Why Your Dermatologist Hates At-Home Peels (The Truth)

If they just commented on your beautiful skin, and they know you take care of your skin, and you've told them about your regimen, and they're okay with that.

Then they find out that you're doing a peel or something, and they're like, “Well, I don't want you to do that. We do peels here. I'm going to say that that's not safe, and this is that, and you really need to do this one here, we have this brand or this…” whatever.

They're assuming that they're uneducated.

They’re coming from a business standpoint, too.

I got an interesting phone call the other day, and it was from one of our clients or customers. We chit-chatted on the phone. She's a longtime user of Platinum Skin Care peels, very experienced.

Everybody goes to their dermatologist every year for checkups and other things.

Yeah.

Her dermatologist commented on how gorgeous her skin was looking.

That's a good one.

That is a good one. When she disclosed that she had been doing some at-home peels, she received a response from her dermatologist that, if she wasn't already an experienced, educated customer of Platinum Skin Cares, she might have run out of there and just thrown her stuff in the garbage.

And then scared.

You’ve been scared. Yeah. She suggested on the phone that we have a brief discussion about what to expect and how to approach your dermatologist if you want to use them as a sounding board and for support. She said chances are they're going to receive some unfavorable comments

Yeah.

And in the doctor's defense, as I told this customer on the phone, I said...

They're looking out for your best interest.

Yeah. That's what I said.

They really are.

I said they really are looking out for your best interest because they have probably seen some of the people who haven't prepped, and the people who weren't educated into something too high.

Or my greatest fear is that people who find a TCA 50, TCA 80, or TCA 100 just think it's safe because they found it, put it on, and burn themselves.

Exactly.

They have just a horrible response, so that's what I think every dermatologist is thinking to themselves…

100 percent.

…is like they're thinking that you're buying something extremely strong. They're not thinking, I think, they're very safe with somebody going to Sephora or Ulta or something, and even picking up one of those mild mouth peels, like they have a couple of mild little things there.

I think they're safe and comfortable with that, but not with something like a TCA or a Jessner at home. Yeah. I feel like 90 percent of them are coming from a good solid, I just don't want you to hurt yourself.

Then there's the other side: they just commented on your beautiful skin, know you take care of it, and you've told them about your regimen, and they're okay with that.

Then they find out that you're doing a peel or something, and they're like, “Well, I don't want you to do that; we do peels here, so I'm going to say that that's not safe and this is that, and you really need to do this one here. We have this brand or this…” whatever. They're assuming that they're coming from a business standpoint, too, so there's both.

Yeah, they want to protect their business. Estheticians will do this as well.

We get that a lot.

Absolutely 100 percent.

“People shouldn't be doing this at home.” We're like, “Well, no, you're right. An uneducated person who doesn't know the difference between Glycolic and TCA shouldn't be doing this at home.”

That's why education is so crucial; that's why you can call us. So many other businesses, you just buy it, there's not even a phone number. You can talk to us. We push you to go through Peel University, watch this video, take this quiz, and do this.

Because I want an educated customer, you come to me, you're not educated by the time you leave me, you probably know more about peels than your esthetician does.

So true.

And that's true because they're trained very minimally in peels. Yeah, they have to almost specialize in it.

Yeah.

They'll do like maybe a light Glycolic 30. They might do a Jessner Peel, which is pretty standard in esthetic training, but mostly they're focusing on waxing, facials, and similar services.

Yeah.

They're not focused on peels; if any esthetician knows a little more about them, it's because they went out of their way to get trained in them.

Or they may have done a medical esthetician class or something.

Yeah.

Or they start calling us.

Right.

Exactly. They could start calling us because how many times do we get an esthetician that is calling us like, “Yeah. I want to offer peels, but I don't know anything about them.”

“How do you not know anything about it?”

“Well, our school didn't teach us anything on that.”

So a lot of times they're scared of it, so if you go to your esthetician, they'll be like, “Oh, your skin's lovely. You're going to have your facial, you're waxing today.”

And they'll be like, “Oh yeah, I do a series of TCA peels.”

“Oh my god.” Like they're scared of the peel because they're not educated on it, so you can't take their fear or ignorance as a bad thing. They're coming from where they are, and you're where you are.

I mean, and we do look at our doctors as they are…

They know all, right?

They all know the query. You know what I'm saying, so we are taking what they have to say, and when they say something like that, you're like, “Wow.”

You're going to second-guess yourself.

But let's be honest, that is where this business was founded. I mean, you started this business because you were in that situation.

Yes, I was going in, and I was getting, I had like really bad acne, what was that like, there's four grades, I had grade three. I was going in and getting chemical peels. I think they were doing a TCA peel, and I was getting microneedling, lights, and all these different things.

It was just too flippin' expensive for me. It was like three or five hundred dollars a week or something like that, and I just didn't have it.

I was like, “Then you have to be able to do this at home.”

Right.

Come on. That's what kind of started me on my journey to be able to offer all this kind of stuff to you. We didn't start off with TCA peels. I mean, I think I started with Glycolic peels and then worked my way into the different acids.

Because I was learning, too. I mean, this is 25 years ago, I was learning. I thought, “Oh, a Glycolic, that's a peel, that's the peels.”

No, there's a whole bunch of other acids, and each acid has different features. Salicylic is good for this, and lactic is good for this, and everything has its own thing, and not everybody knows that.

Right.

A lot of times, they only know, like I was saying, what a Glyolic Peel is and what a Jessner Peel is.

Sure.

Because that's pretty much what they'll usually teach you in esthetics school.

Right, right.

But that's it, and they might have done one or two peels, that's it, their whole life.

Yeah, so basically, competence comes from education.

Yep.

And at Platinum Skin Care, we're all about educating our customers, and we want you to have all the tools you need to know everything before you go into something, so you can plan.

Yes. You will know and understand everything before you touch acid to your face. You'll be all prepped, and then just to make it even easier, like when you're ready to do that. You don't even have to do that peel alone.

Right.

Just pull up either our TCA Peel video, the Peels 101, the Jessner Peel video, or the Dream Peel video, and you can apply it with me.

Sure.

I mean, I'm doing those peels live. You know it burns my face like whatever, depending on the acid. I'm doing it right along with you, and I'm like, “Okay. We wash our face, we do this, we pat dry, we strip it, and I'm going to put the first one on. I'm going to get it wet, not too wet, not too dry, whatever.”

“Now I'm going to put it on, you're going to watch me put it on. You can put it on with me and then wait your five minutes, do what you got to do.” Like you're never alone.

Right. So here are some ways that you can feel confident when you're talking to your dermatologist or your esthetician, and if you go in and let them know, like, “Look, I've been prepping with a melanin inhibitor, I've been doing this, I'm using a buffered solution.”

So if you throw some of these keywords out to them where they know you are suppressing melanin, you're starting with this 30% buffered Glycolic or whatever you decide to go with, I think just letting them know that you are educated may help get your support.

You can kind of let them know that this is something you've been doing, as the customer we first talked about did. Basically, like what you said, she was like, "Well, you told me how beautiful my skin was."

It was beautiful one minute ago, and now you're now your alarmed.

Exactly.

So we have to know that it got beautiful a certain way, and then I'm going to continue doing that.

Well, and they are at a doctor's office or an esthetician spa. I mean, it's very costly to get.

It is. That's where I mean, obviously, that's where the beauty is. Like, okay, let's say a TCA, how much is the one-ounce box of TCA 13? $40?

$40.

$40. Yeah, so each one of these vials will give you up to three layers. We were a medical spa for 7 years, 15 years ago.

Yeah.

Doing let's say if we did a TCA 13 peel one to three layers that was $75, and I want to say like if you did like four or five or six layers it was $135, something like that. That's just the 13; when you graduate to the next percentage, it's higher, like $10 and up.

Now that was like 15 years ago. Now, they are hundreds of dollars.

Sure.

I mean, for a TCA peel, the bare minimum is $350-$400, depending on your state and city. I mean, you could be in New York or something, where it could be like a thousand dollars, twelve hundred dollars for the same deal.

Oh yeah. For sure.

I mean, we sell to…

I was just going to say that.

We sell to doctors and spas that perform these peels, and they'll buy the larger 2-ounce bottles.

Of course.

But it's the same thing. I don't know. There are big savings if you fall into the category of people who want to do these peels at home. That's where they make money, too. If you have to think about it. You're like, okay, they're with this big two-ounce bottle, I mean, they might be using there's 60 ml in here, maybe they're using two three ml for a person.

So, how many people can they do with this bottle? It's like free. It's free for them to do it. It's free money because the product's cost isn't included.

It's their overhead, it's their liability insurance, their staffing, their building, their advertising.

That's what it is. Because the cost of doing peels for a doctor esthetician is…

Yeah. Very, very small.

Nothing. Pennies.

Absolutely, you could maybe bring your peel booklet. Let them know, like, “Look, these are the protocols I'm following,” or just use some other fun ways to kind of get their support.

Like, I've gone through a certification course, as I went through the Peel University course. I learned all about my Fitzpatrick. I learned all about my skin, the different assets, and how to apply them, and all this kind of stuff. I feel extremely comfortable doing this, and I've done it.

Yeah, and I want to say, like I think it's the education that is going to really convince them that, “Okay, you do know what you’re doing.”

You know what you're doing. Yeah.

They may still give you the side look, like, hmm, you know.

You might not win them over, and in conversations like that, once you've had your say, I don't think you need to keep telling them. You can not even talk about it anymore.

Yeah. Exactly.

Be like, “Okay, well I'm interested in getting some other laser or…” whatever done and then just like get off that subject because they're closed to it.

Yeah.

But if they are open to it, ask them whatever you'd like, but you don't really want to take up too much of their time on it, to be honest.

For sure.

Because if they're not going to be doing that treatment on you, they're not going to want to spend their time and efforts on that. They're going to want to push you to whatever the next thing you're going to do.

I do think obviously lasers and all that kind of stuff, that's where you're going to take their expertise.

For sure, and I get like if you were to go to them and say, “Oh, I just bought this random peel off of eBay.” 

I would be fearful as well.

I can only imagine the responses that you would…

Can you please throw that away?

Right. Exactly. Because we get those calls even, and we are alarmed, just like your dermatologist probably would be.

I'm alarmed when I hear people say they bought it on eBay.

But don't be scared if you do get an unfavorable comment from your dermatologist or esthetician. We are here to support you, to educate you, and we've been doing this for a very long time.

Very long.

Everybody is welcome as long as you follow our protocols, and if you have any questions, you can reach out to us.

Do as we say. I don't want to say, do as we say, not as we do because we do it correctly, but start low. Like, start with a lower percentage. Start with a milder acid, especially if it's brand new to you and you're not sure. If you don't feel comfortable doing peels, don't do them.

It probably makes sense to start off with something like a Mandelic or a Glycolic something, where you put it on once. Time it, rinse it off, and be like, “Okay, that was easy.”

And then you do a series of those. You don't have to; you can always start with TCA. Let's say you started with TCA 7. Okay, we'll put one layer on that first time, see how that goes. You don't have to put five layers on the first time; we don't even recommend that.

We recommend one to two layers the first time. Just work your way up slowly and safely. A lot of times, I find it safer. Because if you go to a dermatologist's office, it is very, very common for them to use a 35% TCA solution.

Now, we know that it is extremely strong. I mean, we do the 30, but we don't recommend it for facial use unless you've done many, many TCA 25+ layers for months. Or on your body with only the lightest skin tones.

That's a standard at a dermatologist's office. You could think that if somebody walked in there who maybe had Asian skin or Hispanic skin, they're going to do a TCA35 with no, most of the time they don't put you on a melanin inhibitor for weeks at a time. Some do.

Some do.

But a lot don't.

A lot don't.

We hear people say all the time, “They didn't tell me anything. I was just using my Retin-A,” or whatever. That's not enough. Yes, yes, it does have some inhibitory properties, but I really feel that either hydroquinone or alpha-arbutin is imperative.

That's a really strong peel where you might run into post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. Or maybe they'll do a TCA 20, that's really strong. We want you to start low and slow and work your way up.

Yeah.

I feel like that's safer. I feel like we're doing this. We're recommending the safest route for you. We're like, “No, no, no. Don't start with the 20 or the 30. Start with the 7 or the 13 and work your way up over time.”

Because you’re going to get a better peel if you're applying a lower-grade acid with more layers. It's going to get down.

It's about the layers.

It's about the layering.

Yep.

And I do feel like that is so true, and I feel like the dermatologists are terrified that they are just going to buy something and just jump in without knowing exactly what they're doing, and they're just fearful in a good way for you.

In a good way for the most part.

For the most part. Absolutely.

Understandably so.

Yeah. For sure.

Understandably.

Okay, we already talked about how some medical professionals are using our products. Many estheticians use our products and…

Yes, they do.

Doctor's offices.

We have our big fat book.

Oh my goodness, yes. Basically, it's just like you said, they kind of want to protect their business, and they're looking out for your best interests, so they think. But as long as you are educated and you're filling them in, and sometimes you don't even have to fill them in.

If you're not interested in them doing a series of peels for you, they might get a peel done at a dermatologist, then decide to maybe try something at home.

Yeah. “That was $750. I bet I can do this elsewhere,” and then they start looking, and of course, Platinum Skin Care comes up because we are like the peel.

For sure. Yeah.

We're the ones you find when you start looking for chemical peels, TCA peels. TCA peels i think, like number one all the time, but that's because we give you everything, and you're going to if that's your situation and you paid those big bucks for that peel.

Yeah.

And a lot of times, the funny thing is, and I don't know why, I don't know what brand of TCA that they happen to be using, but I have a lot of people say, “Well i had this peel done and i had like crappy results and then i bought your TCA and did it and i had great results.”

Now, I don't want to say anything bad about their TCA, but it really comes down to the percentage they use and the number of layers they apply.

How thick the layers were.

Yes, how wet that layer is. It's very possible who was putting your peel on wasn't very experienced with that acid.

Yeah. The gauze pad may have been too dry.

It’s too dry. They used cotton. Cotton sucks up the acid, but it doesn't do much. Not a lot goes on your skin; you're going to get fewer benefits, fewer results.

And you know, pre-treating is so important. It is scary when you hear somebody on the other end of the phone say they had a laser or a heavy peel and didn't have any pre-treatment. They're questioning us, like, ' What do you mean? My dermatologist didn't have me pre-treat. '

That's unfortunate.

That is unfortunate, but fortunately, you were at risk, and if you got away without PIH, hallelujah.

You got lucky. I don't care if you did five peels before. If you're coming to us and we're telling you, “You should do this,” and you don't because you just never know.

Yeah. So true.

That's the 6th peel, that 99th peel, is one of those peels you can have an issue with, and if you don't, well, hallelujah.

Yeah.

But odds are not in your favor at some point; if you're not prepping properly, you're going to run into some sort of unintended consequence.

Basically, wrap things up, don't be discouraged if you get some derogatory comments from your dermatologist or esthetician. Stand strong and be confident in your education.

And don't argue. “I appreciate all of your guidance, and I will keep that in heart as I move forward. Thank you.”

Yes.

“Okay, let's move on with my CO2 laser treatment.”

Exactly. Right. Because that is somebody a professional needs to perform. So definitely just keep on with the Peel University. Keep watching these podcasts. Keep reaching out if you have any questions.

Yes.

And we're always here to support you.

Absolutely.

They can call us at 1-800-917-3155.

Or email support@platinumskincare.com or visit us on Facebook (if you're social) at Platinum Skin Care Gurus.

Yeah.

And yeah.

That's it.

I'm sure there's more; there are other social channels, but yeah.

Reach out if you need us; we're here for you.

All right.