Epithelialization and Blood Flow in Suction Blister Wounds on Healthy Volunteers

Abstract

Epithelialization and blood flow in painlessly inflicted small suction blister wounds were studied in healthy volunteers (n = 26) using evaporimetry and laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF), respectively. As expected, the evaporation rate normalized faster in wounds covered by an occlusive film than in wounds covered with gauze. The evaporimetry technique was found to be a simple alternative to the biopsy-based methods that have previously been used in humans. Blood flow was increased after 25 min of suctioning, and the hyperemia increased further after equalization to atmospheric pressure. This wound hyperemia (day 1) was more pronounced than that observed during heating of adjacent skin, and more pronounced at a pressure of 400 mm Hg below atmospheric pressure than at 200 mm Hg below. The hyperemic response lasted for some days and was similar on arm and foot. A mechanical LDF linear scanner was used to create a flow profile across the wound into the adjacent skin. Six months after inflicting the lesions there was no visible scar. The findings suggest that this blister wound model may be useful for studying epithelialization and microcirculatory events after trauma and during early wound healing in humans.

Blood extraction from lancet wounds using vacuum combined with skin stretching

“…Arteries supplying the capillaries are larger and deeper in the skin and less likely to be occluded. A previous study found that prolonged application of vacuum increased blood perfusion, presumably because of the trauma of blistering (34); however, none of our conditions produced blistering.…”

Skin Blood Flow in Diabetic Dermopathy

“…26,27 Studies of burn wounds suggest that wounds that heal rapidly without scarring have higher initial perfusion than those with slow healing. [28][29][30] Perhaps skin perfusion in diabetic patients may be insufficient to heal wounds without scarring. Even minor trauma may lead to scar formation in these patients.…”

Transdermal Suctioning Technique for Serial Sampling of Interstitial Fluid in Newborn Infants

“…The LDI ratio refl ects blood perfusion in the erosion adjusted for that in adjacent skin. The subsiding hyperaemic reaction refl ected, to a certain degree, the prolonged hyperaemia observed in adults [19,26,27] . We do not know how nerve fi bres penetrate the epidermis in newborns, and the degree of neurogenous stimulation is thus unknown [28] .…”

“…Histologically this infl ammation is evaluated as mild [25] . Hyperaemia with an increase in microvascular permeability is sustained for days [19,26,27] . The LDI ratio refl ects blood perfusion in the erosion adjusted for that in adjacent skin.…”

“…Groups of patients with dermatological, microvascular and metabolic diseases, or with impaired healing or defi cient immunological defences have been subjected to this procedure [7,17,18] . The epidermis has been found to regenerate rapidly after such sampling, local effects are subclinical, and no invasive complications have been reported [6,19] . The epidermal split occurs reproducibly in the lamina lucida, a structurally weak layer just beneath the basal epidermal cells [20,21] , leaving the lamina densa of the basal lamina as a fi brous cover on the dermis [21,22] .…”