Question for Dr. T re: Deep Peels

[freckleface]

Hi Dr. Todorov,
What happens to the epidermis with a deep Jesner's peel? Does the peel go all the way down to the dermis?
How is new eipidermis created?
I thought prevailing wisdom says to leave the skin's barrier in tact.

[drtodorov]

Jessner peel is a variant of superficial peel. You can read about those here: smartskincare.com/treatments/noninvasive/chemicalpeels.html

Indeed, if you have good skin, then generally is is best not to disrupt skin barrier too often. However, to correct certain skin defects, you sometimes may want to induce skin remodeling (e.g. via a peel or laser), which may involve disruption skin barrier as a temporary side effect.

[rina.eve]

Hello, I am reposting my question here from a seemlingly dead thread from Jan 2006.

drtodorov wrote:
If you exfoliate to the degree of chronic damage to the dermis, then, yes that may be harmful in the long run.

Dr Todorov, what kind of exfoliation can cause a chronic damage to the dermis? Well, apart from deep acid and laser peelings, which is taken for granted?
1. I have been peeling my face on a 2-3 times per week basis for a few years with facial exfoliators (like Neutrogena) and scrubbing gloves - would that damage the dermis? I certainly have damaged the stratum corneum as my skin is dull, and dry, and worn-looking now, but that seems to be a more or less reversible damage, right?
2. I am having a tretinoin (0,05% Retin-A evening + 8% AHA morning) treatment right now, trying to reverse some of the sun damage I've done to my skin through my thoughtless suntanning - my skin was irritated for a while, the first 3-4 weeks but now it is just fine, like it would be regular night/day creams. Would this treatment cause dermis damage?
3. Also, I do not understand the mechanism of Hayflick limit very well. Someone on your forum compared it to a mankind, where each person has a lifespan of about 80 years and by reproducing creates other persons with the same lifespan. Hence, the mankind is virtually "immortal". So, do I get it right that the actual mechanism of Hayflick limit (and the error of this analogy) is that actually each person with an 80-year lifespan reproduces persons with, say, a 60-year lifespan (due to telomer shortening), who, in turn, reproduce persons with a 40-year lifespan, etc. till the "mankind" gets extinct (senescent for cells)?
4. In this case, how often do dermis fibroblasts divide? And does that actually mean that the use of whatever skincare products that boast "increase in collagene and elastine reproduction" means I am wearing out my fibroblasts and therefore making their senescence - and my old-looking skin - approach? I failed to find info on this ((
I know this thread has been lifeless in a while, so I hope you see my post and reply it.