VI Peel
A VI Peel being applied with gauze. It is painted on in layers and left to work, and the skin peels over the following days rather than that day.
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Dermapedia / CompareProcedures
VI Peel vs TCA Peel
The VI Peel already contains TCA, so this is not two rival acids. It is a fixed branded recipe against a single acid your doctor mixes to the strength they choose. The brand gives you the same bottle every time. A plain TCA peel gives your doctor a dial, and no trial has ever compared the two.
At a glance
| The difference | VI Peel | TCA Peel |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A branded blend with five variants | One acid, mixed to a chosen strength |
| How the strength is chosen | Fixed, and the amounts are not published | Your doctor picks it |
| Downtime | Peeling from about day three | Depends on the depth reached |
TCA Peel
A TCA peel part way through. The white patches are frosting — the acid reacting with protein in the skin — and it tells the clinician how deep the peel has gone.
Side by side
The differences that matter
What it is
VI Peel
A branded blend with five variants
All five share one base: TCA, phenol, salicylic acid, retinoic acid and vitamin C. Precision Plus adds hydroquinone and kojic acid for pigment. Purify adds benzoyl peroxide and hydrocortisone for acne. You pick a variant, not a strength.
TCA Peel
One acid, mixed to a chosen strength
TCA is one of the oldest peeling agents. It is used alone, or layered over a primer such as Jessner's solution. It is self-neutralising, so nothing is rinsed off to stop it. Laying on too much is unforgiving.
How it works, illustrated
TCA Peel
How the strength is chosen
VI Peel
Fixed, and the amounts are not published
The maker lists the ingredients but not the amounts. Professional products do not have to publish them, so nobody outside the company knows the numbers.
TCA Peel
Your doctor picks it
You can ask about the concentration. A second or third coat goes deeper without changing the bottle. The doctor watches for frosting, the white film that appears on treated skin. Patchy frosting is shallow, a solid white look is deep.
How deep it goes
VI Peel
Marketed as medium-depth, not checkable
The maker has not published a depth figure. So any number a clinic gives you is a claim, not a fact.
TCA Peel
Depends on strength and number of coats
Sources do not fully agree. One calls 35 to 50 percent medium-depth, another calls 10 to 20 percent very light. Both agree above 50 percent is deep.
What the evidence shows
VI Peel
One study, 30 people, no control group
The only published study gave 30 people a VI Peel and Botox on the same day. Scores improved. With a neurotoxin in the same session and no control group, that cannot be credited to the peel.
TCA Peel
Decades of small trials
Against salicylic acid for acne, across 12 trials in 387 people, TCA showed no difference. Against a fractional laser for melasma, it came out the same.
Downtime
VI Peel
Peeling from about day three
The maker says peeling starts around day three and lasts three to four days. No exercise for 72 to 96 hours. No swimming for 7 to 10 days.
TCA Peel
Depends on the depth reached
Shallow peels settle in 3 to 5 days. Medium-depth peels take 7 to 10 days to close over, with redness for 15 to 30 days. Deep peels take 14 days or more.
Sessions
VI Peel
3 to 6 peels, 4 to 6 weeks apart
Then about 4 a year. That is the maker's protocol, not a trial result.
TCA Peel
Fewer sessions at medium depth
Shallow peels cluster at 3 to 6 sessions two weeks apart. Medium-depth peels are usually one session with a long recovery.
The at-home version
VI Peel
Not sold to the public
Clinics buy the VI Peel. You cannot, so there is no home version to compare.
TCA Peel
Sold online, and that is the problem
Bottles of TCA are sold to the public at up to 100 percent. The only brake is a trained eye watching the skin frost, and at home nobody is watching. FDA says these products "may cause severe chemical burns, pain, swelling, infection, skin color changes, and disfiguring scars."
Who tends to be happy with it
VI Peel
- Best for — Someone who wants a standard treatment, bookable anywhere the brand is sold.
- Ask before you book — Which variant, and why that one.
- The mindset — You are buying a recipe. The consistency is the product.
TCA Peel
- Best for — Someone with a specific problem and a doctor they trust to pick the strength.
- Ask before you book — What concentration, how many coats, and how long healing takes.
- The mindset — You are buying the operator's judgment more than the chemical.
Darker skin
VI Peel
For the VI Peel there are no numbers. It is marketed as safe for all skin tones, but no trial supports that. Priming the skin first with hydroquinone is worth asking about either way.
The fine print
Conditions treated
TCA Peel
Wrinkles and Fine Lines
A medium-depth peel with good evidence for fine lines, rough texture and sun-related pigment, done in a clinic with about a week of peeling afterwards. The deeper it goes the more it does and the more it risks. On deeper skin tones the strength is kept low and a test area is done first, because dark marks afterwards are common at higher strengths.
Related topic illustrations
TCA Peel
Glycolic acid peel
Strong evidence. Gentler, neutralized on a timer, essentially no downtime. Better for dullness and surface marks and much easier to repeat, with less effect on texture and deeper pigment.
1 / 3→
Microneedling
Moderate evidence. Reaches indented scars and texture with far less pigment risk, but does much less for sun spots and surface pigment. Often combined with TCA CROSS rather than chosen instead of it.
←2 / 3→
Subcision
Moderate evidence. For tethered rolling scars specifically, releasing the bands underneath. It does nothing for pigment and pairs with scar-directed TCA rather than replacing it.
←3 / 3
Common questions
Questions Patients Ask
Does the VI Peel contain TCA?
Yes. Trichloroacetic acid is the first ingredient on the manufacturer's own list, alongside phenol, retinoic acid, salicylic acid and vitamin C. So this is not one acid against another. It is a fixed branded blend that contains TCA against a peel made from TCA alone at a concentration your doctor chooses.
What strength of TCA do I need?
That depends on what you are treating and your skin, and it is your doctor's call rather than a number you should pick. Published sources band it differently: one classification calls 35 to 50 percent medium-depth and above 50 percent deep, while another calls 10 to 20 percent very light, 20 to 30 percent light, 35 percent medium and above 50 percent deep. Both agree above 50 percent is deep. Concentration is also only part of it — the number of coats, how the skin was prepped and how thick it is all change the depth reached.
Which one goes deeper?
Nobody can tell you, because the VI Peel's concentrations are not published and no trial has compared the two. The VI Peel is marketed as medium-depth, but that cannot be checked from public information. A compounded TCA peel can be set anywhere from very light to deep depending on the strength and technique chosen. Any page giving you a specific depth figure for the VI Peel is asserting something the manufacturer has not published.
Is a plain TCA peel more risky?
It has more range, which cuts both ways. TCA is self-neutralizing — it is not rinsed off to stop it — so over-application is unforgiving, and the endpoint is judged by the operator during the treatment rather than by the bottle. That means a light TCA peel can be gentler than a branded blend, and a heavy one can be considerably stronger. Pigment change is described in the complications literature as the most common complication of TCA peeling; in a split-face trial of 18 Korean women with skin types III to IV, 15 percent TCA produced post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation in 28 percent of patients at 4 weeks, which resolved in all but one by 12 weeks.
Which is better for melasma?
No trial has compared them. TCA has published melasma data and the VI Peel does not, though the results are mixed: in a split-face trial of 18 women, 15 percent TCA and a 1550 nm fractional laser performed the same at 4 and 12 weeks, with the melasma recurring by 12 weeks in both. Layering TCA over Jessner's solution beat TCA alone in a split-face trial of 24 women with Fitzpatrick IV to V skin. VI Peel's pigment variant adds hydroquinone and kojic acid, which are established lightening ingredients, but the product has no melasma trial.
Which costs more?
There is no reliable published price for either, and no source anywhere reports peel prices by depth. Branded peels have no society survey, no government data and no manufacturer list price, so any figure is a single clinic's menu. The most recent separate national figure for a chemical peel of any kind was an average surgeon fee of $519 in 2020, covering everything from a light glycolic to a deep phenol peel and excluding facility fees; reporting for treatments in this category stopped after 2023.
Is either one FDA approved?
No. FDA stated on 30 July 2024 that it "has not approved any chemical peel products, and consumers should only consider using chemical peel products under the supervision of a dermatologist or licensed and trained practitioner." No chemical peel has ever been cleared as a device either. FDA's July 2024 action was aimed at high-strength acids sold direct to consumers online, including TCA at 50 to 100 percent — not at supervised in-office treatment.
How long will I be peeling?
For the VI Peel, the manufacturer says peeling typically starts around day three and lasts three to four days. For a compounded TCA peel it depends on the strength: superficial peels settle in about 3 to 5 days, medium-depth peels take 7 to 10 days to re-epithelialize with redness that can last 15 to 30 days, and deep peels take 14 days or more.
Safety to keep in mind
No chemical peel is FDA approved, and that includes both of these. FDA said so on 30 July 2024: "The agency has not approved any chemical peel products, and consumers should only consider using chemical peel products under the supervision of a dermatologist or licensed and trained practitioner." No peel has been cleared as a device either.
Nobody reviews a peel formula before it goes on sale. FDA acts against sellers after the fact, usually over marketing claims.
FDA's July 2024 action was aimed at high-strength acid sold direct to consumers, naming TCA at 50 to 100 percent. A warning letter on 25 July 2024 to the seller Repare Skincare cited TCA peels at 15, 20, 25, 35, 50 and 100 percent. FDA's position was that these are unapproved new drugs, not that a percentage is banned.
Professional-use products are exempt from the consumer ingredient-declaration rules. That is why the VI Peel's percentages are not public.