Why Your Skin is Not Peeling After a Chemical Peel & What to Do

One of the things that we expect to see after a chemical peel is the actual, satisfying peeling off our skin. However, in some cases, this either takes longer than we expect, happens much less dramatically than we expect, or not at all.

Now in this article, we are going to share with you 5 reasons why your skin is not peeling after a chemical and what you can do.

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Why Your Skin Is Not Peeling After a Chemical Peel

1- You Do Not Actually Need to Visibly Peel

You don’t always have to actually peel after a chemical peel to see the benefits of the procedure. The visible peeling is just a side effect and the actual ‘peeling’ is already happening at the cellular level.

This means that even though your skin might not be visible peeling doesn’t mean the peel isn’t working – the new skin that is produced at a cellular level tends to be stronger and healthier.

Many people will even stop experiencing visible peeling after a few peels have been done on their skin.

2- The Peel Was Not Deep Enough

A major determinant of how much flaking and visible peeling will occur is the strength of the chemical being used. The strength of the chemical will determine how deeply through the skin the exfoliation takes place.

The deeper the peel is the more visible peeling will occur.

3- Incorrect Preparation & Application of the Peeling Solution

Your solution could either be diluted too much or not applied properly (for too short a time). In either case, the skin will not be affected enough to start shedding skin cells and peeling will not occur.

4- Skin Type and Genetics

Your doctor is supposed to assess and discuss with you what your skin type is based on the classification system that they use. The common one is the Fitzpatrick classification.

Depending on what your skin type is, they will determine which chemical peel will be most beneficial for you. The level of visible peeling you experience will depend on how your skin reacts to the treatment.

Some people simply do not visibly peel after a chemical peel regardless of their specific skin type. This can be attributed to genetics.

5- Improper Skin Prep

One of the things that can affect the way your skin reacts to a chemical peel is the way that your skin was prepped for the procedure.

If your skin was not prepped properly the chemical peel could either not work or be overly harsh on the skin causing a bad reaction instead of a peel. You can click here to read more about bad reactions to chemical peels.

Should You Get Another Peel If Your Skin Is Not Peeling

It is not advisable that you repeat the chemical peel right away if you do not see visible peeling. As stated earlier the treatment could still be working even if we cannot see it. The best thing to do would be to speak to your doctor. Citations:

How to Make Your Skin Peel After a Chemical Peel

You can click here to read my 10 tips on how to speed up the peeling process after a chemical peel.