There I was. I had paid just under $400 dollars to get a bright, clear, zit and scar-free face. My appointment for a deep herbal skin peel had arrived. As my cognizant and trusted Russian aesthetician, Dana, glided me onto the spa bed, she warned,

There I was. I had paid just under $400 dollars to get a bright, clear, zit and scar-free face. My appointment for a deep herbal skin peel had arrived. As my cognizant and trusted Russian aesthetician, Dana, glided me onto the spa bed, she warned, "This his going to hurt a lot, you must be strong."

Seconds later I am courageously, though mentally moaning to myself, ""Jesus! Uhhh! Iiiiiiiiiii! Help! It feels like she''s rubbing glass into my face.""

"You''re doing fine… Just a few more minutes and we'll be done. Yes, it is tough to be beautiful", coached Dana.

"I am out of my body, I am out of my body. I am free. I feel easy, light… Crap! This is not working, it still hurts like hell", I whimpered to myself.

A satanic eternity later, Dana was done. And all the Heavens rejoiced in my cosmetic liberation. To all appearances, Dana took my face from scarred and acneic to blistered and tamale red in a matter of 7 minutes.

"Here, take these home and use them as I have instructed. You must do as I say or you will damage your skin and it will not look like baby new skin when you return in four days. Be extremely careful with your skin, it is very fragile now, be gentle with it. Do not scrub or wash your skin for the next three days. Use only the materials that I have given you."

Dana''s words were all I could think about in the coming hours. As I rushed home from the spa looking like a red version of the Blue Men, I congratulated myself for following through on a decision that took over a year to make.

For the next three days I avoided the sun like a bat and hid away from society. If I did have to face the sun, even just for a few seconds, I slathered my skin with a physical sun block that contained titanium oxide that Dana gave me.

Day One After the Deep Peel:

My face is no longer red. It became extremely dry. My face is like a fish out of water, scaly. I use the thick cream Dana gave me as she foretold, "Your skin will become very dry and then begin to peel off in chunks. And then you will have nice, new and beautiful skin like a baby."

Day Two After the Deep Peel:

"It has begun! It has begun!" I scream like a mad scientist. The moment I was waiting for- my skin began peeling off in chunks. I could just lightly rub my face and dry scales of skin would come off. It was amazing all day long this was happening. Scales of dry skin coming off my face. It did not hurt. It was just amazing to witness first hand.

Day Three After the Deep Peel:

More of day-two type activity. My skin is peeling like crazy. I'm a happy because I can already tell that most of my scars are gone.

Day Four After the Deep Peel:

I return to see Dana. She gives me a facial to remove the excess dead skin cells from my face. Afterwards, Dana and I are both amazed at the results. She bemoans, "I wished I had taken a before and after picture, you look completely different now. Your skin is beautiful!"

I agreed with her 150%. I had new clear skin that was as soft and firm as a newborn baby's face.

This deep peel turned out to be a hasty move on my part, because just a few months later, my skin was just as scarred with zits as it was before I started the deep peel. I realized that I needed to have my acne under control before proceeding with serious, and not to mention expensive, skin treatments. I advise the same to all. Make sure your zit break outs are few and far between before you spend your money on scar removal.

Health author and Stanford University graduate Naweko San-Joyz lovingly writes from her home in San Diego. Her works include "Acne Messages: Crack the code of your zits and say goodbye to acne" (ISBN: 0974912204) and the upcoming work "Skinny Fat Chicks, Why we're still not getting this dieting thing" (ISBN: 0974912212) for release in June of 2005. For useful acne self-help articles visit http://www.Noixia.com