How to Prepare for a Chemical Skin Peel for Acne


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At your consultation, your consultant should have carefully explained how you should prepare your skin before your chemical skin peel. If you have any concerns or questions, you should contact your practitioner well in advance of the procedure in order to make sure you understand your instructions fully. Although preparations may vary depending on your own personal skin condition and on your practitioner, some generally accepted steps include the following things.

Stopping smoking before your chemical peel, or cutting back as much as you possibly can, is highly advised. Smoking can seriously affect the rate at which your body heals itself so not smoking for a week before and at least a fortnight after treatment is highly recommended, if not insisted upon.


Taking any medication your practitioner has prescribed you is very important. You may be given antiviral medication to prevent the flare up of cold sores and other conditions. Other medications may be prescribed to prepare your skin for the treatment. Some drugs commonly prescribed are Retin A, Hydroquinone and AHA cream.

You may want to book some time off from work. While light and medium skin peels should not stop you from returning to work, you may wish to stay at home until the redness and peeling has stopped. With AHA and TCA peels you should be OK after about a week. A Phenol peel may be too painful to go to work with for the first few days and should stop looking unpleasant after about two weeks.If you are undergoing a more heavy-duty peel, for example a Phenol or high-concentration TCA peel, you will need to arrange for someone to drive you back from your treatment. They may need to look after you for a couple of days in the event of excessive facial swelling causing your eyes to close.

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