Acne and acne scarring may be treated by skin peels. Generally, skin peel means quick shedding or sloughing of the upper skin layers. Dead cells are always being pushed to the surface, making skin be renewed. These dead cells can sometimes make skin be foliated. They can also result to clogging pores, leading to pimples, whiteheads, acne, blackheads, and even cysts.

There can be different ingredients in acne exfoliating products, such as exfoliating granules and chemical skin peels. Salicylic acids - a beta-hydroxy acid (or BHA) and alpha-hydroxy acid (or AHA) are the most common skin peels. Unlike peels using AHA, peels with BHA are considered to be better and have fewer negative effects and longer results.

Nevertheless, these procedures are almost the same effective against acne. If alpha-hydroxy acid is applied to one part of the skin and beta-hydroxy acid to the other part it won’t be easy to find the difference. So both types of treatment are effective in fighting with acne lesions within two weeks after, and a reduction will be seen in a month after the treatment finishing.

When skin is being exfoliated, a natural process is being sped. Using a loofah sponge, or a brush it’s easy to exfoliate body acne (acne on a chest, or bacne - back acne). To exfoliate face (acne vulgaris), there are a lot of creams and lotions to be used. Fine grains are ingredients in some of them. Also a mild acid is available in such products for peeling.

For those with any skin defects like acne, it’s necessary to consult with the doctor before any new treatment. Slow starting is also essential; it’s better to test a small skin patch to check if it’s not too sensitive.

Skin exfoliation process

Exfoliation helps the skin look better and fresher, and cope with acne. However one needs to be careful about it, because of risk to increase the amount of skin oil, which will only worsen the acne. Exfoliating the body skin, with a glove, loofah or sponge, it’s essential firstly to wet the skin. Then, gentle rubbing over the body is being done with the sponge, brush or loofah. It’s important to remember about mildness avoiding the skin irritation. For a face, there are special gentle pads which are not so rough.

If you are using a cream or lotion that contains exfoliating grains, you should first wet your skin and then apply the exfoliating cream or lotion to your skin and rub with gently circular motions. Sensitive areas of the skin should be carefully avoided.

Using Retin-A or a lotion with salicylic acid or alpha hydroxy acid skin peels, the directions should be followed. Basically, first the skin is gently cleaned, and after it the lotion is applied.

After skin peel procedure, skin should be rinsed thoroughly, and then moisten with a good product. When exfoliating the face skin, it’s better to know exactly the product is appropriate for the skin.

It’s significant not to overdo exfoliating, because this can result to skin redness and irritation. After skin peel procedure - especially by product with tretinoin or AHA’s - the skin may be more defenseless to sunburn, so it’s necessary to be sun protected using sun protective clothing or sunscreen.