This is reconstructed from the manufacturer's patient instructions. It is what the company tells people to expect, not a measurement from a study.
Day 1 — the appointment. The peel is applied in the clinic and left on your skin. You go home wearing it. No makeup and no other topical products go on for the first 4 hours. Skin usually looks slightly red and feels tight, and may take on a tanned appearance. Nothing is peeling.
Day 2 — the quiet day. Tightness, dryness, a darker or bronzed look, sometimes mild itching. Still no real peeling for most people, though the skin around the mouth may start to look finely crinkled. The post-care products begin.
Day 3 — peeling usually starts. It typically begins around the mouth and chin.
Days 4 to 5 — the peak. Sheeting spreads across the cheeks and forehead. This is the most visible stage.
Day 6 — subsiding. Most of the shedding is done.
Day 7 — generally complete. Redness settling. The manufacturer calls this the "full exfoliation week."
Timing varies between people. Some peel a day earlier, some a day or two later, and some peel for longer than four days. Peeling that starts late is not a sign that the peel failed.
Body peels run on a different clock: shedding begins on day 5 to 7 and lasts about 4 to 5 days.
Tightness is the most common report. The skin feels stiff and slightly small for your face, particularly when you smile or yawn.
Darkening is the one that worries people most, and it is expected. Skin often looks bronzed, tanned or dull, and some people describe it as looking dirty or unwashed. This is the treated surface layer drying out before it lifts. It is not a burn and it is not permanent pigment. It goes when the layer goes.
Dryness and mild itching are usual.
Fine crinkling around the mouth often appears late on day 2. The perioral area is usually the first to shed because the skin moves constantly there.
Mild redness may still be present, especially at the edges of the treated area.
What you should not have on day 2 is significant pain. A peel is uncomfortable during application and tight afterward. It should not hurt more on day 2 than it did on day 1.
Do not pull the peeling skin. This is the most important line on the page. Skin lifts when the new surface beneath it is ready. Pulling a sheet that is still attached tears off skin that has not finished healing, and that is how people end up with a raw patch that turns into a lasting dark mark or, less often, a scar. If a flap is hanging loose and catching, trim it with clean, small scissors. The manufacturer's own instruction for body peels is the same: trim, do not pull.
Do not exfoliate, scrub or use a washcloth, brush or cleansing device.
Do not add your usual skincare. Retinoids, acids, vitamin C serums and scrubs all stay in the cupboard. Use only the products your provider supplied for the exfoliation week.
Do not take hot showers or steam. Cool water, gentle cleansing, patting rather than rubbing.
Do not exercise. The manufacturer says avoid it for 72 to 96 hours, and for 7 days if you are prone to hyperpigmentation. Heat and sweat during peeling can cause blistering.
Do not swim for 7 to 10 days, and avoid direct sun for 7 days.
Do wear sunscreen. SPF 50, every day. This is the single best-supported instruction in peel aftercare. The FDA has documented that alpha hydroxy acid exposure raises sensitivity to sun-induced skin reddening by about 18% and roughly doubles sensitivity to sun-induced cell damage, and recommends sun protection during use and for a week afterward. The effect is reversible once you stop.
Makeup is a common question. Under the manufacturer's instructions it is permitted once the initial 4-hour window has passed, so by day 2 it is allowed. Worth knowing: general dermatology guidance for medium and deep peels is far more conservative, suggesting makeup only after the skin has healed, at 1 to 2 weeks. The gap between those two answers most likely reflects the VI product sitting lighter than a true medium-depth peel — but because the manufacturer does not publish concentrations, that cannot be confirmed. If your skin is broken anywhere, do not put makeup on it.
Peel depth is not fixed by the product name. It depends on the acid, its concentration, the number of coats applied, how your skin was prepared beforehand, how thick your skin is, and how firmly the solution was applied. Two people treated with the same product on the same day can peel on different schedules.
Peeling that finishes around day 7 is not the same as skin that has finished healing, which is covered on the page about how long a VI Peel takes.