Background: Microdermabrasion and chemical peeling are popular, inexpensive, and
safe methods for treatment of some skin disorders and to rejuvenate skin.
Objectives: To study the alterations of the dermal connective tissue following salicylic
acid peeling and microdermabrasion.
Methods: Twenty patients were participated in our study. All participants underwent
facial salicylic acid 30% peel or microdermabrasion (10 cases in each group)
weekly for 6 weeks. Punch biopsies were obtained from the clinically normal skin of
the right postauricular region 1 week before treatment (control group). Other punch
skin biopsies were obtained 1 week after the end of the treatments from the left
postauricular area. This region was treated in a similar way to the adjacent lesional
skin (treated group). We used routine histological techniques (H&E stain), special
stains (Masson trichrome and orcein stains), and image analyzer to study the alterations
of the dermal connective tissues.
Results: Our study demonstrates variations in the morphological changes between
the control and the treated groups, and between chemical peels and microdermabrasion.
Both salicylic acid 30% and microdermabrasion were associated with
thickened epidermal layer, shallow dermal papillae, dense collagen, and elastic fibers.
There was a significant increase among those treated sites vs control regarding epidermal
thickness and collagen thickness. Also, there was a highly statistically significant
increase among those treated with salicylic acid vs microdermabrasion
regarding the epidermal, collagen, and elastin thickness.
Conclusions: Both methods stimulate the repair process. The mechanisms underlying
these variations are open for further investigations.