A perspective on what’s new in chemical peels

Chemical peels are resurfacing procedures, where a chemical agent causes controlled exfoliation of the skin, that leads to improvement of texture and pigmentary abnormalities. They have become very popular as they are simple, cost-effective, office procedures that are easy to learn and practice. The traditional chemical peels are glycolic acid, salicylic acid, and trichloroacetic acid, which have stood the test of time. Some of the newer peels include mandelic acid, ferulic acid, citric acid, pyruvic acid, jasmonic acid, azelaic acid, and retinol peels. The advantage of the newer peels is that they are available in combinations, achieving better efficacy, with reduced side effects. Acne, pigmentary dyschromias, and photoaging are common aesthetic indications for peels. They can also be used as add-on procedures for other conditions such as keratosis pilaris, macular amyloidosis, and seborrheic keratosis. Priming the patient is an important step toward a successful peel, leading to fewer complications. Careful patient and peel selection and post-procedure care are prerequisites to successful peeling. Newer variations in peeling such as sequential peels, segmental peels, body peels, lip and eye peels, combining peels with other procedures such as micro needling and lasers are some of the recent advances in chemical peels.