Don’t eat the brown acid!

[MrsAxilla]

Do you like my title?  Lol!

I need help.  I’m having symptoms of over-exfoliation/acid burn, but I can’t pinpoint the culprit or fix it with my moisture layers.  Basically, I have elephant skin in my muzzle area.  No, that’s not dirty!!  Elephant skin looks like elephant skin until it flakes off in nimpressive chunks, and my muzzle area is around the nose, mouth and chin.  It doesn’t help that I have the winter snots and am blowing a lot.

I’m being super gentle with the acids and interspersing with total moisture days, so this schedule is loose -rX tret every 2nd or 3rd night; stridex in the red box and the ordinary 10% aha once or twice a week; timeless vit C every am.  I’ve done the ordinary aha/BHA peel maybe once a month.  Nothing here is new or crazy so why is my muzzle all elephant skin??

[ElizabethBennet]

I would go off the acids completely while it clears up. What are you moisturizing with?

[NewOrleans]

is it red? Flaky? Scaly? Any bumps under the dry skin? I get perioral dermatitis and wouldn't describe it as elephant skin, but before I knew what it was I would try to exfoliate it with Clarisonic or BHA which would make it very angry. It's a skin condition that goes exactly where you describe it.

When I get it, it's only on the sides of my chin, but some people get it up around their nose or the laugh lines like in this picture. www.aocd.org/?page=PerioralDermatitis

The only thing that makes it go away is a month of nasty antibiotics. 

I would stop all products on my chin completely and save the tret for only the tops of my cheeks and forehead for a couple weeks and see if it comes down.  If not, then at least you did exactly what a dermatologist would tell you and so you can see one and say you've already tried zero therapy. 

[mrsukyankee]

Winter and dehydration can make your acids work differently and your skin respond differently, especially if you have a winter cold. Stop all acids and work on bringing back your barrier. I'd use oils and moisturizer in mad quantities.

[MrsAxilla]

NewOrleans - no, it's not that, thank goodness. That sounds like no fun.

Do you think it could be the vit c? I know it's technically an acid, but I didn't think it exfoliates. I'm using lots of moisture layers, sometimes all at once, lol - mizon aqua berry toner, cosrx 95 snail essence, ordinary buffet and hyaluronic acid, scinic all in one honey propolis ampoule, cerave moisturizer, squalane and rose hip oil, etude house honey something sleeping pack, plus sheet masks almost every night.

[ElizabethBennet]

Jan 30, 2018 11:25:35 GMT -5 MrsAxilla said:

NewOrleans - no, it's not that, thank goodness. That sounds like no fun.

Do you think it could be the vit c? I know it's technically an acid, but I didn't think it exfoliates. I'm using lots of moisture layers, sometimes all at once, lol - mizon aqua berry toner, cosrx 95 snail essence, ordinary buffet and hyaluronic acid, scinic all in one honey propolis ampoule, cerave moisturizer, squalane and rose hip oil, etude house honey something sleeping pack, plus sheet masks almost every night.

It could definitely be the vit c. I know for me I can’t use it daily or it makes me super itchy. I use twice a week, tops.

[tiramisu]

It could be any number of things. When my skin freaks out like that I drop all the really active stuff and stick to moisture, gentle antioxidants, and protection. I've had bumps all over my face from using too many actives. Your face might just need a break.

[mrsukyankee]

It may be that it's just too many acids for your face. Things like this can go from perfectly fine to NOPE as your skin barrier breaks down over time. I would definitely get rid of the acid for now, rebuild your skin barrier and then very, very slowly add one acid back at a time.

[bluestreet]

I’d quit the stridex, aha, and aha/bha peel. If after a week you’re not seeing any improvement, I’d quit the tret. Give your face a month to recover.

[pantsparty]

I would cut back on all acids for about a couple of weeks and then reintroduce one by one. In the meantime, I'd use a heavy moisturizer like Cetaphil or CeraVe Healing Ointment. It sounds like you're using a lot of exfoliating treatments, and it just may be too much for your skin.

[SallyJ]

Mine did this about a month ago. I stopped all acids and actives and masks. Only washing and adding extra moisture am and pm. After 2 weeks my skin looked healthy again and I started AHA/BHA once a week and now only do them twice a week. I have yet to add alpha lipoic acid, Vit C, or my clay mask back in.