Current Vine

By Denise Tong

Dr. Sue DeCotiis, a Manhattan internist with a longtime interest in skin care, recently began to offer her chemical peel treatments beyond her patients to the general public—and Current Vine was one of the first outlets to know.

“It happened serendipitously,” she explains. “Patients kept asking me about their skin: brown spots, wrinkles, and so on.”

The peels she offers are alpha hydroxy acid peels, which are relatively gentle and can benefit all skin types. She starts off clients with a low-percentage peel of 30% and can go up to 70%. The process takes a matter of minutes and involves sweeping the skin with two chemically-treated cloths and wrapping up with a lotion.

“A lot of people [when they hear 'chemical peel'] might think of the old ones that are used more rarely nowadays, like trichloroacetic acid peels and phenol peels,” she says. “Those can cause a lot of burning and inflammation, and there can be tremendous downtime—someone can be down for a month with peeling and flaking. Alpha hydroxy peels have a very low incidence of side effects—maybe a little redness.”

Alpha hydroxy acids consist of glycolic acid, which is found sugar cane; citric acid, which is found in fruits; and lactic acid, which is found in sour milk and tomato juice. “Cleopatra,” notes DeCotiis, “used to use sour milk on her skin.”

These peels, she believes, are one of the best medical treatments for one’s skin. They can treat a wide range of ailments including teen and adult acne, brown spots and discolorations, fine lines, wrinkles, and sun damage. “They can even help in the very early stages of skin cancer [by allowing people to] catch growths after a peel’s exfoliation,” she adds. “They also enhance collagen production, which keeps the skin looking young, and can increase skin thickness.”

Regarding maintaining skin health on a daily basis, she recommends consuming lots of fruits and vegetables and staying hydrated if one drinks alcohol. Sunscreen application, naturally, is also a must. 

“Of course,” she notes, “[Bad skin] can be genetic.” For those who need a bit of extra help via chemical peels, she recommends starting with a series of five or six and seeing how they go. “Laser skin tightening or resurfacing treatments [are out there] and they are good treatments,” she says, “but try peels first—you can do them on an ongoing basis and they give a very good value.”

While most clients will likely be interested in having their faces treated, DeCotiis can treat other areas as well, such as the neck, décolletage, and hands. “These areas take a lot of sun,” she says. “With some people, you can tell their age by looking at these spots, even if their faces are tight with Botox!”

For more information on Dr. DeCotiis and her treatments, visit her practice’s Web site.