Patients' self-esteem before and after chemical peeling procedure.

INTRODUCTION: Chemical peeling is a safe method, widely used to treat a variety of skin conditions and reduce the aging effects. This study aims to evaluate self-esteem among adolescents who undergo chemical peelings.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: One hundred and twenty six patients constituted the study group. Sixty seven individuals had undergone chemical peeling for therapeutic reasons and 59 individuals for cosmetic reasons. To assess patients' self-esteem, the Rosenberg's Self-esteem Scale (RSES) was used before and after treatment. The control group included 71 healthy, age- and sex-matched volunteers from the general population. They were also asked to complete the RSES, after the same time interval as the patients.

RESULTS: The healthy controls (23.01 ± 3.12) presented statistically significantly higher self-esteem than both the groups of individuals who would be submitted to chemical peeling. Furthermore, patients who would undergo peeling for therapeutic reasons (21.58 ± 3.20) had statistically significantly higher self-esteem than those who would undergo the procedure for cosmetic reasons (18.97 ± 3.36). After the chemical peeling sessions, the self-esteem of patients treated for therapeutic reasons (23.48 ± 2.43) and of patients treated for cosmetic reasons (22.83 ± 3.34) improved statistically significantly, while the self-esteem of the healthy controls remained stable, as expected.

CONCLUSION: Patients who undergo chemical peelings tend to have low levels of self-esteem. Although facial lesions in skin diseases such as acne, acne scars, rosacea, and melasma seem to have negative effect on individuals' self-consciousness, patients who would be submitted to chemical peeling in order to treat wrinkles, loss of radiance, and skin tone clarity have even lower self-esteem. Chemical peelings were shown to favorably affect patient's self-esteem since all patients showed an increase in self-esteem after treatment, while the control group experienced no change.