frequently asked Questions

3-5 Days Prior: Avoid facial waxing, shaving, exfoliation (physical scrubs, enzymes, acids), and Vitamin A (retinol, tretinoin, retin-A). Failure to comply will result in rescheduling your appointment. 2 Weeks Prior: No botox, filler, PDO threads or laser treatments. Failure to comply will result in rescheduling your appointment. If you are or have been on Accutane/Isotretinoin within 6 months, you will be rebooked as a Healing Bio-Tx until you've been off of Accutane/Isotretinoin for 6 months. Must not have an active cold sore/HPV outbreak on treatment area. Don't worry if you're coming to your appointment with makeup on. We do a double cleanse to remove it all anyway so come as you are!

I need to make sure your skin is prepped for the chemical peel to be safe AND effective. We need to evaluate your skin with a targeted facial treatment and prep your skin with our professional skin solutions for a minimum of two weeks before a Level 1 Chemical Peel can be administered.

Our treatments are 75-90 minutes long. They include a double cleanse, skin specific exfoliation, (extractions in the Clearing Bio-Tx), two to three advanced modalities, mask, and finishing products to hydrate and protect your skin. The treatment could be 90 minutes long if there are extensive extractions that need to be performed.

Breaking out and purging is often confused for the other. A break out is due to clogged pores becoming inflamed and infected. Purging is a result of using active ingredients on congested skin. These actives speed up cellular turnover and accelerates the pimple life cycle, bringing it to the surface to peel away. This allows the pimple to heal in less time. If you experience purging, don't panic. It's part of the process when clearing acne. Risk of purging is most common with the Clearing Bio-Tx and Chemical Peels. Rest assured, all products used at The Skin Alcove are non comedogenic and acne safe.

Skin peeling can be difficult to predict. Most people won't peel from facial treatments. Peeling from a Chemical Peel depends on the health of your skin AND the strength of the peel used. This is something to take into consideration when timing the date of your Chemical Peel.

Skin may look flushed after a chemical peel or have focal redness and/or swelling after extractions that will calm after a few hours.

You can wear mineral makeup immediately after any of the facial treatments. If you don't wear mineral makeup, it's safer for your skin to wait at least 8 hours. After a chemical peel, do not wear any makeup for the first 24 hours.