5.54 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS .( ... (A) (B) Figure 4. The effect of topical testostcnme on eccrine function as demonstrated by use of Wada's iodine-starch-castor oil technique. Sweat droplets appear as black puneta trapped beneath the oil. The control side (A) clearly dexnonstrates the diminished activity seen in the aging axilla. (Subject is a 75-year-old white man.) The contralateral, testosterone treated area (B), however, has greatly increased sweating HISTOLOGIC CHANGES IN AGING SKIN Most impressive of the structural changes are the marked thinning and flattening of the epidermis. It is composed of cells which display great irregularity with marked discrepancy in size, shape, and staining properties. The cytoplasm of the prickle cells often condenses in the periphery, leaving perinuclear halos. The nucleus is often small and darkly stained, and the nuceoli are obscured. The orderly progression of cells from the basal layer to the surface is often disrupted, with considerable loss in cell polarity (Fig. 6A). Under the light microscopy,

EFFECT OF TOPICAL HORMONES ON SKIN 555 ./:- .?•. i?-,:...•:-' .•? ... .:s •.•.. :.?:. •.• .,?.,....--•..:,• :: - . ..:5 .. •.... ', :.. • . .•.' ?' :.. . :- . ...:'•: --.•:'. . ,..•.. ./:. •:-: :• ..7 :.: . •-t :. - ' ,.': ß --• , .•: •:•'• •:•::.: .•'( •- •,:. i(•½ g:'i '•': ...:•: -• :•..•,•:¾.:.':•.•. ..... :•' 7f" :' :'"'• •-•'..-5•:, t'..•'• • ......... ..... :•.: .: ?.: .. •:• ' -: •: .•',: t:)• •:2.'.: • •:... '•.: Figure 5. Senile purpura-like lesions produced by topical application of corticosteroids. The left extensor forearm has been treated with triamcinolone acctonide cream for one year, the right with its control vehicle the basement membrane, which normally is a sharp, serrated structure inserting into the basal layer at the dertoo-epidermal junction, appears as a blunted, hazy, attenuated, and discontinuous structure (Fig. 7A). Dermal degradation is most prominent in the sun-exposed sites. Murky masses of dense, basophilic, elastotic material occupy the major portion of the dermis, sparing but a thin subepidermal zone. Elastic staining, particularly in thick sections, reveals a tangled skein of coarse fibers, while the delicate, finely branched sub epidermal strands are reduced. The acid mucopolysaccharide (AMP) ground substance, defined by Hale staining, is greatly diminished, surviving in small quantity in the papillary dermis. Correspondingly, there exists a depletion of fibro-