Phenol properties and histology

Phenol is not completely miscible with water to obtain a homogeneous solution, an excess of water is required.  

Immediately after application of phenol to the upper lip, the anesthetic effect is enough to be able to pinch the skin and draw blood without any feeling of pain (note the red spots in the photograph, taken during a chemical cheiloplasty). 

Phenol is not considered to be carcinogenic. On the contrary, long-term histological studies show that phenol (even when the formula contains croton oil) has a protective effect against skin cancers. A logical explanation of this protective effect may lie in the fact that the cells that take the brunt of UV rays are the keratinocytes closest to the stratum corneum, the ones that form, for example, the top of the dermal papillae. On the other hand, the keratinocytes that are in the lower regions of the dermal papillae are relatively protected compared with those higher up the UV photons have been partially absorbed or diffracted by the epidermal layers above them. In addition, the sebo-cytes or keratinocytes that make up the shaft of the hair are anchored more deeply in the skin, at a depth where the harmful effects of the sun are not as severe. 

The cells that are most active in skin regeneration after a deep peel are those that are least damaged by the sun s rays, the cells that have undergone the least UV-induced genetic mutation. After a phenol peel, the skin is much healthier than the skin that the acid coagulated, and statistically will develop fewer cancers. Moreover, phenol may well coagulate and get rid of any intraepidermal cancer in situ. 

Phenol coagulates proteins simply by combining with them, and this produces frosting similar to that occurring when the normally transparent proteins of an egg white become cloudy on cooking, as a result of their three- 

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