In the 1920's, lay people were using different acids to perform peels on Hollywood celebrities. Eventually plastic surgeons heard of the remarkable improvements the "lay peelers" were getting with their secretive techniques and tried to recreate the formula.
After an interesting history trying to convince the lay peelers to reveal their formulas to plastic surgeons, a version of one of the lay peelers formula was developed by a plastic surgeon. Even though this peel offered remarkable results (there was no other modality to address the textural changes of the skin before this) the peel was not yet perfected.
This formula remained unchanged for more than 40 years.
In the 1990's, Dr. Gregory P. Hetter, a plastic surgeon from Las Vegas had the vision to question conventional thinking and studied the standard formula. Dr. Hetter's experiments resulted in an improvement in the formula which fundamentally changed the peel.
This new peel was effective and versatile and could be tailored to meet individual patient needs. Dr.Hetter published his great work in the peer reviewed journal "Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery" in 2000, ushering in a new era of chemical peeling.
