Chemical peels: A review of current practice

Chemical peels belong to a group of cutaneous resurfacing procedures that are used in the treatment of photoageing, inflammatory dermatoses, epidermal proliferations, pigmentary disorders and scarring. This review describes best current practice, highlights recent advances in chemical peel technology and discusses the recommended uses for different peel types. It also presents the results of a survey of the chemical peeling practices of 30 Australian dermatologists.     

The patient‐centered acne severity scale study

Acne is one of the most common skin conditions seen by dermatologists. As with many other cutaneous diseases, due to its visibility, acne often produces a large psychosocial impact on patients who suffer from the disease. Such psychosocial burdens are exacerbated by the variation in acne presentation that can lead to the usage of multiple different treatments before visible improvements are appreciated. Although many scales have been established to determine severity from the clinician standpoint, patient‐oriented scales are lacking. Clinicians use these severity tools to guide management and judge patient improvement from visit to visit. Creation of such a severity scale from a patient's perspective would allow patients to not only assess their perception of their acne independent of a physician but could also be used to determine patient satisfaction with treatment that would then help to more effectively guide management. Therefore the goal of this study is to create and validate a patient‐centered acne severity scale using a visual analogue scale format.     

Hidradenitis suppurativa (acne inversa): early inflammatory events at terminal follicles and at interfollicular epidermis*

Please cite this paper as: Hidradenitis suppurativa (acne inversa): early inflammatory events at terminal follicles and at interfollicular epidermis. Experimental Dermatology 2010; 19: 533–537. Abstract: Hidradenitis suppurativa (acne inversa) is a chronic suppurative and scarring inflammatory disease with predilection in the apocrine gland‐bearing areas. Histological investigations in the 1990s showed keratotic occlusion of the terminal follicle structure to be the initial cause. Our investigations describe and reproduce the morphology and try to figure out very early lesions of HS. A total of 262 operative specimens from 60 patients were investigated by routine histology and 11 operative specimens by immunohistochemistry: HS is dominated by a heterogeneous histological image. 82% of the surgical specimens showed mild or pronounced follicular hyperkeratosis, whereas an isotopic hyperplasia of follicular epithelium was evident in 77%. Pronounced perifolliculitis was seen in 68% and rupture of the follicle structure in 28%. Features which had not so far been described in detail were: epidermal psoriasiform hyperplasia (43%) and subepidermal interfollicular inflammatory infiltrate (78%). In all 11 specimens, immunohistochemical investigations showed a perifollicular and subepidermal inflammation of CD‐3‐, CD‐4‐, CD‐68‐, CD‐79‐ and CD‐8‐cells, the latter with a striking selective epitheliotropism. To conclude, we could show follicular hyperkeratosis and lymphocytic perifollicular inflammation as early patterns in pathogenesis, whereas rupture of the follicle structure takes place later. Finally, it seems that there are two hot spots of inflammatory events (perifollicular and subepidermal) composed of a comparable inflammatory cell mixture. The CD‐8 cell epitheliotropism (follicular and epidermal) described here and its influence in follicular hyperkeratosis, in hyperplasia of follicular epithelium and in epidermal psoriasiform hyperplasia will be of further interest, for instance, concerning early pharmacological intervention.     

Photodynamic therapy of acne vulgaris using 5‐aminolevulinic acid 0.5% liposomal spray and intense pulsed light in combination with topical keratolytic agents

Background Increasing antibiotic resistance of Propionibacterium acnes and growing awareness on the side effects of topical and systemic drugs in the treatment of acne vulgaris by physicians and patients have paved the way for a search into new efficacious and safe treatment modalities such as photodynamic therapy (PDT). Although the efficacy of PDT using 20% 5‐aminolevulinic acid (ALA) cream has been established, phototoxic side effects limit its use. The 5‐ALA concentration can be lowered by a factor of 40 by changing the vehicle of 5‐ALA from a moisturizing cream to liposome encapsulation. Objectives Assessment of the efficacy and the safety of PDT using 5‐ALA 0.5% in liposomal spray and intense pulsed light (IPL) in combination with topical peeling agents (Li‐PDT‐PC) in acne vulgaris. Materials and Methods 32 patients suffering from acne participated in this randomized, prospective, single blind study. All patients were treated with Li‐PDT‐PC. During the study nine patients were additionally treated with topical or systemic antibiotics (Li‐PDT‐PC‐AT). These patients were removed from the study although their results were recorded. Results After a mean period of 7.8 months and a mean number of 5.7 treatments the mean total number of lesions dropped from 34.6 lesions to 11.0 lesions, resulting in a mean improvement of 68.2%. Side effects were minimal. Additionally, an intention to treat analysis was conducted. Conclusion Photodynamic therapy of acne vulgaris using 5‐ALA 0.5% liposomal spray and IPL in combination with topical peeling agents is safe and efficacious, even in patients with acne recalcitrant to standard therapy.