Shedding my winter coat

I did a VI peel! This is a blended medium depth medical grade chemical peel that is safe for all skin types and skin tones. I'm going to be honest, I haven't done a chemical peel since high school! Yes, I promise I am an aesthetician... I worked outside in a pool for years so I could never safely do a peel and be inside for the amount of time necessary, so it just was never a practical option for me. Since I am getting married in August I wanted to see how my skin does with one and get that fresh baby skin ready for the wedding! My skin has actually been looking good lately and I've been happy with it. I started out with a little pigmentation around my jawline from past breakouts and a little bit of scarring and texture in that area. Normally, I am an oily gal but this winter/spring had me all messed up. I was also using my retinol, sal acid to spot treat, and a 10% glycolic treatment 1-2 times a week. All that to say I was a little dry before starting this peel and I was LITTTTT. My coworker said I turned a shade of red she had never seen before so of course I told her GOOD KEEP GOING. Here are my results...

Day 1 immediately post peel:

This lighting hides it, but I was VERY red, but did just fine.

Day 2:

I woke up red and swollen with my skin feeling very tight.

 I washed my face and used a little hydrocortisone cream and slathered in SPF.  

Day 3:

Let the peeling begin!

The peeling started around the mouth and nose and went out from there. You CANNOT pick at the skin so I kept trimming it all day so I wouldn't get skin everywhere (lol gross).

Day 4: More Peeling

The peeling was the worst this day. I had to trim constantly so that I wasn't tempted to pick at my face. I was shedding EVERYWHERE. I could see the parts that had already peeled and they were looking brand new! At one point on my jaw line where I have the most acne scarring, a small part of scarring literally peeled off and it was amazing to see the immediate difference.

Day 5:

Still a lot of peeling going on. I was still really really red and raw, but nothing too crazy. I went to brunch and ran errands all day just pretending like my face wasn't falling off. Oh well. And yes if you get cold sores TAKE VALTREX. I forgot and did not take it in time. You will get a cold sore if you don't prep!

Day 6:

Very few spots left to peel. I was still red and there were about 4 small spots that were pretty raw. I kept some epidermal repair on those spots to promote healing. 

Day 7:

You can still see the spots that are a little raw and still healing. I pretty much peeled twice with this thing. I had a big peeling as you could see and then I had a lot of flaking in the same areas afterwards especially around my chin and mouth area. Besides those few spots you can see my skin looks fresh and glowing.

Day 8:

After this I continued to let those few areas heal and my skin looks really really good. I did have a couple of areas that purged but not bad. Overall I am very impressed with the VI peel. I can tell a difference with the scarring I had on my jaw line. I also noticed a difference with some of the dark spots on my face. The freckle type spots lightened up a good bit and my baby skin is so pretty!

I would definitely recommend this peel for all skin types as long as you don't have anything special going on for a week or so.