Thank you for your question. The peel that I think you may be referring to is a TCA peel. It comes in various concentrations, and yes, it can be done to a very deep level which resurfaces the entire treated area. You need to remember that there are MANY, MANY different types of peels on the market and some are superficial, some are deep, some cause lots of peeling, some cause flaking and some of them show no signs of visible peeling at all… it really depends on what you are trying to achieve in the skin when doing a peel. So my first question to you would be, what are your concerns and what exactly are you trying to treat? TCA may not be the best solution for your particular concern. However, if it is a TCA peel you need, a few things will come into play for me to be able to answer your question:
1) The concentration of the peel will determine how much down time you have, how much you are going to peel and how severely you are going to peel.
2) The number of layers of TCA you have will also determine the depth of the peel as well as the downtime you experience.
3) In most cases (regardless of the concentration), your skin will first get dark and “pull very stiff”, and then approximately 3 days later you will start to peel. With TCA, this normally happens in very big pieces of skin as if you have had a very severe sunburn, and depending on the concentration and layers you have had… you could peel anything from 3 – 7 days (and sometimes even a bit longer).
4) You results will become evident after the skin has completely peeled and healed (so anything from 2 – 3 weeks) after you peeling is done.
5) Sometimes, depending on the degree of damage on your skin, you may require more than 1 treatment… it really all depends on WHAT you are trying to treat. Just a few marks, or sun damage or lines and wrinkles or acne marks or scarring? These would all play a role in your results, the number of peels you would need, and which concentration of TCA is to be used for your particular concern.
I hope I have answered all your questions and that this has been helpful.