BACKGROUND: Trichloroacetic acid chemexfoliation has gained popularity and is widely used cosmetically. The depth of the wound caused by the various dilutions of TCA is paramount to the therapeutic efficacy. Therfore rational use of TCA chemexfoliation requires a clear understanding of the expected depth of destruction caused by a given dilution. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this stuely is to quantitate the wound deptlw produced by varying concentrations of TCA. We have stirdied takie effects of consecutive applications, occlusion and tretinoin pretreatment on wound depth in TCA clinimical peeling. METHODS: Various concentrations of TCA and distilled water were aplied to two pairs of test sites of a guinea pigs back in a uniform fashion with cotton-tip applicators and then we have measured the mean depth of epidermal necrtsis mieroscopically by using Visual Imagc Data Analysis System. RESULTS: 1. Depths of wounds createdly threre consecutive applications of 20, 35% and 50% TCA were deeper than those of wounds by a single application of TCA. 2. Depths of wounds created by application of TCA with the occlusive method were deeper than those of the open method. Therefore the effect of occlusion is to enhance the penetration of TCA. 3. Depths of wounds pretreatwi with 0.05 % tretinoin daily for 7 days are deeper than those of the control in 50% TCA chemical peeling. Therefore the effect of 0.05% retinoin pretreatment is to enhance the penetration of TCA. CONCLUSION: This study showed that consecutive applications, oeclusion and tretinoin pretreatment in TCA chemexfoliation enhance the peietration of TCA.
Animals ; Chemexfoliation* ; Guinea Pigs ; Statistics as Topic ; Tretinoin ; Trichloroacetic Acid* ; Water ; Wounds and Injuries