Multiple light chemical peels on a regular basis can reap many of the rewards of medium strength peels but the rewards are more gradual and take place over a long period of time. Not everyone has a week to 10 days to recover from a 35%+ chemical peel but the good news is that many of the same benefits can be achieved with multiple applications of lighter peels over a longer duration. Lighter peels require little to no healing time and while the results are less dramatic they can be very beneficial and help your skin in the long run. Darker skinned individuals are usually recommended to stick with lighter peels because increased pigmentation can occur with sun exposure. If you have darker skinned it is recommended to use sunscreen religiously after a peel and bleaching creams like mequinol after it is healed to prevent discoloration.
For a fair skinned person a medium depth TCA Peel of around a 35% strength can do wonders in getting rid of fine lines and wrinkles but this requires around a week of healing time and protecting one’s self from the sun. Lighter solutions can help with wrinkles over time but you’re probably not going to achieve as good of results as you would with a single medium depth TCA peel. The lighter peeling solutions just don’t penetrate as deeply to take care of wrinkles and fine lines like a medium depth peel does. Dermatologists often perform medium depth peels and then use lighter peels to maintain the rewards of the deeper peel.
The benefits of lighter peels are much more gradual but with continued use over time you can reap many of the rewards of a deeper peel. Light peels are an effective exfoliant and can help shed old cells, lighten blemishes, and like a deeper peel they increase the production of collagen and elastin. One of the main causes of wrinkles are reduced levels of collagen and elastin within the skin. A series of lighter peels on a regular basis will help minimize and treat your wrinkles but probably not as effectively as a single medium depth TCA peel would due to the deeper penetration. But the benefit of little to no healing time with lighter peels is definitely a plus for many people.