Chemical peels have been credited with everything from eliminating wrinkles and acne scars to stimulating cell growth and reversing sun damage. But is there any truth to those claims, and are chemical peels safe for cancer patients? 

To separate fact from fiction, we went to Valencia Thomas, M.D., a dermatologist who serves as director of MD Anderson’s Mohs Center. Here’s what she shared. 

In 2012, my dermatologist in South Carolina noticed a bump on my cheek. A biopsy showed that I had stage IV melanoma. 

We’d heard immunotherapy had proven successful in treating certain types of melanoma. But because I had an autoimmune disease, I was not eligible for this treatment at the time. Researchers still needed to figure out how to safely administer immunotherapy to patients with autoimmune conditions.