How to Target Acne with Chemical Peels

If you're still battling breakouts, it's time to stop treating the surface and start treating the cause. Today, we're showing you how chemical peels can help clear your acne faster, smoother, and without wrecking your skin barrier.

One of the biggest concerns that people call about, and which really affects their self-esteem, is acne. When you have acne, you just don't feel fabulous about yourself. It's hard even when you're going out grocery shopping or have to go to work, trying to cover up acne.

Yes, because you can cover it, but there are still bumps. It's not like something else, like a discoloration. Even when it's covered, and most of the time they put so much thick makeup and powders, and I know, I know, I was there. You know what I mean?

Yes.

But you can still see it. I mean, maybe not from that perfect front view, but the second they turn their face or the light reflects, you see bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, and it's just not attractive. And yeah, it does, it really kills your self-esteem.

It definitely does.

There's nothing you can do.

Yes, it really does affect self-esteem, confidence. It's hard to feel nice and confident when you know you're trying to hide something on your face.

Yes, you only look good in a dark room.

Yeah. We offer a range of exceptional acne products designed to help control your acne. And most importantly, we offer chemical peels, and we would like to discuss their role in our treatments. And what do you recommend as a kind of meat-and-potatoes approach? These are the products you need to help get you started.

Yeah, this is the same, and I can narrow this down to four key products. Now that we have expanded our product offerings to include peels, we offer a range of additional options for you to explore. But there are four products that I tell anybody that comes to me, and I don't care if it's a teenager or someone in their fifties, there are four things that work so well.

The first one is this AB cleanser, glycolic and salicylic acids. This helps to exfoliate dead skin, and the salicylic acid also penetrates deeply, helping to clear out the pores. This is like step one: use this twice a day.

And then after you wash, I want to go straight into epidermal growth factor. This is a regenerative epidermal growth factor. And what this does is very, very healing.

It helps heal acne and prevent future breakouts. If you have cystic bumps that're like you can't pop, they're just that hard and sore, you just take this, right? Dab it on a couple of times on a spot. However, if you're applying this to your entire face, you're already helping to combat that. This is step two.

Step three is vitamin B. Now there are two kinds of vitamin B in here. This is very healing and soothing. It's a light moisturizer. This also helps to heal acne. It gives your skin's barrier a balanced effect, and it's just perfect.

This is perfect. So, this is your morning routine: wash, regenerate, and then vitamin B.

Got it.

And then at nighttime, same thing. Wash, regenerate. Generally, we apply all our serums before our cream. Right before you apply your cream, we recommend using our retinoid. So, Fusion A 0.15 is where I typically start most people.

Yes.

And this, too, like salicylic acid, digs deep into the pores, helps shed the lining, and helps tighten the pore, right? So that's working in multiple ways to help prevent acne. So you will put this on. You'll wash, regenerate, apply a retinoid, and then apply vitamin B again.

And if you do this every single night, the acne cycle is about five weeks. However, if you're doing this every single night, by the time you complete those five weeks, your skin should be relatively clear. We're healing, we're exfoliating, and all that kind of stuff.

Now, there are, of course, other things you can use, right? So if you like toners, it's not mandatory. Like, I'm trying to make this simple for people. Four products are all you need for…

Right.

If you like to use a toner, this Purify Toner is super helpful. Some people are extremely oily; they have a lot going on. If your skin is okay and can tolerate more acid, this product contains Mandelic, Salicylic, and Glycolic acids.

This is very helpful in getting that extra cleaning done. Some people need that.

And they could just use that, just like in the oily T-zone as well. So they're not drying out their cheeks.

Yes, and we actually recommend using this once a day. It's not like a twice-a-day thing; it's a strong habit. So, yes, they can use it if they want or spot-treat with it, whatever they prefer. And then, of course, if you're going outside, you need SPF. Not everyone with acne-prone skin likes SPFs because they can be greasy and irritating.

Yeah, exactly.

This one, the face, is an SPF 40; it comes in only 40. This is a matte, so it's mattifying. This is especially beneficial for someone with oily, acne-prone skin. And if you want to dry out a pimple, I suggest one of two things to help.

Number one is, of course, Regenerate. We already talked about that. If you're putting it on every day, you're helping it. You could also, if you have cystic or something, just dab it a few times throughout the day.

And then, of course, we have a traditional drying lotion here that contains sulfur. So, this is something you dip your little Q-tip in before you go to bed at night, you know, when it's okay to have that look on your face. Dab, dab, dab, dab, all the dots everywhere. Go to bed, and this will help to shrink things.

You can like put it on your nose, cover your nose. There are numerous things you can do with this. That's super.

And of course, peels, right? So this is your daily regimen. This is gonna take care of a lot of things. If you want to speed it up a bit, you can do a peel.

Now, keep in mind that when we're talking about the five-week acne cycle, you get lots of layers of skin, right? So you've got pimples forming down here and here and here and here and here. For example, in week one, if we're using exfoliating acids and removing some of the skin, all of a sudden, people may experience purging. That's because you're looking at pimples working their way up to the surface early. So, you got pimples this week, but you also got them from next week at the same time.

So they're like, ' Oh my gosh, it's making my skin worse. '

It's making it worse, I know.

It's not up and out, up and out, up and out. This can only go on so long. As soon as you clear out these pores, it's done.

Stay in the course.

Keep it up. So, if you're okay with a bit of extra purging, consider adding a peel. And I suggest something along the lines of a salicylic.

You can do it, if you're a teen or preteen, you could use the three. 16 and up, or a similar age range. Salicylic 15 or Mandelic. There's the 22 or the 40. Either of these will help to remove the skin more quickly. As I said, you might purge a little more, but you'll likely speed up the process a bit.

If you like to do a deeper peel, Jessner, Super. That's obviously a much deeper peel. You're gonna get more layers off at a time. However, this can substantially reduce the five-week cycle.

So Jessner's is more of a once-a-month peel.

These can be done once a week or once every other week. I 

really suggest every other week because you have to stop your retinoids. Well, about four days, if you're doing a lighter peel. You don't want never to be able to use the retinoid; you want to use it. So every other week.

You could alternate.

Yeah, do your peel. And then, when you're done, most of the time, you don't even have flaking. It's just dryness. And then you're done maybe in five days. You're feeling pretty good. You start using your retinoid again.

And then you're preparing for your next peel, which is about a week later. Then, you'll still be able to use your retinoid for approximately four days before stopping again, giving it another brief break, and then doing your peel. I find that works easiest for people, but that's super helpful.

Well, I mean, the biggest questions that I get, or I guess the most significant errors that people are making when they have acne is they're using so many drying products and they're not moisturizing properly because they feel like moisture is, you know, causing them to break out or, you know, things like that. It's like that, and it always surprises me as well. For example, I also recommend using emu oil at nighttime because it has anti-inflammatory properties.

Antibacterial.

Exactly. They freak out because it's an oil.

It's a safe oil, though.

It's a safe oil, and it truly possesses excellent properties. I understand that you don't want to use it during the day because of makeup and other factors.

Yeah, it'll be greasy.

But moisturizing is so important because you're using drying products, so your sebaceous glands are pumping more oil, and sometimes things, you know, can get worse. And that's the other thing is when they feel like they had a breakout. This caused me to break out. However, you just explained.

Yeah, that's why I wanted to go through that in depth.

The reasoning behind that. So, stay the course and continue.

And let's talk about, like you just brought up one more, one other point, which was, you know, it's very important, so you don't get dry to put these on, or so you don't get excessively oily.

We want to apply these products to damp skin. So, you wash your face and then you don't. You towel dry like crazy and buff your face dry, making it as dry as the Sahara desert. Then, you start putting products on.

You wanna wash your face. And if you're just standing there and you're getting ready to put step one on, I will grab a towel, but I will barely touch my face just because I don't wanna be dripping. And then I grab it and start applying my Regenerate immediately. To prevent excessive oil, you need to moisturize your skin.

It doesn't matter if you're naturally oily or prone to acne. You have to apply your products to moist skin, and then you want to lock that moisture in. And then you follow up with the cream, which is your vitamin B. It's not a heavy moisturizer, but it helps lock the water on your face, which is in Regenerate, onto your skin.

So you'll find that you're not oily all day. It'll be much more controlled. And it can take a little bit, like just changing this and making an effort to put it on damp skin.

You will notice over the coming weeks that your skin's not nearly as oily as it used to be. And the retinoids help with that too, because they also help to regulate your sebum output. That will help slow it down a little while also helping with the acne.

Other things that can help regulate the oil are the LED lights, specifically the blue LED. Now red is also beneficial. Red and infrared light are both beneficial for acne, but blue light is especially effective in killing bacteria.

It's also beneficial for regulating oil. I highly recommend adding an LED to the mix as well, because you can wear it every day. You can apply it after rinsing your peel.

You can apply it at any time, leave it on for at least 10 minutes, and then alternate between red and blue. They're both gonna help. If you have issues with excessive bacteria or oil, use the blue.

However, I always suggest adding a touch of red, too, because red is also known to be beneficial for acne. It's just like blue gets all the credit, but red is still helpful, too.

Right. I mean, let's touch base again on this Regenerate, because I personally have suffered with cystic acne. And secondly, if you are prone to it, obviously, you want to incorporate it into your regular regimen. However, on occasion, you will still.

Monthly or something.

Thankfully, it's only happened once or twice a year since I've been using the Regenerate for so long. But the second you feel like something is coming on, start applying it, just dab it on. Even if it's a few times a day, it often just goes away.

It just goes away.

Before it erupts into a cyst.

Yeah.

I mean, it's really remarkable. One other thing I want to mention about the Regenerate is remember we had a very wonderful review from a customer who had perioral dermatitis.

Yes, it's on the page.

Yes, yes. And that was an amazing product that helped her in a very short span of time, if I recall correctly.

I wanna say so. I saw it the other day because it's on the Regenerate page.

Absolutely.

And she said that she had perioral dermatitis, and that helped her. And that is so stubborn, the perioral dermatitis.

Because your daughter would get that.

Yes, my daughter has had it in the past. And, of course, you usually have to go to the dermatologist, but this particular customer had already been on antibiotics. And it's just stubborn. It takes a while to go away. And anything you use on that specific…

It's like, it's just, it's not normal. I mean, your skin isn't behaving normally.

Right, even when you cleanse, it'll flare up. But that Regenerate, hands down.

Another thing, just not sitting here or anything, but the XO-AD could potentially be another good option because it's all about normalizing the skin and making things function right when they're not functioning correctly.

That could be something to test in the future, maybe. But yeah, Regenerate, the growth factor. There are numerous growth factors.

There are growth factors, and there are numerous different components within. It's not just epidermal growth factor. There are like six other things in here.

It's amazing.

All right, we're back at it. We had to take a quick break to unload a massive thousand-pound labeling machine from a truck.

Fun experience. So it was- Invigorating.

It was very invigorating.

Got my heart pumping. Now, let's get back to our discussion about acne.

Right, right. Cell peels.

Yes, what are the precautions? If you have active acne and plan to do a peel, are there any specific things you should avoid?

The one thing that comes to mind is, for instance, if you have an active blemish. Okay, so if it's sealed closed, like you haven't tried to pop it, you don't have a wound; it's just sealed. You got a bump, that's okay. Apply your peel like normal.

If let's say you did, you know, pop one or something like that, we don't want to put the acid on that wound. It's an open wound, I don't care if it's been three days. So what you would need to do in that case, is after you've washed your face and you've stripped it and you're ready to put your peel on, take a little dab of either Aquaphor or Vaseline or whatever you have, an ointment, and just dab it right on that blemish or blemishes, whatever, because we're creating a little barrier.

So, when you put the peel on, you could try to avoid it, but the acid seeps further.

Definitely.

That's why I don't want you to just try to avoid it, because even where you lay that acid down, it's going to go further than you think.

It's going to travel.

Yes. So just, you know, try to avoid it, but you'll have that ointment on there to protect it anyway.

Got it.

And if, for some reason, you do put it on an open wound, you won't make that mistake again, because it burns terribly. And of course, it's going to frost, even if it's just a salicylic or something.

Immediately.

And be white. And then you'll have a scab, and it's just not fun.

So just, you know, that's the only thing I can think of that's really different. Right. You know, that you would have to watch out for.

Yeah.

I don't think there's much of anything else. You're just going to apply it like you always would.

Oh, one more thing I would note is that, especially if you're using a Jessner or salicylic acid, both of those are really anti-inflammatory.

Right.

So, if you were to put it on a blemish that hasn't been an open wound, you will notice that it will shrink it slightly.

Yeah.

They'll look better after you're done with your peel, just because of that anti-inflammatory effect. So that will help. And it will help any active blemishes to heal a little bit more quickly with that, you know, aggressive treatment. So that's really about it.

So, to recap, we will obviously stick with our four crucial products for controlling acne.

Yup. Every single day. Boom, boom, boom.

And you would stop the retinoid about five days before.

Yes, depending on the acid you're using. If you're doing a milder one, maybe it's like only four days.

Sure.

However, if you're doing the Jessner, I would recommend somewhere between four and six days. Everybody's different.

Good.

I think this will definitely help people get on the right track.

Yes.

Again, don't forget about the blue light and the red light.

Yes.

With the Illuminate.

And anyone can do this. Oh, see, now I thought of one more thing. All right. For teens and pre-teens, this can be too strong. This is the Fusion A, the retinoid. As I usually advise, for anyone starting, if you're not using a retinoid, I recommend starting with this. I want you to use this no more than two or three times a week. Cause you're going to get a little dry. Could be sensitive and irritated.

The next week, try to add one more day. See how your skin goes. Add one more day. You have to ease into retinoids. Now, like teens and tweens, their skin is more sensitive. So, what I have always suggested is to take a pump of your Fusion and a pump of your Vitamin B, and mix them in your hands.

Now, you've diluted it in half, so apply it. So now you've just cut that 0.15 in half to like, you know, 0.07 instead of that 0.15. And that will make it a lot more tolerable.

Or, you know, every other day or every second day, just, it's still a very, very important, but the younger crowd or the more sensitive people might need to be a little bit more cautious in that just diluting two products together, mixing it together, applying, that helps a lot. You can do all three if you want to. You could do something like regenerate. This is something I would do. Regenerate, Vitamin B, Fusion - mix it and apply. And now you've made it a little bit more tolerable.

Nice. And they're only going to use that retinoid just at night. Once or twice a day, to slowly acclimate the skin.

Ease into it.

So, let's say they're on a budget and want to use the cleanser and the B-Complex.

Yeah.

If they had to choose between Regenerates and retinol. I suppose if they're cystic, I would opt for regeneration.

Yeah.

I know you love your retinol. I would, yeah. And I would pick retinol.

So it really depends. What would I say in that case?

Yeah.

We take Klarna. We take PayPal payments. We also have Affirm payments. Everything you need. And your payment might be around $20 a week for five weeks, or whatever the amount is. I'm not sure of the total. However, I would suggest doing that instead of skimping.

Right.

I think I would. What a great suggestion.

Yeah. I wasn't even thinking about the Paylater programs that we have. Many people are using those now.

Yes. I see that a lot.

Which is good. Which is nice. Because they can get everything they need and then space it out into X number of payments. And these are going to last months.

Yeah. These won't just last one month. These are going to last for three months or more. You're 90 days. You're using these twice a day. Every single day. It will still last a very long time.

Excellent.

I think, yeah. That's what I would do instead of trying to choose because they're both important in their own way.

Yes.

That's essentially narrowing it down to these four for each reason. For instance, I don't want to necessarily pair this one with the other product, but rather combine it with another one. Because some of these are at high potencies, mixing them may not yield the desired results. There are numerous uses for all of these. You don't want to just make another product. 

We've seen amazing results with these four.

Yeah. Yeah.

Perfect. Awesome.

All right. Well, obviously, if you have any questions, just reach out to us again. Go to the Facebook Guru page. Email support@platinumskincare.com or call us at 1-800-917-3155.

Yay.