Have you heard of mendelic acid and do you know what it can do for your skin? Keep reading to learn more.
What happens to your skin over time?
Over time, as your skin changes the turnover slows down. When you’re born, it takes about a month for the cells to go from the base layer of your skin to the surface. This slows down over time. As a result, you get buildup of dead skin cells on the surface of your skin. You can see this under a microscope. The effect it has on the naked eye is that your skin looks dull and you can feel an irregular texture. Exfoliation works to remove the thin layer of dead skin cells that builds up on your skin surface over time and gives your skin a dull appearance. When you exfoliate regularly, your skin will look more radiant and smoother. People notice that they don’t need as much makeup or their makeup looks better when they exfoliate.
What is mandelic acid?
Mandelic acid is a product that is used to improve the appearance of your skin. It is what’s called an alpha-hydroxy acid. Hydroxy acids such as glycolic acid, salicylic acid, and lactic acid are commonly used to exfoliate your skin. Hydroxy acids are naturally found in many foods. For example, glycolic acid comes from sugar cane, salicylic acid comes from willow bark, and lactic acid comes from milk. Mandelic acid comes from almonds. There are slight differences between each of the hydroxy acids. Unlike the other hydroxy acids, mandelic acid is a larger molecule. What this means is that it takes longer to penetrate your skin. This makes it gentler and reduces the amount of inflammation in your skin. Therefore, you see much less irritation than other hydroxy acids. So it works well for all skin types, in particular if you have sensitive skin.
What is a chemical peel?
Exfoliation of your skin can be done in many ways. You can use products like mandelic acid and other hydrdoxy acids every day as part of your daily skin care regimen. You can use physical scrubs to exfoliate. You can get microdermabrasion or laser peels to remove the dead skin cells. You can also get a chemical peel. A chemical peel is a treatment done in the office where a peeling solution such as mandelic acid, another acid, or a combination of ingredients is carefully applied to your skin. These are much stronger than the ones you use at home. These peeling solutions break the glue that holds the dead skin cells together on the surface of your skin. Over a few days, these dead skin cells slough off and your skin will look and feel better. Sometimes you’ll see visible peeling. But with gentler products such as mandelic acid, you likely won’t see any peeling gat all. This reduces your recovery time so you can resume your normal activities.
What are the benefits of a mandelic acid peel?
Mandelic acid has a lot of benefits when used as a chemical peel:
- Mandelic acid improves the texture of your skin
- Mandelic acid will lighten dark spots
- Mandelic acid will unclog pores
- Mandelic acid improves the tone of your skin
- Mandelic acid can treat acne
- Mandelic acid improves fine lines and wrinkles
- Mandelic acid gives your skin a more radiant complexion
- Mandelic acid is gentle and works for people with sensitive skin
What can be combined with a mandelic acid peel?
A mandelic acid peel is gentle and can be combined with other treatments such as Botox, IPL, or the new Instaglow Facial treatment. It takes just a few minutes, has virtually no recovery time, is comfortable, and will freshen up your look.
Dr. Alex has performed over 10,000 cosmetic treatments with many satisfied patients. Contact us to schedule an appointment for a free consultation with Dr. Alex in our Encino, CA office.