I work in a medical clinic which also provides aesthetic services. Our clients range in age from 12 to 55 and are dealing with mild to severe acne. I was a victim of moderate acne and did a lot of picking so I scarred. Having said the above, I cannot stress enough adherence to a regime. Find someone you trust, who is compentent and knowledgeable, has before and after pictures of THEIR clients and is supported by a physician. The doctor may not do the treatment but they spend time, energy and money to train their technicians. Physicians are also able to access stronger medications and peels than spas and estheticians.
After assessing individual I almost always recommend doing x-foliating peels and microdermabrasions together. Two peels (Medique brand) 30% two weeks apart then one derm and then we assess the progress they are making. I cannot stress enough...commit yourself to a minimum of three peels before you give up. Your skin will likely look worse after the first peel because you have emulsified the oil in the follicle and removed dead skin cells from the surface of the skin; its like taking the lid off of a soup pot and adding water, now everything is able to be "flushed" from the pore. It took your skin time to get this way and it will take time to get rid of it.
While systemic medications are available and sometimes necessary I witness them being prescribed far too often without thought given to less invasive, less expensive options.
The list of possible side effects for chemical peels (Medique brand 30%, 50% and 70%)are redness, which subsides within 3 hours, first treatment breakouts, flakiness of skin if client doesn't moisturize adequately at home.
I couldn't care less where people go for their treatments. The important part is treating the acne to avoid the emotional and physical scarring it can cause.

Hi,I am desperate to have a mild or medium chemical peel for acne scars I am so confused as what os the best after reading feedback I definitely donot want Abalgi blue peel but if anyone reads this who lives near me in Florida maybe you can recommend a doctor and what procedure you had done.Thank you

nicole from south africa, where did you get the Environ? CAN SOMEONE EMAIL ME. [email address removed]

Hi Im Saskia im 21 from Australia
I had CYSTIC ACNE which is not big pimples but an all over appearence of clogged pores and congested skin, it was a result of me always picking and touching my face. I findally decided that enough was enough!
I KNEW i need to break my terrible habit so firsly I STOPPED PICKING! And I QUIT SMOKING.. at first after two weeks my skin busted out but i kept my cool and let it be, all the toxins were comming out.

Then it started to improve, VERY SLOWLY but i still didnt touch it. I did lots of EXERCISE which improved the circulation in my face and sweated out all the dirt that i ursually would have tried to pick out. This helped alot!

PRODUCT WISE- I kept it simple... CETAPHIL CLEANSER is gentle on skin, followed by the CETAPHIL MOISTURISER but only a tiny bit- i did this morning then night with no moisturiser when exercising. Then for the day i used NEUTROGENA OIL FREE MOISTURISER with SPF 15+. All products of which are marked as NON-COMDONGENIC or NON ACNE-GENIC (does not clog pores) This really helped any other products didnt agree with my acne prone skin.
For Nasty RED SPOTS i dabbed tea tree out on then to reduce reddness and kill bacteria.
For BLIND PIMPLES try grating some potato and slap it on the problem spot (or try vodka!) The starch in the potatos zapps blind pimples overnight.
Hope this helps, believe me I tried everything!

I am a 25-year old man, I was upset with acne scars (red marks on the forehead) so I did 2 AHA peels, not knowing about the risks. Now I am almost about to kill me about doing this stupid thing.
My skin was very white and clear for 1 month after the peel, then I had break-outs like I had never had in my whole life. One year and few months after the peel, uneven coloration and red marks due to sun damage this summer appeared on the cheeks, although I had never have any problems before, except acne on the forehead. The face cant sun-tan anymore. Red marks due to acne are much more long to disapear than before the peel, or just don t disapear at all.
Even if your skin may look better just after a peel, remember (what I didn t know) that it may damage it severely. Be very carreful with chemical peels, in my case I will pay my unconsiousness for the rest of my life.

Ive had 2 chemical peels and over the next 2/3 month i broke out like ive never broke out in my whole entire life my face was way better before but now i have more scars and more acne i dont know what ive done. i dont recommend having chemicals peels. it doesnt work on acne scars at all fine a treatment that will.

Hi there
have been with acne for .... ooohh let me think ...roughly 15 years (I am 30 now). The kind I have is weird: small bumps form on my jawline and cheeks, plus some blackheads of forehead and chin (less noticeable though). The bumps grow, get inflamed and then - I admit it - my zit-popping urge takes over. Now to the gist: I have spent so much money on all sorts of things, and nothing helped.
Until I came across glycolic treatments.
My routine is a fortnightly 30% peel (I do it by now at home, used to go to a beautician), plus every day morning and night I apply 8% glycolic gel and 2 % salicylic gel (both Paula's Choice - thank you Ebay USA!). Am I free of acne? Nope. Has it improved massively? Yep, and it continues to do so. As for scars, it really is a very slow process (plus I still pick my skin every here and now - very compulsive and very bad, I hate myself for it).
In short: please give it a try, I know how desperate one gets. Also, consider it for sensitive skin - mine is (no, really) and low grade acids do not harm or scar you. Just make sure you keep to instructions.
One last thing - which so far no one seems to have mentioned: please use sun protection when you do glycolics (SPF25 or over, none of the wimpy SPF10 stuff). Otherwise you end up with nasty brown sun spots and increase your risk of skin cancer.
Best of luck and don't give up!

I never had a zit my whole life, Then I got a job during the summer last year when I turned 20 at a parasail booth that was located at a boat marina at the beach. With all the dirt and bacteria that was around mixed with the high heat my skin started getting zits.darn sensitive skin!. Of course I picked them,before they surfaced... that was a big mistake!! Then I tried proactive which turned my couple zits into I cant even explain! Thanks to proactiv my pores are slightly larger on my cheeks and yes I stll have zits! Ive been looking into the peels for minimizing my pores, but after reading some of the peoples results on here.. Im starting to rethink getting them.I want to minimize my pores and just get rid of like 2 small indentions and redness.. What should I do? Money is no option.. I just dont want to have any regrets... Should I just carry my bum to the derm or bust out the bling at the plastic surgeons?

I am very surprised at the negative results so many of you have had with chemical peels. It is a fairly commom procedure here and almost always gives fantastic results.
The difference may be in the procduct and technician used however. I use environ ( a fantastic product!!!) which contains concentrations of vitamin A. During the winter I also go for mild Ennviron chemical peels (for mild scarring). The Environ techinicians insisnt on avoiding the sun up two two weeks after a peel, and to never use a peel which is too strong for your skin as if will case hyperpigmentation, swelling and scabs. Perhaps the technicians visited by you guys administered too strong a peel. For me however the results were fabulous.

i just had jessner peel 3 days a go it has been very pain full, they did not tell me that i would look this bad. they told me i could return to my normal activets in 24 hours. by the second day i was in alot of pain the dint tell what i needed to do . i will never have a neither one and i hope my face dont look worse.