Poor little me. I've been trying for a month to work up the nerve to do a 25% TCA peel on top of a 14% Jessner's peel. Am I insane?
After doing this once in the past, I felt pretty safe. However, the first time I did it, I washed off the Jessner's after four minutes, then put on the 25% TCA until it frosted, then immediately washed it off. After about an hour I was startled to see a big purple place in the crook of my neck, and then realized I had not washed the Jessner's off that spot. I figured that having left the peel on the area for an hour I must have really burned myself. When it all healed up though the part of my neck with the peel left on turned out beautifully.
So what did I do today? Well, my face looks like it was ironed. I made up my mind that I was sick and tired of superficial peels and I was going to try to go for a medium peel. I went to a doctor and tried to get them to do an Obagi Blue Peel, but they tried to steer me to a laser peel under anesthesia, and they said they thought it would be good to do that four times. They said they don't do a very strong peel because that can cause burns. Hello, that's what a peel is. The biggest problem was the price. Many many dollars. For what? What would I get that a medium peel wouldn't give me? Nothing! How much is a medium peel? Well, who knows. They did peels there for $500 I think. I had considered it because I have only done superficial peels and I just felt uneasy about a medium peel at home.
But, having failed in trying to get a doctor to do it, I finally gave up and did it myself. May I say, it cost around $75.
One thing I hoped to learn by having a doctor's office do a medium peel was exactly how to do it and what the effect would be, so I might be able to repeat it myself sometime. Now here I am flying blind.
So here's what I did. I decided to use 5% Lidocaine and I put it on my face, neck, and chest. Then I put plastic wrap over the areas and waited 45 minutes. I put gel eyedrops in my eyes, just in case of an accident, to protect them. I put petroleum jelly around my nostrils and on my lips. I put out three small bowls, one for the Jessner's, one for the TCA, and one with water mixed with baking soda so I could neutralize if I needed to. I used 2" X 2" surgical gauze, and I also put out a large bowl with water and a wash cloth in case I needed to splash on water. I got a few paper towels and also covered my work area with a towel. Then I put on 14% Jessner's peel on my face, neck, and chest, oh, and on my left forearm (for a test) and set a timer for five minutes. This time I did not wash off the Jessner's, but put 25% TCA right on top of it. I didn't put any peels around my eyes this time. I set a timer for 5 minutes again. I was happy to finally see frosting, and applied some more peel anywhere I didn't see frosting. In the past I haven't gotten my forehead to frost, but this time it did.
Then I made the decision not to wash off any of the peel after five minutes. Was this wise? I don't know. It's hard to figure out exactly what to do from watching Youtube and reading blogs. I've heard several times that both Jessner's and TCA are "self neutralizing" which I understood to mean that the peel just stopped the peeling action and needn't be washed off. The TCA part of the peel hurt significantly, even though I had numbed the areas I applied it to with Lidocaine. Goodness I'm messed up. After an hour and a half I finally washed off the peel thoroughly and put on Neosporim with pain medication. I hate to use that because I'm allergic to it. But when the Lidocaine wore off I was in quite a bit of pain. This hadn't happened before. I had another pain relief ointment called Biofreeze that I use on sprains with good success. So I put that on and it did a better job than the Neosporim. Not to say I'll quit Neosporim though because it prevents infection. So then I felt a lot better. It's been several hours now and things seem to be settling down.
Do I recommend doing this to yourself? Not unless you have done superficial peels in the past and have determined what manner of skin you have. Different people react much differently to peels and have other pain tolerances than I have. Besides that, I am fair skinned, but in some skin tones some peels can cause hyper pigmentation. I am not an expert on any skin tone, but I at least have experience with my own. I started out with a 30% glycolic peel the first time I did a peel. Then a couple of weeks later I did a Jessner's peel. I endeavored to do that every couple of weeks for six times, but along the way I switched to TCA peels. First I did a 10% TCA, then a month later a 15% TCA, then another month later a 25% TCA. Then finally a month after that a Jessner's peel and then immediately after that a 25% TCA peel. I took a break for about six months from doing peels to give my skin a break, and because it was summer and I didn't want to do any damage from UV radiation.
Did I seriously injure myself today? I don't think so. I hope not. It will take a few days to access the results.
Stay tuned.
After doing this once in the past, I felt pretty safe. However, the first time I did it, I washed off the Jessner's after four minutes, then put on the 25% TCA until it frosted, then immediately washed it off. After about an hour I was startled to see a big purple place in the crook of my neck, and then realized I had not washed the Jessner's off that spot. I figured that having left the peel on the area for an hour I must have really burned myself. When it all healed up though the part of my neck with the peel left on turned out beautifully.
So what did I do today? Well, my face looks like it was ironed. I made up my mind that I was sick and tired of superficial peels and I was going to try to go for a medium peel. I went to a doctor and tried to get them to do an Obagi Blue Peel, but they tried to steer me to a laser peel under anesthesia, and they said they thought it would be good to do that four times. They said they don't do a very strong peel because that can cause burns. Hello, that's what a peel is. The biggest problem was the price. Many many dollars. For what? What would I get that a medium peel wouldn't give me? Nothing! How much is a medium peel? Well, who knows. They did peels there for $500 I think. I had considered it because I have only done superficial peels and I just felt uneasy about a medium peel at home.
But, having failed in trying to get a doctor to do it, I finally gave up and did it myself. May I say, it cost around $75.
One thing I hoped to learn by having a doctor's office do a medium peel was exactly how to do it and what the effect would be, so I might be able to repeat it myself sometime. Now here I am flying blind.
So here's what I did. I decided to use 5% Lidocaine and I put it on my face, neck, and chest. Then I put plastic wrap over the areas and waited 45 minutes. I put gel eyedrops in my eyes, just in case of an accident, to protect them. I put petroleum jelly around my nostrils and on my lips. I put out three small bowls, one for the Jessner's, one for the TCA, and one with water mixed with baking soda so I could neutralize if I needed to. I used 2" X 2" surgical gauze, and I also put out a large bowl with water and a wash cloth in case I needed to splash on water. I got a few paper towels and also covered my work area with a towel. Then I put on 14% Jessner's peel on my face, neck, and chest, oh, and on my left forearm (for a test) and set a timer for five minutes. This time I did not wash off the Jessner's, but put 25% TCA right on top of it. I didn't put any peels around my eyes this time. I set a timer for 5 minutes again. I was happy to finally see frosting, and applied some more peel anywhere I didn't see frosting. In the past I haven't gotten my forehead to frost, but this time it did.
Then I made the decision not to wash off any of the peel after five minutes. Was this wise? I don't know. It's hard to figure out exactly what to do from watching Youtube and reading blogs. I've heard several times that both Jessner's and TCA are "self neutralizing" which I understood to mean that the peel just stopped the peeling action and needn't be washed off. The TCA part of the peel hurt significantly, even though I had numbed the areas I applied it to with Lidocaine. Goodness I'm messed up. After an hour and a half I finally washed off the peel thoroughly and put on Neosporim with pain medication. I hate to use that because I'm allergic to it. But when the Lidocaine wore off I was in quite a bit of pain. This hadn't happened before. I had another pain relief ointment called Biofreeze that I use on sprains with good success. So I put that on and it did a better job than the Neosporim. Not to say I'll quit Neosporim though because it prevents infection. So then I felt a lot better. It's been several hours now and things seem to be settling down.
Do I recommend doing this to yourself? Not unless you have done superficial peels in the past and have determined what manner of skin you have. Different people react much differently to peels and have other pain tolerances than I have. Besides that, I am fair skinned, but in some skin tones some peels can cause hyper pigmentation. I am not an expert on any skin tone, but I at least have experience with my own. I started out with a 30% glycolic peel the first time I did a peel. Then a couple of weeks later I did a Jessner's peel. I endeavored to do that every couple of weeks for six times, but along the way I switched to TCA peels. First I did a 10% TCA, then a month later a 15% TCA, then another month later a 25% TCA. Then finally a month after that a Jessner's peel and then immediately after that a 25% TCA peel. I took a break for about six months from doing peels to give my skin a break, and because it was summer and I didn't want to do any damage from UV radiation.
Did I seriously injure myself today? I don't think so. I hope not. It will take a few days to access the results.
Stay tuned.
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