Chemical peels are primarily used by dermatologists to improve the appearance of aging or sun-damaged skin. Plus, a therapy that can improve acne in fewer treatments will mean less time spent and reduced costs to the patients. Chemical peels exfoliate, or unclog pores, in the skin. Alpha-hydroxy acid peels work by unclogging superficial pores, disrupting the environment that allows acne to expand. Beta-hydroxy peels penetrate oily glands that make sebum.
Sebum helps to prevent evaporation of sweat.
Unchecked, it creates an ideal environment for acne. Then the whitehead or blackhead plug at the top, making it easy for an acne pustule to form underneath it. If the chemical peels can normalize how the cells behave, normalize the bacteria counts, lessen the sebum production, dislodge the clogged pore, then these would all be mechanisms that would potentially benefit acne. To do that, Dr. Glaser will enroll 20 patients. The peels will be applied during six treatments every other week.