I suffer from dark scars and adult acne on my cheeks and chin. The dark spot, also called hyperpigmentation, are especially bad on my cheeks. Even though I have always followed a skin care regimen, I was never able to improve my acne scars. I decided to reach out to a local aesthetician, who specializes in people of color (dark skin).

At the aesthetician's office, I received a facial, which left my skin feeling very soft. A month later, I returned to her office and had a chemical peel done. The cost per treatment is ranges from $125 to $350. The chemical peel process was so easy. The first thing the aesthetician did was clean my skin with an alcohol prep pad. The alcohol removes any oil or makeup you have on your skin. After that, she applied the 30% glycolic acid peel. She left the acid peel on my skin for a little while and it tingled while it was on my skin. The tingling stopped when she applied a moisturizing sunscreen to my face. The whole chemical peel session took 15 minutes or so.

The first and second day post peel, my skin felt tight and looked shiny. Towards the end of the second day, my skin started to crack and began flaking around my chin and mouth area. This was expected though - it's part of the peeling process. As time went on, the flaking expanded into my forehead, nose and then cheek areas. Every morning and night after my peel, I would cleanse my face with a gentle cleanser. After cleansing, I would apply a skin lightener to help fade the marks on my freshly peeled new skin. I also made sure to use SPF 50 on my face when I went out. Freshly peeled skin is more sensitive to sunlight and I didn't want to form any new dark spots.

Six days after my glycolic peel, all of my flake had subsided and my face had returned to normal. My dark spots are now noticeably lighter and my skin texture has improved. It's now smoother and my pores are tiny. I think chemical peels are a good skin treatment.

~Courtney Vick