one of the most effective and has the most impressive results.
