Search for chemical peels and you will find a great many pages inviting you to identify your skin type and then select a peel accordingly. Dry skin gets this one, oily skin gets that one, sensitive skin gets a lighter version of both.
It reads as helpful and it is close to useless, for one straightforward reason. The information those pages ask you to supply is the information they cannot verify, and the decision they hand you is the one that requires seeing your skin.
This guide takes the other route. It explains what actually goes into selecting a peel, so you understand the reasoning behind the recommendation you are given rather than arriving with one you made yourself.
The acid does more of the work than the number
At Enrich Aesthetics, Kirsty works primarily with two acids, and they are not two strengths of the same thing.
Lactic acid is a larger molecule than glycolic acid. That size means it tends not to penetrate as deeply and is less likely to irritate, and it hydrates while it exfoliates rather than stripping as it goes. That combination makes it useful where the barrier is already compromised or the skin is reactive.
Salicylic acid is oil-soluble. That single property changes where it can act, because it moves into the pore itself rather than working only across the surface. For congestion, blackheads and acne-prone skin it does something the other cannot, and it remains useful at low concentrations on more sensitive skin.
So the first question is not how strong, it is which one and why. A more concentrated version of the wrong acid is not a step forward.
Which acid Kirsty reaches for, and at what strength, is a decision made after looking at your skin, rather than a default applied to everyone who books a peel.
What is actually being assessed
The consultation covers considerably more than the concern you booked about.
- The concern itself, and what is causing it. Texture, congestion, pigmentation and fine surface lines all present differently and do not always come from where they appear to
- Skin thickness, oil levels and current barrier function. A barrier that is already struggling changes what is possible this month
- Your skin tone, and how it responds to injury. Covered properly below
- Your medical history. Recent isotretinoin use, active cold sores, broken skin and pregnancy all change the conversation
- What you are using at home right now. Retinoids and acids in a routine usually need pausing beforehand, and this is where people most often omit something
- Whether you have peeled before, and what happened. Your own history is better evidence than any general rule
- Sun exposure, recent and ongoing. Which around here is rarely negligible
Several of those are things you cannot supply from memory in a form. That is why the assessment happens in a room.
Skin tone, stated properly
Darker skin tones, including Asian, Middle Eastern, African and Southern European skin, carry a higher risk of post-inflammatory pigmentation. When skin in that range is inflamed, whether by a treatment, a breakout or an injury, it can respond by producing pigment, and that pigment can take considerably longer to resolve than the original concern.
This is the point at which a lot of clinic pages either say nothing or say something absolute.
Neither is right. It is not a reason to avoid peels, and it is not something to wave through. It is a reason for a more cautious, staged approach with the acid, the strength and the interval chosen for that risk, and for that judgement to be made by someone looking at your skin rather than by a paragraph on a website.
If you have pigmentation as your primary concern rather than as a risk to manage, the guide to pigmentation and melasma covers how that assessment differs.
Why starting lower is the strategy, not the timid version
There are four levels at Enrich, and most people begin below the top of them.
That is not caution for its own sake. A single strong peel performed under medical supervision can address a concern in one session, but for most people a series of six to eight peels spaced fortnightly to monthly produces a more controlled result than one aggressive treatment.
The reason is that a series gives you information. Kirsty recommends a starting strength, watches how your skin responds to it, and builds from there. A treatment that overshoots what your skin was ready for does not just fail to help. It can cost you weeks of settling irritation or pigmentation before anything else can be attempted, which is slower than the route that looked slower.
Level 1 is $99, level 2 is $120 and level 3 is $140, each a 30 minute appointment. Level 4 is a high-potency glycolic peel requiring specific skincare bought and used beforehand, so it is discussed at consultation rather than booked from a price list.
The chemical peels page sets out the levels in full.
Bring your actual routine, not your ideal one
The single most useful thing you can do before a consultation is write down what you genuinely put on your face, including the things you use occasionally and the ones you started last week because of a video.
Retinoids, exfoliating acids, vitamin C, prescription creams, cleansing brushes, scrubs. All of it changes what your skin will tolerate, and several of them need pausing before a peel for a period that depends on the peel and on the product.
People routinely omit the item that matters most, usually because they do not think of it as active. Bring the list.
When the answer is not a peel yet
Sometimes the assessment finds that the skin in front of Kirsty is not in a state to be peeled this month.
A compromised barrier, active inflammation, recent sun exposure or a medication that changes how skin heals are all reasons to do something else first. Occasionally the something else is skincare and time rather than a treatment, and there is a guide on a dry or compromised barrier that covers what that period involves.
Being told to wait is a legitimate outcome of a consultation, and it is a cheaper one than a peel that sets you back.
About this clinic
Enrich Aesthetics is a single-practitioner, nurse-led clinic at 22 French Rd, Wangi Wangi, on the western side of Lake Macquarie. The nurse who assesses you is the nurse who treats you, which matters more than usual for a treatment built on adjusting to your response.
Kirsty Neagle is a Registered Nurse (Division 1) holding general registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, AHPRA registration NMW0001646562, verifiable on the public AHPRA register.
Appointments run 9am to 5pm Monday to Saturday, closing at 3pm on Thursdays. The clinic is appointment-only. Clients travel in from Toronto, Rathmines, Fennell Bay, Morisset, Warners Bay, Belmont and across Newcastle.
The short version
The acid matters as much as the number, and both are chosen after looking at your skin rather than before.
Skin tone changes the approach. Your home routine changes what is possible. Your own history with peels is better evidence than any general rule about skin types. And starting lower and building is how the series produces a controlled result, not a way of holding back the real treatment.
Come with the concern and the routine. Leave the level to the assessment.
This guide is general education. It is not medical advice, and it does not replace an in-person consultation.
