VI Peel®

VI Peel is a chemical peel solution applied in an office setting by a licensed medical or aesthetic professional, not something a patient uses at home. Chemical peels work by applying a blend of acids to the skin so that the outer, sun-damaged or unevenly pigmented layers lift away over the following days, which is intended to reveal smoother-looking skin underneath. According to the company, the Vitality Institute was founded in 2005 by Dr. Abdala Khalil, an emergency-room physician who first mixed the formula for his daughter Marya, who had hormonal acne, at a time when many peels were considered risky to use on darker skin tones. Its published formula includes trichloroacetic acid, salicylic acid, phenol, tretinoin (a vitamin A derivative), and vitamin C, along with numbing agents for comfort; some versions used for pigment concerns add hydroquinone or kojic acid. VI Peel is sold and applied as a professional-use cosmetic/procedure product; it is not itself an FDA-approved drug or an FDA-cleared medical device, though individual ingredients in it, such as tretinoin, are separately regulated as prescription drug ingredients when sold as standalone products. After Dr. Khalil's death, his daughter Marya Khalil became the company's president and CEO.