Hexapeptide-9 is a peptide which in a nutshell forces skin to heal itself. It plays the role of a messenger that quickly triggers the skin into regeneration of its damaged cells.
There was an experiment done by the makers of Hexapeptide-9 on a DEAD piece of skin. They ripped the skin, to simulate the damage done to cells during an injury like repeated acne breakouts.
The scientists applied Hexapeptide-9 1 time, and left it on the dead skin for 72 hours. This is the image from the experiment, as seen through a microscope. Remember, this was on dead skin, so imagine well it can work on live skin.