Hey Maxx I wanted to get your input on something before I progressed any further with my routine.

I remember you made a topic about how mild acids can thicken skin over time..and that is one of my main goals here.

However can the 20 and 40% lactic peels set me
Back or will they too in the long run, thicken the skin?

Thanks

Dave it was from a book called "Cosmetic Dermatology Principles". I found it online through Google books: http://books.google.com/books

What I typed in was: Studies on Peels and collagen. When I went to the Bookmark it shows "text unavailable".

There are many books on Dermatology available though the Google site and you can find specific topics through the search engine.

I'll answer the question in the next post.

In the study they applied 5% AHA Glycolic acid with 3.5 pH to participants forearms twice per day.

By month 9 they had achieved maximum benefits. With an average increase of 40% skin thickness.

They did not test Lactic or Salicylic but they speculate those would work in a similar manner.

Maybe Dr. Pickart could elaborate on how that translates or correlates with the Skin Biology Acids.

I know also from reading. 2% BHA and 10% AHA along with a 3.5 or higher are safe for daily use, since they do not remove healthy skin. In other words they do not thin the skin. All Skin Biology acids would meet those parameters.

Stronger acids on the other hand do temporarily thin the skin. Since they remove some healthy tissue. But they are often required to remove damaged tissues.

So when removing damaged tissue the stronger acids may be a temporary "necessary evil"

Stronger acids are generally used in a series of 6-8 peels scheduled about 14 days apart. Then the skin is rested from strong acids for about 6 weeks. Then if needed another series is started.

After that they really are not necessary unless more damage surfaces.

What my Esthetician does on herself is 2 stronger peels in October to remove any minor accumulated damage. Then maintains the rest of the year with mild leave on acids.

Thanks Maxx as always for the good info

I just have one more question, whats the nature of the thin skin caused by the stronger peels..by that I mean is it remain thin until you are able to build it up with cps again? or is it thin for a couple of days until new better skin comes back and rethickens it?

From my experience. It will remain thinner through the whole series of peels.

With each successive peel, properly spaced, you are getting a little deeper into the scar tissue. Your also removing a little healthy tissue with each peel.

The healthy tissue will thicken some between peels as will the scar tissue. But we don't want to wait too long between peels or we are back where we started.

So yes it will remain thin during the process an might thin a little with each peel.

But once we are done with the series of 6-8 the tissue will return to normal thickness during the 6 week break. The scar tissue won't since much or all of it has been removed.

The skin does look good during the series but it still won't achieve maximum thickness until after the series is discontinued.

Last year I stopped all Strong peels in late May and did not restart until October. The scars did not improve. But they did not go backward. So you can reach a stopping point. Take a nice break then pick up where you left off. At least that has been my experience.

Thanks Maxx
and wow I am glad I asked this..my facial skin was thinned not only by accutane but also by doxycycline..even doing srcps and emu and mild acids for more than a year now..it is still pretty thin, granted much better than before.

With this new info I think I'm going to hang up the peels for a while now and stick to my old regimine of super cp and lacsal, however I'm going to add the dermaroller weekly and hopefully I can take out some scars like this..like you said, if the dermaroller breaks the zone of stasis then lacsal should be able to be effective

Sounds like a plan. Your making nice progress with just Lacsal. Add a roller, see how it goes over the Summer, then go from there.