TCA Cross Peeling

Inflammations or injuries that extend into the middle layer of the skin (dermis) can lead to scarring. Scratching or squeezing out inflamed areas or pimples additionally promotes scar formation. Scars can be thickened/protruding (hypertrophic) or retracted (atrophic). Typical retracted scars are the so-called “Boxcar, Rolling or Ice-Pick Scars”. These can be efficiently treated with TCA (trichloroacetic acid) peeling.

Trichloroacetic acid is an acid which has a more or less strong peeling effect on and penetration into the skin depending on its concentration. It dissolves the upper skin cells (keratinocytes) and leads to clumping (coagulation) of skin proteins. A local inflammation is triggered, which leads to new collagen formation. This leads to a reduction in the depth of the scar.

An average of 3-6 treatments (depending on the depth of the scar) at intervals of at least 4 weeks are necessary. An improvement in scar depth of 10-40% can be expected at each session. Exactly how many treatments are needed cannot be predicted. This depends very much on the skin type and individual therapy response.

The TCA peeling may only be carried out on untanned skin and consistent sun protection must be applied afterwards. This treatment is therefore preferably carried out in the winter months.

The procedure of a TCA peeling

First the skin is disinfected and degreased. In contrast to other peeling methods which are applied over a large area, in the so-called TCA-Cross (Chemical Reconstruction Sf Skin Scars) peeling, the highly concentrated trichloroacetic acid is applied selectively into the depressions. During the application and for a few minutes afterwards, the skin is cooled with a cooling device to relieve discomfort. Afterwards a wound healing cream and sun protection is applied.