Development of a model for transepidermal elimination.

Transepidermal elimination is a phenomenon which occurs spontaneously in certain skin disorders in which effete connective tissue or foreign materials is expelled via the epidermis to the exterior. In order to learn how this phenomenon is effected and what factors control it, we have attempted to produce an animal model for the process. When charcoal particles are deposited subepidermally in guinea-pig flank skin transepidermal elimination occurs within 4 days and we believe that this mimics the disorder seen in man. The hair follicles became hyperplastic and were intimately involved in the reaction, some of the particles actually being expelled via the follicular lumina. The reaction has some similarities to the wound healing response.