If you’re ready to get serious about your skin, you don’t need to spend time and money on gimmicks and trends. You need serious products that give you a serious transformation. And that’s where daily progressive exfoliation comes in. After 180,000 patient visits and over 100,000 in-office peels, Dr. Schultz has formulated and perfected an exfoliant you can trust to give you the results you want. He’s taken four decades of experience and poured it into his proprietary, patient-proven daily exfoliant: Tetrafoliant®—and he’s taken the guesswork out of revealing youthful-looking skin. So why is exfoliation the key to looking younger, and how can you use it at home? Read on for the breakdown of why daily exfoliation is the smart skin care habit that takes ten years off the appearance of your skin as well as how to get that youthful, bright, even glow effortlessly from the comfort of your own home.

What is Exfoliation?

Exfoliation is the process of removing dead skin cells from the surface of your skin. As you age, dead cells begin to pile up on your skin’s surface to form mounds. These mounds are part of what create the color, texture, and contour issues that make your skin look older. You have the option to physically or chemically exfoliate, but choosing a chemical exfoliant is definitely your best bet. Dr. Schultz explains, “Physical exfoliation works just like sandpaper by removing [dead skin cells] from the surface by rubbing. Chemical exfoliation works safely and effectively by gently dissolving the glue between the cells so that they fall off sooner.” Watch this video to get Dr. Schultz’s explanation of why daily exfoliation is essential for younger looking skin:

What Does Exfoliation Do?

Everybody understands the age-related issues like lines, wrinkles, and creases, but interestingly those issues only account for 5% of the skin aging you’re seeing in the mirror. The other 95% is the combination of color and texture issues. Color issues are discolorations like reds and browns in your skin’s complexion. The reds can be due to either broken capillaries or red blotches. The browns can be individual brown spots like age spots, liver spots, or even brown blotches on your face. And then we have the all-important texture issues. Texture issues rob your skin of brightness and luster, causing it to be dull, matte, flakey, and large-pored. They also end up taking away from the smoothness of the skin.

Exfoliation helps with all of those issues above, from lines to texture to color. And according to Dr. Schultz, there are five reasons his proprietary formula Tetrafoliant® is the gold standard of all chemical exfoliants. He says, “First, it’s unsurpassed in its efficacy. It just works. Second, it provides both consistent and predictable results. Third, this formula is extremely versatile and can treat an array of skin conditions ailing you. Fourth, it has been chemically ‘tweaked’ to both maximize its efficacy and minimize irritation at the same time. And lastly, and most importantly, it has unparalleled patient satisfaction.” Dr. Schultz recommends Tetrafoliant® to all of his patients because it’s effective and non-irritating, and his patients fall in love with their results.

Exfoliation for Anti-Aging

Good color and texture are vital components of younger-looking skin. But surface cells, which are supposed to fall off every 28 days, don’t always follow directions: some dead cells stay put on your skin, eventually clumping together to cause a rough, older-looking texture. Think stucco or sandpaper. These clumps can also contain too much brown pigment, resulting in brown spots or an uneven tone. The use of Tetrafoliant® on a daily basis will help remove those rough patches, smooth the surface, and even out the tone of your skin, making it look better, younger, and healthier. By removing the dead skin cells that haven’t fallen off on their own, exfoliants help restore the luster and brightness of your skin that have been hiding all along.

Exfoliation for Wrinkles

With regular use, exfoliation can help smooth fine lines and wrinkles, even those around the delicate eye area. But make sure that if you are exfoliating around your eyes, you’re using a gentle exfoliating eye cream. The eye cream itself should be easy to control to make sure you’re putting it exactly where you want it, and the exfoliating ingredient should be potent enough to reduce the look of fine lines, but gentle enough for your eye area’s sensitive skin.

Exfoliation for Clogged Pores

Part of what makes your skin appear older comes from the excess oil clogging your pores and causing your skin to lose its fresh look. But with regular exfoliation, you can remove the buildup of excess oil and dead skin cells clogging your pores, both of which lead to discoloration and texture issues that make you look older. Just as exfoliants help to transform uneven tone by removing clumps with too much brown pigment, exfoliating products can also help prevent the buildup of oil and dead skin cells so you can bring back the glow of your youth (without bringing back the excess oil of your youth).

Exfoliation for Acne

You may have successfully gotten rid of your acne, but now you have a dark spot to remind you of where your pimple used to be. Exfoliation can help treat those dark spots that acne leaves behind. Dr. Schultz recommends Tetrafoliant® as a chemical exfoliant, saying, “The reason you need the exfoliant is to take off the dead cells that are holding too much brown pigment that’s already been formed.” Less brown pigment means fewer dark spots that make your skin look older.

Exfoliation for Pigmentation

As mentioned above, brown pigment gets trapped in dead skin cells, and those dead skin cells will form mounds on your face as you get older, leading to discoloration. Exfoliation is key in reducing that brown pigmentation because it gets rid of the dead skin cells, thereby getting rid of the brown pigment trapped within them.

Exfoliation for Dry Skin

You may think exfoliation is only good if you have oily skin, but the truth is, any skin type can successfully use exfoliation in their routine. If you have dry skin, that simply means that your skin needs more water and you should use a moisturizer in the areas that feel taut and rough from dryness. However, exfoliating will not only eliminate excess oil, but will also smooth the surface of your skin, help to reduce fine lines, and even out your tone. So there’s no reason not to get those benefits from exfoliation, even if you have dry skin.

Best Products for Exfoliation

As you understand by now, when you exfoliate, you're removing the dead skin cells that form clumps and mounds on your skin. Those mounds cause unevenness, dullness, and roughness, but once you get rid of that buildup, your beautiful, smooth skin can shine through. And revealing that fresh, clean skin means that every other anti-aging product you use will work even better because it can be absorbed more effectively into your skin. It doesn't stop there either—even your makeup will apply easier and you'll get what Dr. Schultz calls that "airbrushed" finish. Read on to find the right exfoliating product for you:

Exfoliating Cream

As we mentioned above, it’s absolutely possible to use exfoliating cream on your eye area’s delicate skin, but make sure it’s a gentle one. Using a gentle but potent formula like our Gentle Exfoliating Eye Cream can yield incredible results. In fact, after a consumer study, 97% of participants said their face appeared overall more youthful. This eye cream is enhanced with REGU®-AGE, which is an ingredient clinically proven to reduce under eye circles.

Exfoliating Peels

With our next-generation AHA/BHA exfoliating complex, evolved from the feedback of two decades of in-office peels, this Peel Solution gives you the smooth, soft, firm looking skin you’ll love. It’s potent enough to give you incredible results, but gentle enough for nightly use—which is essential to see transformative results—without any irritating side effects.

Exfoliating Pads

Once you’ve gotten used to the Tetrafoliant® 8% Peel Solution, it’s time to try our exfoliating pads. These are a 10% solution, so they’re not a starter strength and should only be used after your skin has adjusted to the 8% peel. Advanced strength 10% glycolic exfoliating pads accelerate rejuvenation by brightening and clarifying dull skin, while evening skin texture and tone with dual-acting chemical plus physical exfoliation.

Your At-Home Regimen

Start your exfoliating regimen by adding an 8% exfoliating serum to your nightly routine right after cleansing and toning. After a few weeks, gradually progress to the stronger 10% exfoliating pads. And after a few more weeks, you’ll finally use a 15% exfoliating cream. Use these products every single day, but only at night. After just two weeks, you’ll see an incredible difference in your skin.