ABSTRACT
HISTORY Since the time of the Egyptians, man has used different abrasive implements such as pumice and alabaster to remove different types of scars and blemishes from the surface of the skin [1,2]. At the turn of the twentieth century, Kromayer described using cylindrical knives, rasps, and burrs attached to a motordriven dental instrument with either a clockwise or counterclockwise rotation to remove scars [3]. Iverson reported on successfully removing traumatic tattoos with sandpaper in 1947, which occasionally resulted in foreign body silica granuloma [4]. Dermabrasion, as we know it today, was originally developed by Kurtin and Robbins in 1952 [5]. They attached a wire brush onto a motor-driven rotary dental apparatus, and with the aid of a refrigerant spray for anesthesia, they were able to remove the surface of the skin by sanding or planing. Thus, dermabrasion can be described as the mechanical planing of the surface of the skin to remove the epidermis and upper dermis with either a wire brush or a diamond fraise [6-8].
