What chemical peel should I get?

This is one of those ask-the-question-get-ten-different-answers-scenarios.

Here’s how I suggest you approach it:

Know what you want

Before you think ‘what chemical peel should I get?’ Firstly, ask yourself what it is that you are hoping to achieve?

Sometimes clients come in to my London clinic asking for this treatment or that, because their friend had it or because they saw it on Instagram. I totally get that – I am a sucker for getting drawn into the FOMO thing. ‘What chemical peel should I get?’ is another question I hear all the time in London. An experienced and thoughtful practitioner will take time out to ask ‘what are your skin goals?’ In order to ensure that you have chosen the appropriate treatment. Often the issues that need prioritising in your friends’ skin or the person you saw on Insta may not be the same as yours.

A chemical peel, will not add volume, relax your facial expressions or hydrate your skin.

A chemical peel will address skin tone, texture, fine lines, dark patches and brighten dull, tired looking skin.

Still interested?

Next up, consider the kind of down time you are willing and able to tolerate.

A medium depth peel will give you visible downtime – peeling, flaking, redness. Whilst short lived, these issues are visible to those around you.

A light peel will have little or no downtime at all.

Having noticeably peeling skin is something that some of you may find unacceptable, perhaps even your employer may find unacceptable, or you simply cannot find a window when you make that work. For others this may not feel like a problem, in fact some of you out there love seeing that visible skin shed.

How quickly to you want to get to your skin goal?

This is also a factor. Generally speaking, peels with less downtime will require more treatments to get to where you want to be. The chemical peels with more downtime will have more impact and therefore you may only need a single treatment.