After the scab fell off it left me a pinkish mark on my cheek. What can I do about it?

Hi, don't worry too much because that is quite normal. If you want the skin to look more like everything around it sooner, use a cortisone cream. Do be very diligent about using a good sun screen though, because if you don't, they new skin can darken permanently. Some people use Retin-A after a TCA peel to speed up healing as well. Basically, follow the first two steps and give it time and your skin will look fantastic in a very short amount of time. Downtime after a peel is to be expected.

What concentration TCA peel did you use? High concentrations can penetrate the deeper layers of the skin which yes, can cause scabbing. That is normal, depending on the concentration used. The scab usually falls off after a week or so, and the pink or lighter skin that you see underneath is normal too, and will return to normal in two or three weeks in most cases. Do make sure to use an SPF 30 to protect your skin every day, and if you are really worried, just go back to your clinic and ask what treatments there are to fix it (there's different creams for that) or just to be reassured that your skin is healing normally after your peel. Good luck!!!

Hiya, 

I'm usually the first person here to freak out when someone mentions chemical peels gone wrong.... that stuff really frightens me. BUT it sounds like you went and had your peel done at a salon/clinic, yeah, and didn't do the DIY thing so many people seem to be doing? Scabbing sounds scary, yeah, to be honest, but it can happen especially for higher concentrations like was already said, and for multiple layers + longer period of time having the peel on. In your place, yeah, I'd be going back to where I'd had it done in the first place to get some opinions... but in itself what you talk about don't sound particularly unusual as the after effects of a TCA peel. Don't stress it too much hon, but do get it checked out, yeah?

Hi Twilight,

You posted this 10 days ago and have not come back since? I am quite curious how you are doing now. I have heard of this — that is, new and sensitive skin in a different color popping up after peels — quite a bit. I assume that you don't have any reason to be concerned and that this is just normal downtime after a TCA peel. Nonetheless, I would like to know how you are doing now. If you are doing well, I am sure mentioning that could help people who are looking for information about scabbing and pink skin after TCA peels as well. 

Well, this happened to me too minus the scabbing. My skin just looked unusually pink and much lighter than the skin I had before. I had been warned that TCA peels involved downtime so I wasn't too worried and just kept on moisturizing and using my sunscreen. There was a happy ending :). My skin now looks fine, and this happened like three months ago. So I wouldn't worry about it one little bit. It's just what happens and perhaps even shows that the peel worked properly.

I will join the chorus of "this is normal": I did have a few TCA peels where I had quite severe scabbing. Of course it was freaking me out. It doesn't look appealing, does it? This stage can continue for week or something along those lines, give or take a few days, and after that the pink skin can be a problem for up to 8 weeks. Your pink skin will integrate with the rest of your skin soon. In the interim, please just use sunscreen whenever you go out and drink enough water. Then, you will be fine.

A cautionary tale: I applied a 50 percent TCA peel to my own skin two years ago. After the peel, which hurt like crazy, my skin started blistering and scabbing horribly and I looked like a monster. Unfortunately, I also picked at the scabs in my sleep, leading to scarring. In the end, I went to the ER where they said I had first and second degree burns. A 50 percent TCA peel is something nobody should ever do at home, that much is clear now. I made a big mistake and my skin took over a year to heal, with lighter peels at the salon following in order to get rid of the scarring and pigmentation. It cost a lot of money and I felt horrible about myself. Thankfully, my skin has now finally healed, without any traces of what happened. Whenever I see people discussing TCA peels at home, particularly 50 percent ones, I just feel I have to jump in and warn them. This is not a good idea, people. Learn from my mistake and don't do this at home.

Hahahahaha.... what can I say about this except that it sounds familiar? Well, there you go. It sounds familiar.... :) I had that after applying a too strong TCA peel on my own skin too. I used vitamin E oil and aloe vera on it daily to help healing, let it recover completely and then did two lactic acid peels to fix the pigment... well, my skin is OK now. I'll say one thing though and that is that I will never do strong peels on my skin again. I am sticking to superficial peels. One thing I will say is that I am so glad it didn't lead to scars and it was just the pigment.

Hi,

Well, it has nearly been a month and although my skin still looks slightly different than it did before, because it is a tad lighter, it actually looks a lot different now. I asked my pharmacist for a cream to speed up healing and she gave me something. I am very hopeful that my skin will look completely normal very soon. I have to say that I was not prepared for the possibility that something like this would happen and I am not going to be having any more peels any time soon. The peel has made parts of my face look a lot better, but overall the benefits did not outweigh the hassle of what happened to my skin. I wish I had known about this in advance.

Regards

Ooooh, that happened to me a few years back. It really freaked me out. I was expecting some peeling because I had been told that would happen, but when a scab appeared, a very large one at that, on one of my cheeks, I thought I was going to be disfigured for life and even ended up looking information for chemical burn victims up, because that is what happened to me. Thankfully I got some cream from my family doctor and it ended up being fine.

HELP!!! This happened to me too. After my TCA peel I started peeling like crazy and despite what they say about not "helping" the peeling along I was stupid enough to do it anyway. I think I got that going in my sleep and then finished it off in the morning with a sleepy head. The result was heavy scabbing on day seven, just as things were supposed to be getting better!!! Then I picked at the scab again in my sleep and it started bleeding. A bigger scab came. Now it's finally gone my skin where the scab was just doesn't look anywhere near the same. It's a different color altogether with subtle scarring as well. I'm feeling like such an id**t for having picked at the peeling after my TCA peel. Now I'm wondering what should I put on it to fix things up as much as possible.

Some people do very successful TCA peels at home using kits bought online. I've read their blog posts and forum posts with before and after pictures, and those before and after pictures show amazing results rather than scarring and burning. Considering how expensive TCA peels are at the salon, this is a very tempting thought. If other people can do this safely, could I as well?

And then I read threads like this one, which show that even people getting presumably professionally applied TCA peels can still end up with those side effects and I wonder... would it be really crazy to do a TCA peel, just a low strength one, at home?

What are your thoughts about this???

What if it has already turned black