A year ago I had a fruit acid peel done in Johannesburg by a woman named Kajal, who is a beauty therapist; she was renting a room behind the company called The Firm. She is an independent therapist working for herself.

The product she applied onto my face burnt straightaway; she did not check if my skin was sensitive to the product. I mentioned to her that my face felt like it was on fire but it didn't mean much to her. The reason for me seeing her, for the first time and it was the first fruit acid peel I had, was because I wanted a clearer skin. I have never had a bad skin. According to a therapist I saw in Cape Townwho mentioned that my skin was dehydrated, reddish and it had pigmentation marks but these were only visible through a digital facial analysis woodlamp. I had the facial analysis done and I was told that having a fruit acid peel would minimise the pigmentation marks and redness on the skin and it would strenghten the acid mantle. The so callled 'problem skin' that I had was not noticeable at all in normal light and other than my skin feeling dry I never had to wear make up because my skin was clear.

I had the thought that I should try this fruit acid peel and I thought I would have it done in Johannesburg as I was going to see family and I knew of this woman Kajal. I thought it was safe to trust her. When I had the treatment done my skin was burning and it was very unpleasant. My skin was still burning as I left and it felt extremely raw and sensitive. She did not mention what I should do other than to stay out of the sun; she did not advise me not to put anything on my skin to stop the agitation and burning . I noticed that marks were starting to show, marks which at first were only visible through the woodlamp. Now one could see them with the naked eye. It looked terrible like burn marks on my skin, everything turned black. I panicked and I phoned her to say that she had ruined my skin and I thought applying cream would help the burning but it made it worse. I was devistated. I thought that I would receive better customer service and she would advise me on what I should do but she did not. She mentioned that it would clear up.

A year later my skin is completely blemished and scarred as depicted on the photos below. I contacted her in Johannesburg as I reside in Cape Town and I told her that my skin has not healed and the cream Regime was not healing the scars! I was so upset that I demanded my money back because it was time that I saw a dermatologist, that's how desperate I was. I waited a year because I was using the scar repair cream from Regime and I thought that if I just continue it would clear up. But when the cream ran out I just thought that she must have burnt through many layers of my skin. As I mentioned I have never had a bad skin, ever and all of a sudden my skin broke out in deep seated, pussy painful pimples. I tried to contact her but she would not get back to me. I had to see another therapist in Cape Town who helped remove most of the pimples but my skin was ruined. All because of one incompetent therapist who did not test my skin and she did not advise me on how to proceed after the treatment. I am not sure why my skin broke out in such a terrible way but it happened straight after the treatment.

All I wanted was someone to assist and advise me on what to do with the pigmentation marks and deep seated pimples. When I phoned her she was not interested in refunding me or helping me to see someone who could help me treat my skin. She has not taken responsibility for damaging my skin which I find completely unprofessional and irresponsible. I told her that I would have to see a dermatologist because of her incompetence and lack of care for her clients.

The photos were taken a year later and the damage is still clearly noticeable in normal light!

I just need closure on this because it has really ruined my life. Our face is an image we project daily and there is no worse feeling than feeling uncomfortable in your own skin. I feel so wronged because all she had to do was take responsibility for her actions. Now I have a scarred and damaged skin while she continues to see clients and she could be doing the same to them. I have seen therapists and spent so much money on creams to help heal my skin but I am absolutely fed up. All I have to say is that Kajal is unprofessional, incompetent, untrustworthy and she lacks business skills. She does not know the definition of customer service and I would definitely NOT recommend her to anyone! I have no idea if my skin will clear up completely and how long it will take but I hope that she will one day take responsibility for her negligence and incompetence!