Additional information about Physician Strength Face Peels

Jessner’s Face Peel 
This face peel is ideal to lighten pigmentation, reduce fine wrinkles and lines and improve scarring. This solution is a combination of mild acids and the treated areas will turn white, this is called ‘frosting’ and shows that the peel is working. These frosted areas will fade in 15-30min. Several coats may be applied. After the peel your face will feel tight and may be itchy and will appear more red than usual. Peeling will occur between the 2nd and 5th days after treatment. It is important to keep you skin well moisturised and UV protected during this period. The peel can be repeated at 2-4 weekly intervals until the desired result is achieved. 

Lactic Acid Peel
This peel is used to improve the appearance, hydration, texture and appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. Most patients will not actually peel after this treatment although you may have some redness and slight flaking for 12-24 hours post treatment. It is important to keep your face well moisturised after the treatment and the maximum effect is generally appreciated 2-3 weeks after the peel. 

Salicylic Acid Peel 
This face peel is used to treat clogged up skin such as in Acne Vulgaris. This anti-inflammatory peel is applied to the face in 2-3 coats and allowed to dry for 3-5min until frosting appears. The face is then rinsed with warm tap water and the peel is removed. There is generally irritation and redness for 24-48 hours post peel and this peel can be repeated at 2-4 weekly intervals until the desired result is achieved. 

Pigmentation Problems

Freckles are common brown spots found on sun exposed skin. They first arise in childhood and generally decrease as you get older but darken on sun exposure due to an increase in the pigment producing cells on UV exposure. 

Solar Lentigos are also called sun-spots. They are flat brown spots that arise in adults and often look leaf-like and appear secondary to UV damage. 

Seborrheic keratosis or senile warts are thickened, raised and often pigmented spots that arise in older solar damaged skin.

Melasma or cholasma is an acquired brown pigmentation, usually of the face, more common in darker skinned people and more common in women than in men. It is also often symmetrical. This type of pigmentation is related to both sun exposure and to hormonal states such as pregnancy and the use of the contraceptive pill. Characteristically this type of pigmentation comes up quickly over a course of weeks. There are 3 types, epidermal, dermal and mixed epidermal-dermal. The epidermal type of melasma or cholasma is the easiest kind to treat but unfortunately there is a high recurrence rate in future pregnancies and with sun exposure. Excellent UV protection is crucial after treatment of these conditions. 

Post Inflammatory Hyperpigmentation or PIH is a common pigmentation problem, again more common in darker skinned people and arises after injury to the skin such as infection or trauma or acne. In case of epidermal damage PIH often looks like a brown or tan patch but in case of deeper dermal damage it looks grey-brown in colour and can be quite distressing. 

Moles or Naevi are dark spots that are not dangerous and can be present at birth, when they are called congenital naevi, present in about 1% of people, or can appear later in life, when they ae called acquired naevi. Almost everyone has at least one mole. Moles that appear in childhood (2-10 yrs) tend to be more prominent and persist throughout life. Moles that are acquired later in childhood or in adult life are often UV exposure related.  Although the exact reason for having naevi is not known we do know that people with many moles often have family members with similar numbers of moles and they can have similar appearances as well. We also know that immune modifying medication is associated with forming new moles and that people living in Australia and New Zealand often have many more naevi than their relatives living in the northern hemisphere. 

For further information on the classification of different types of moles and naevi please click on the link below. 

https://www.dermnetnz.org/topics/mole/