Assessment of the variation of skin barrier function with anatomic site, age, gender and ethnicity

Abstract

Synopsis The skin is the largest organ of the human body and its functions include protection, thermoregulation sensation and secretion. Significant advances in our understanding of how the morphology and physiology of the skin contribute to the skin’s barrier role have been achieved in recent years. The aim of this review is to summarize the principal approaches which have been used to assess variation in skin barrier function with anatomic site, age, gender, and ethnicity. The methods discussed include trans‐epidermal water loss (TEWL) measurement, assessment of corneocyte size, response to vasoactive compounds and attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR‐FTIR) interrogation of skin. The utility of the various methods is considered and the most important findings in the literature to date are highlighted.

Do Repeated Skin Barrier Measurements Influence Each Other's Results? An Explorative Study

“…Because changes of biophysical skin parameters over the lifetime have been widely reported [6,11,16], we aimed to investigate the impact of successive measurements in two different age groups. The exclusion criteria were excessive hair growth of the forearms, participation in another trial and acute, uncontrolled diseases, like infections or acute deterioration of chronic conditions.…”

“…In order to prevent losses to follow-up, n = 12 subjects were deemed necessary. Because differences in skin barrier function between young and elderly humans are indicated by available previous research [6,11,16], the measurements were conducted in two different age groups. Therefore a total of n = 24 subjects was required.…”

“…Specifying exact and small skin areas for repeated measurements within clinical research is therefore necessary [11,12,13,15]. Furthermore, several skin parameters are usually obtained to achieve a comprehensive picture of the skin barrier function and possible treatment effects [6,9,16,17]. It is known that even slight manipulations like placing a probe or a camera head on the skin surface influence the skin function (e.g.…”

“…Because of large intraindividual differences in skin barrier function across the human body [6,7,8,9,10], it is important to measure standardized and comparable skin areas to reliably quantify morphological or functional skin changes over time within the same or between different groups of individuals. There is strong evidence that, for instance, the TEWL varies widely even in small skin areas like the volar forearm.…”

Influência dos componentes da formulação cosmética nas propriedades biofísicas e estruturais da pele

“…Além disso, a exposição à fatores externos -umidade do ar, radiação ultravioleta, bem como fatores endógenos -hormônios, possivelmente altera o balanço estrato córneo/camada lipídica (KAMMEYER & LUITEN, 2015;MACHADO et. al., 2010).…”