A Comparative Study of 25% Trichloroacetic Acid and 70% Glycolic Acid Chemical Peels in the Treatment of Acanthosis Nigricans at a Tertiary Care Hospital

Resumen

The Acanthosis nigricans (AN) is a chronic pigmentary disorder that is typically related to obesity, insulin resistance, and metabolic disorders leading to significant cosmetic and psychological disturbance. Chemical peeling is nowadays a modifiable amount of treatment, yet low in investigations on enhancing different peeling products. Purpose: To find out the comparison of effectiveness of 70 per cent glycolic acid (GA), and 25 per cent trichloroacetic acid (TCA) chemical peels versus acanthosis nigricans of the neck. Methods A single-blinded prospective randomized controlled trial with 138 patients (69 patients/group) randomly assigned to 2 (one-to-one) groups was a prospective randomized controlled trial. The peel type of Group A was 70% glycolic acid and that of Group B was 25% of trichloroacetic acid that was used each four weeks with eight applications per. Normalized ways of grading determined the assessment of clinical severity, treatment response and adverse effects. Demographic and metabolic characteristics at the baseline (age distribution, p = 0.633; severity at the baseline, p = 0.779) did not show any significant differences. The glycolic acid group had higher clinical improvement as reflected in improvement of Grade 0 in 42 patients compared to 23 in TCA (p = 0.004). There was a good clinical response in 34 patients who were taking glycolic acid compared to 23 patients who were taking TCA (p = 0.014). The frequency of adverse effects was also not as great in the case of glycolic acid (6 patients versus 12 patients in the case of TCA) and erythema appeared only in several cases (p = 0.001). Conclusion: 70 percent glycolic acid peel is superior and more tolerable than 25 percent trichloroacetic acid peel in the management of acanthosis nigricans of the neck and it may be the peel of choice in the sequential management of chemical peeling in clinical patients.