Question: What is chemical peel frosting? Is it safe?
Answer:
Frosting is when parts of your skin turn white during a chemical peel, as the surface of your skin is exfoliated away by the acid. It doesn't happen for glycolic acid or lactic acid peels, but for deeper peels such as TCA peels. Even then, frosting usually only occurs during strong TCA peels (15% or higher) or layered peels.
It's a bit hard to imagine, so here's a picture of frosting (and my very red skin) during a one layer 15% TCA peel:
Frosting from a chemical peel
Frosting may look really scary, but it is normal for medium depth peels. Places where your skin frosts will also be the places where you will peel (and brown) the most.
When frosting occurs, the chemical peel is usually immediately neutralized (with water or a prepared solution) so it doesn't damage your skin.
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