Evaluation of salicylic acid peeling in comparison with topical tretinoin in the treatment of postinflammatory hyperpigmentation

Summary Background Postinflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH) is an acquired hyperpigmentation that involves areas of prior cutaneous inflammation. In addition to prevention, there are a variety of medications and procedures used to treat PIH. Aim of the work The aim of this work was to evaluate the efficacy, tolerability, and safety of salicylic acid peeling in comparison with topical tretinoin in the treatment of PIH. Patients and Methods This study included forty‐five patients with PIH lesions. The patients were divided into three groups, group I was treated with salicylic acid peeling 20–30%, group II was treated with topical tretinoin 0.1%, and group III was treated with combination of salicylic acid peel and topical tretinoin. The patients were assessed clinically to evaluate the efficacy, tolerability, and safety of the treatment. Dermoscopy was carried out to the recurrent or nonimproved cases only. Results Combination of salicylic acid peel and topical tretinoin treatment showed significant clinical improvement of PIH than each treatment alone with no complications. There was no significant difference in the recurrence rate between the three groups. There was nonsignificant difference between the efficacy of the treatment and the PIH type in the studied groups. There was nonsignificant difference between the efficacy of the treatment and the duration of the PIH except for group III. Conclusion Combination treatment modality is believed to be preferred in the treatment of PIH due to its higher efficacy than single treatment alone, with well tolerability, less side effects, and low recurrence rate.