SUPERFICIAL CHEMICAL PEELING IN THE TREATMENT OF ACNE VULGARIS, FINE WRINKLES AND MELASMA: A COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN NEW AND OLD MODALITIES

Abstract

Since ancient people, physical attractiveness has been socially advantageous and resulted in perceptions of "goodness" and success as well as a sense of well-being (Engaser and 'Maibach, 1999).

There are many dysmorphic dermatoses such as acne vulgaris, pitted scars, unsightly pigmentations and signs of aging that have a significant impact on a patient's quality oflife, namely the relationship to others, self-image, self-esteem and economic opportunities ('Boehncke et al., 2002; 'Rapp et al.,2004 & 'Balkrishnan et al., 2005). Hence, there is increased demand for aesthetic information and treatments, not only for patients suffering from these dysmorphic disorders but also for those who want their appearance to match their inward perception of youth and vitality("Wilson and.ftrpey,2004 & Gordon, 2005).

Corresponding to this trend, there is an ever-increasing number of products and procedures available that claim to aid in this pursuit('Hirsch et al., 2004).These resurfacing techniques include the use of laser resurfacing, dermabrasion, microdermabrasion, jet peel and chemical peels (Golan and 'Hai ,2005; 'Karimipour et al., 2005& 'Roy,2005).

Chemical peeling is one of the facial rejuvenation procedures that have many cosmetic clinical applications such as reversal of photoaging, dyschromias, freckles, lentigens, melasma, nevi, seborrhoeic keratosis, postinflammatory hyperpigmentation and improvement of acne scars. Chemical peels may be superficial, medium depth, or deep. The indication determines to great extent the type and depth of peel necessary ('Roberts, 2004).