AHA Peel
An AHA peel, sometimes called a fruit acid peel, is a superficial exfoliating treatment that uses low concentrations of alpha hydroxy acids—such as glycolic or lactic acid—to loosen dead surface cells. In a beauty-salon (non-medical) setting it is a gentle, maintenance-oriented skin treatment, distinct from the stronger, deeper medical-grade chemical peel.
- Pore refining
- Light flaking for 2–4 days
- Beauty treatment
Overview
In a beauty-salon setting, an AHA peel is offered for everyday skin-maintenance concerns: dullness, rough texture, congestion-prone pores, oily and mildly breakout-prone skin, and faint post-acne marks. The face is the most common area, though some treatments cover the back or chest. The acids involved—glycolic, lactic, and mandelic acid among them—are alpha hydroxy acids originally derived from fruit and milk sugars, which is where the informal name comes from.
It helps to be clear about the positioning: this is a non-medical, maintenance-style treatment. Improvements are gentle, gradual, and temporary, and it cannot treat disease. Moderate-to-severe acne, pigment disorders such as melasma, and moles or other skin growths are outside its scope—mole removal in particular is a medical procedure. Medical-grade chemical peels, which use far higher acid concentrations and reach deeper skin layers, are a separate category performed by physicians in medical settings.
How it works
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