A client had a bad reaction to a peel and I'm not sure how to bill for the follow-up

I was doing a glycolic acid peel in my treatment room last Thursday. The client's skin looked fine during the patch test, but about five minutes into the full face application, she started complaining of a sharp, stinging pain. I stopped right away and neutralized it, but her cheeks got really red and stayed that way for two days. I told her to come back for a calming treatment, which I did for free. Now I'm stuck on whether to charge for the next appointment to get her skin back to normal. Part of me says it's my duty to fix it at no cost, but another part says I already gave a free service and my time and products have value. Has anyone else had to figure out the money side after a reaction?

3 comments

3 Comments

ward.piper24d ago

Ugh, the old 'my product burned your face' discount... I've eaten so much cost on calming serums over the years my own skin is permanently chill.

laura21124d ago

Honestly ward.piper, I started keeping sample sizes of a basic moisturizer just for those cases. It shows you care without giving away the expensive stuff, and it usually calms things down enough. That little step saved me a lot of headache and product over the years.

cooper.viola2d ago

That patch test only checks for allergies, not for how someone's skin barrier will handle the full treatment. A reaction like that is a service issue, not a product issue. You should cover the cost of fixing it until her skin is back to baseline, because the problem started under your care. Eating the cost on this one is just part of doing business right, even if it stings your wallet a little.