The Search for Flawless Skin II

  The weather here was hot over the weekend, kids kept asking me to take them out to the pool or beach, but unfortunately I was confined to the indoors of my house out of the sunlight just like a vampire. All thanks to my wonderful idea to go get a chemical peel. Oh yes the peel...let's talk about that.

  I've never had any type of procedures done on my face so I had pretty big expectations. So, let me take you through what I encountered. OK, so we arrive to the clinic (my daughter and I) and we were greeted by a very peppy and friendly receptionist. The office was nice, very clean and had a very "upscale" look. My daughter was mostly impressed with their water dispenser because it was so "fancy" and they had real glasses and not paper cups. It doesn't take much to impress a nine year old I guess. So, I filled out the paper work and was called back fairly quick. The aesthetician who worked on my peel seemed very nice at first and very professional. She explained the procedure, what to expect and how to recover. Now, moving on to the peel, so she began "prepping" my face. I could smell what she was rubbing on my face so ask " Is that alcohol ?" and she says "this is a mixture 95% isopropyl and 30% acetone" That's around the time I started to panic. So she puts the solution all over my face and I can literally feel every drop of moisture in my skin evaporate.

 day 1
So, once my skin is as dry a bone, the aesthetician, then proceeds to apply the peel. This is the part where the girl went from being a "nice lady" to a full blown monster, in my mind of course. Once that peel set in, my face felt like it was on fire. Holy cow, I really thought there were flames on my face! Now, my daughter was in the room, so I kept all the profanities in my own mind but believe me if that lady were a mind reader, she would of been very sorry. Anyway, so the burning lasted at it's most intense for about 10 to 15 minutes then it subsided and though it was still uncomfortable for the rest of the day, it was bearable. So, as I left she gave me instructions on how to treat my face for the next few days, no sun exposure, no strenuous activity that would cause excessive sweating, and no picking or peeling off skin. Well, I managed to keep one of those rules.

day 2

day 3

Now, lets fast forward to the next morning. I wake up and I am a swollen mess! As the day goes on I feel more and more like a leather couch. The following day, no more swelling but I've changed my name to "Leather Face". My skin is so tight that it's even hard to pronounce certain words! By day three, my skin is dark and dry and starting to peel in certain spots. Now, I'm a picker and patience is not really one of my assets so, instead of just letting the skin fall off on it's own, I thought I'd give it a little help. Ugh, big mistake, I peeled some of the skin and the "new"skin was still pretty raw and very sensitive. The exposed skin felt like a very bad sunburn. So the following day I decided I had enough time off from working out, and since a lot of skin had already peeled, I thought it wouldn't be a big deal to get some cardio in. So I went in to my garage and went back to work. The sweat did burn my exposed skin, but it wasn't anything too bad. The thing that freaked me out was,when I was done and went in to shower, I looked at my face and saw all these bubbles on my forehead and cheeks! It was so gross, it's like my skin made pockets and the sweat was trapped in it! I had to get a soft towel and "iron" the bubbles out to release the sweat.

day 4

So, today is much better, I'm still peeling but my face is less sensitive. I'm still going to work out today but since there is less peeling going on, I hope the bubble situation wont be as bad. I think the worst part is all this dead skin. I'm just so over the peeling. Unfortunately it will take about 3-4 more days before I can see my "new" face without all that dead skin hanging from it.






So, would I ever get another chemical peel again? The answer is a big fat resounding NO! In my opinion the procedure was very painful, and very uncomfortable. The time away from working out is really not worth it to me and I really am over all the peeling. Would I recommend a chemical peel to anyone? If you are patient, and have a high tolerance to pain and can get a good deal at a reputable salon or clinic then by all means get one. But be forewarned, it is not going to be pleasant. I'm sure I will be happy with the results and I'm glad I saw for myself what it's like to get one done, but I got it out of my system and I don't feel like I need to do this again...ever. I do have a microderm abrasion scheduled in a couple of weeks, I'll let you know how that goes, I don't expect it to be anywhere near this bad though. I went ahead and posted some pics of the first four days. I will post another after the micorderm.

Well, ladies there you have it, I'd love to hear from you!