Background: The prevalence of allergic contact dermatitis in patients who have previously undergone skin peeling has been rarely studied.
Objectives: We compared the frequency of positive patch test (PT) reactions in a patient group with a history of peeling, to that of a control group with no history of peeling.
Patients/methods: The Korean standard series and cosmetic series were performed on a total of 262 patients. 62 patients had previously undergone peeling and 200 patients did not.
Results: The frequency of positive PT reactions on Korean standard series was significantly higher in the peeling group compared with that of the control group (P < 0.05, chi-square test). However, the most commonly identified allergens were mostly cosmetic-unrelated allergens. The frequency of positive PT reactions on cosmetic series in the peeling group was higher than that of the control group, but lacked statistical significance. The frequency (%) of positive PT reactions on cosmetic series in the high-frequency peel group was higher than that of the low-frequency group, but lacked statistical significance.
Conclusion: It appears peeling may not generally affect the development of contact sensitization. Further work is required focusing on the large-scale prospective studies by performing a PT before and after peeling.