Skin Care Review: TCA Peel

Rating
Satisfactory

Benefits
slight lightening of brown areas of skin, helped melasma; skin a little more youthful after

Drawbacks
Expensive, procedure caused burning during application, recovery time long and painful

Details
I'm 37 y.o. white female with melasma (uneven brown spots all over my face. Family and friends say it's not that noticable, but it bothers me alot. Tried the TCA chemical peel at the cosmetic surgeons since that was his recommendation after seeing my condition. The application of the TCA acid caused a burning sensation that was quite unpleasant, and my whole head ached and throbbed afterwards for about 4 days like I'd been hit in the head with a 2x4. I could only sleep lying on my back since I didn't want to squish my peeling face and it hurt too much to lye on. I missed a week of work because of the recovery time, even if I could have endured the pain, my peeling skin made me look like a monster and I could not go out in public. The doctor does not know what caused the melasma originally. Overall I'm glad I had the peel done, though I did not receive dramatic results, it helped a little with the melasma, it gave me slight lightening of the brown areas.

Conclusions
The TCA peel did help my melasma a little, so I suppose it was worth doing.

Price (paid by reviewer)
$750.00

Where to find it
Cosmetic surgeon