Background COVID‐19 is a serious respiratory disease, and wearing masks has become essential in daily life. Nevertheless, the number of people complaining of skin problems caused by wearing masks is increasing. Therefore, we investigated the characteristics of changes in sensitive skin caused by wearing a mask. Materials and methods Twenty healthy Korean women with sensitive skin participated in this study. To determine any skin‐related changes caused by mask‐wearing, we evaluated redness, hydration, transepidermal water loss (TEWL), and moisture at 2.5 mm below the surface before and 4 h after wearing a Korea Filter 94 mask. In addition, we tested whether applying a moisturizer for 30 min after mask removal could reverse any mask‐induced changes. Results Skin redness and TEWL were significantly increased at 4 h after wearing a mask ( p < 0.05), otherwise skin hydration and the 2.5 mm moisture were significantly decreased ( p < 0.05). After applying the moisturizer, skin redness and TEWL were significantly decreased compared to their values 4 h after wearing masks ( p < 0.05), whereas skin hydration and the 2.5 mm moisture were significantly increased ( p < 0.05). Moreover, after applying the moisturizer, skin redness and TEWL were significantly reduced compared to the pre‐masking baseline ( p < 0.05), whereas skin hydration was significantly increased ( p < 0.05); the 2.5 mm moisture showed no significant change. Conclusion We observed that wearing masks causes physiological changes in sensitive skin, whereas applying a moisturizer after removing the mask improved skin conditions.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.