One of the benefits of being a dermal clinician is the chance to have and try different treatments as well as products. For many years now I have been using Cosmeceuticals; product ranges that contain active ingredients. So prior to my Jessner Peel my skin was already “primed”.
I was routinely using a range of products containing AHA/BHA and retinoic acid, these ingredients are extremely important in priming the skin. Priming before a peel helps prevent adverse reactions such as hyperpigmentation and minimises prolonged redness and allows the skin to heal more rapidly after a peel.
To remove make up and any excess oil from the face my skin was cleansed and degreased with a foaming cleanser. One coat of Jessner Peel was applied to the whole of the face.
The First Day: Initial sensation after the Jessner Peel was applied was an intense warming with my face gradually feeling hotter and hotter. This intense sensation only lasted for 2mins and I was able to use a hand held fan to alleviate the sensation. After 10mins I applied Lycogel makeup (which is a silica gel that allows moisture and air and acts like a second skin as well as camouflage). The skin felt like I had mild sunburn, feeling tight and warm.
The Second Day: My skin looked slightly sunburnt and bronzed in areas that had sun damage/pigmentation. During this time I used a gentle cleanser and hydrating, non-clogging moisturiser.
Third day: My pigmented areas were darker and felt like sandpaper. My face looked very red and crusty by this day. t was harder to cover my face with make-up.
By the 4th day my skin started to lift, the bronzing was more obvious at this stage. My skin felt tighter and dryer. I was able to us a warm face washer that evening to gently cleanse away the dead skin.
By the 5th day my skin had a slight rosy glow and was flaky/dry in some areas. At this stage I was able to resume my normal skin care routine, still being careful of using Vitamin A, AHA/BHA on my skin and slowly introducing these products as my skin was still quite sensitive.
My skin took almost 2 weeks for all the residual dead skin to come off. It felt so much smoother with uneven pigmentation much improved and texture and tone more refined.
Usually it is advised to do a course of Jessner Peels with 3-5 treatments spaced 4 weeks apart. They are suitable for skin type’s I-III that have acne, sun damaged and photo aged skin.
