Followup on TCA 35% Peel on Hands and Forearms.

Day 5

This is Day 5 of my TCA 35% peel on my hands and forearms.  This is a work in process.  

Honestly, I may not do another TCA peel on my hands or arms.  Why?  Have I reached perfection?  No, but I just can't take another round like this one.  

The previous peel was 25%, but since I did two layers I suppose it amounted to about the same thing.  It was extremely itchy, to the point that it kept me awake.  That time the itchiness lasted for two days.  This time it lasted for four days.  I didn't use any Lidocaine or pain medicine except for Gold Bond cream.  The Lidocaine really keeps me awake.  

I put extra acid on some of the dark spots I'd like to peel off.  I haven't completely peeled yet, so my hand looks a little leathery.  

My wrist went wild with a rash.  It was so itchy that I scratched myself to pieces.  Of course, you're not supposed to do that.  

But, things are OK, despite slow progress.  Hands and arms peel slower than the face.  This rash was a lot worse a couple of days ago, so it's clearing up.  

So if I've decided not to do this again, does that mean I'm done with the beautification treatments on my hands and arms?  No!  I am planning to try other means.  Like what?  Oh, dry rubbing, micro needling, other types of peels, like Jessners.  Jessners has an anti inflammatory ingredient that I think would do better for me. 

What went wrong?  Well, I still think when the dust settles that my peel will turn out nicely.  It will probably take a couple of weeks more, maybe even three weeks, to see the results, because things heal more slowly in these areas.  I might think I had an allergic reaction, but I did my face and neck on the same day and didn't have the itching.  The area with the rash was an area that I burned on my other peel, so no doubt this skin is just damaged to start with.  

I burned my wrist because I had a scar that I treated aggressively with TCA, and I overdid it.  And it didn't improve the scar especially.  I think micro needling might do more for the scar.  And of course Retin A. 

I noticed three other areas of concern that I was trying to address with the peel.  Number one, I wanted to get rid of dark spots.  Some might call them age spots.  Well, they sure aren't youth spots.  I tried hydroquinone cream.  That was useless.  The peels have really been helpful for eliminating dark spots.  Number two, the skin texture was going south.  I had wrinkles and my arms had begun to  crepe and develop cellulite.   Number three, the skin on my arms was blotchy.  This was from sun damage.  

I did a Jessner's peel about six weeks ago on my left arm, and I was really pleased with the way the blotchiness went away.  The peel was so easy, causing no discomfort.  Then when it was healed, after about a month, I began to put castor oil on my hands and arms, and brush with a scalp shampoo brush, a nice soft one.  This removed the dead skin from the peel, and it has also just about gotten rid of the cellulite.  But does the skin still crepe?  I can't tell yet.  Maybe in a couple more weeks it will look OK.  

I did notice that the rings around my wrist/hand where they meet is much less wrinkly.  

I'll post again about this in about a month when the final results are in.