Light (superficial) depth chemical peels include the salicylic acid peels offered by Biomedic. These peels require little or no "down time" on the patients part, but generally require multiple treatments. Also, these more superficial resurfacing procedures generally do not improve wrinkling as much as deeper resurfacing treatments (eg., the "Blue Peel" or laser resurfacing). Trichloroacetic acid(TCA) peeling provides medium depth peels with both an improvement in complexion and minimizes the amount of fine wrinkling. The medium depth peel offered by Dr. Campbell is formulated by the OBAGI company. This so-called "blue peel" allows for increased control in depth of peeling and, therefore, provides for decreased side effects (particularly in darker pigmented patients).

Chemical peeling can be done as an isolated procedure or can be combined with other procedures about the head and neck. Depending upon the depth of the chemical peel, the postoperative appearance of the patient can range from slight reddening of the facial skin to a crusting on the surface of the skin with underlying redness. For this reason, patients are advised to avoid prolonged exposure to the sun for six months to one year after undergoing this procedure. When all crusting has cleared, the patient can apply sun block to the peeled areas. In addition, women should avoid estrogen replacement and oral contraceptive pills until redness clears. Patients undergoing chemical peeling will be placed on a regimen of topical treatments for several weeks before the peel. This treatment allows the peeling solution to penetrate more consistently and provides a longer lasting and more effective peel. Patients should resume topical skin care treatments in the postoperative period after the redness from the peel has cleared. Also, patients generally heal faster following any resurfacing procedure when they are on a physician-prescribed skin care program.

Patients with a history of fever blisters around the mouth should notify the physician, because chemical peeling around the mouth occasionally causes an eruption of fever blisters in the postoperative period. For this reason, patients with a history of fever blisters are usually given a prophylactic medication to help decrease this complication.

For patients with very early skin changes or for patients who desire very little down-time, Dr. Campbell offers microdermabrasion. Dr. Campbell utilizes the Dermagenesis system which employs microscopic crystals to gently ward away the outer layers of the skin. The effect is one of a refreshed appearance with little need for recovery.

Finally, laser resurfacing is a new technique in which the laser is used to vaporize the external layers of the skin in a controlled fashion to improve facial irregularities, including facial wrinkling. Dr. Campbell utilizes both the erbium and carbon dioxide lasers by Coherent to laser resurface the skin, depending upon the degree of photo aging and the desires of the patient.

These drawings illustrate the changes that can be effected to improve the contour of the skin with resurfacing procedures. Shadowing occurs as a result of the directional nature of light (arrows). Note that even those scars or wrinkles that remain are less obvious than before the procedure because of the reduction of shadowing.