This group covers what is done to the skin itself rather than to muscles or facial volume: cleansing, peels, light therapy, and injectable protocols aimed at hydration and repair. They share a goal — texture, tone, clarity — and differ enormously in how far they go and what they demand from you afterwards.
Cleansing works at the surface: vacuum-assisted extraction and infusion, no downtime, useful for congestion and dullness rather than for structural change. Chemical peels go deeper by design, and depth decides everything about them — a superficial peel exfoliates the epidermis with little visible shedding, a medium-depth peel reaches the papillary dermis with a defined recovery period. LED photodynamic therapy uses light rather than injury, which makes it the gentlest option here and the one with the least dramatic result.
The injectable protocols — mesotherapy, platelet-rich plasma and exosome preparations — deliver active substances into the dermis directly. They are course-based, their results build slowly, and they need maintaining.
Not everything in this group rests on the same quality of evidence, and it is fair to say so. Peels have decades of clinical use behind them. Platelet-rich plasma has a large but inconsistent literature: pooled trials show improvement in some measures, one well-designed study found the placebo side improved almost as much as the treated side, and reviewers rate the overall evidence quality as low. Mesotherapy is a delivery technique rather than a single treatment, and the published protocols vary so widely that comparing one clinic’s result to another’s is rarely meaningful. Exosome preparations are newer still, with correspondingly less long-term data.
A doctor should tell you which category a proposed treatment falls into. Enthusiasm about a new preparation is not the same as evidence for it.
Nearly everything in this group leaves the skin more reactive to ultraviolet light for days afterwards. In this climate that is not a footnote: a peel performed on sun-exposed skin, or followed by a week without SPF, is the standard route to the pigmentation it was meant to treat. Darker phototypes carry a higher risk of post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation after any of these procedures, which is managed by conservative settings and preparation rather than by avoiding treatment altogether.
Redness, tightness and sensitivity for a few days are expected with most of these treatments; injectable protocols add bruising and small bumps at the injection points. Infection is the complication that matters most with anything that breaks the skin barrier, and it is the reason sterility and the origin of what is being injected matter more than the brand on the ampoule.
Treatments are not performed over active infection, herpes or open wounds in the area, on freshly tanned skin, or after a recent isotretinoin course until a doctor clears it. Tell the doctor about pregnancy or breastfeeding, blood-thinning medication, autoimmune and uncontrolled chronic conditions, and any history of cold sores. Do not combine a peel, laser, injectable or another procedure in the same period unless the sequence is planned by the doctor.
Call 998 — the UAE ambulance number, free and available 24 hours — or go to the nearest emergency department if you develop difficulty breathing, swelling of the face, lips or tongue, a spreading rash or fainting. Seek assessment the same day if treated skin turns white, grey or leathery, if blisters form, if pain increases rather than settling, or if pus or spreading redness appears. Firm lumps or slow-healing spots appearing weeks after an injectable treatment also need review rather than waiting.
The useful question at a consultation is not which treatment is best but what is actually driving the complaint — dehydration, congestion, pigment, texture, or an underlying condition that none of these addresses. Some skin needs a course of one thing; some needs a sequence over months; some needs a dermatologist rather than a cosmetic protocol.
Every treatment on this page is a medical procedure with its own contraindications and side effects, listed on its own page. Final suitability is determined by a clinician at an in-person assessment at MED YU MED, Bluewaters Island, Dubai.
