Influence of quarantine mask use on skin characteristics: One of the changes in our life caused by the COVID‐19 pandemic

Abstract

As the outermost layer of the body, the skin has many functions to maintain constant conditions in response to variable external factors. Despite these functions, the skin may be altered by various environmental factors such as temperature and humidity. In particular, skin barrier recovery is reduced when relative humidity is high. 1 According to Tsukahara et al, 2 in dry environments, skin elasticity is decreased and wrinkles form easily. Several studies have reported that sudden changes in humidity can cause abnormalities in the skin

Skin adverse events related to personal protective equipment: a systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…, Supporting Information). Eleven studies evaluated the skin effects related to mask wearing 21–31 . Four studies analysed the overall prevalence of skin side events related to mask wearing 21–24 (Table 2).…”

“…Face was a common location for developing skin injuries related to mask wearing, mainly on the nasal bridge and the cheeks 7,17,43 . Acne was also frequent on mask‐covered areas 21,31 …”

“…The media prevalence of skin side events related to mask use was 57.17% after conducting a random effect meta-analysis weighted by the study sample size, Figure S2. Eleven studies Accepted Article evaluated the skin effects related to mask wearing [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31] . Four studies analyzed the overall prevalence of skin side events related to mask wearing [21][22][23][24] , Table 2.…”

“…In addition, five studies evaluated skin barrier function impairment due to mask wearing [27][28][29][30][31] , Table 3. Temperature 27,28,30,31 and redness or erythema [28][29][30] were higher while stratum corneum hydration (SCH) [28][29][30] was lower on the mask covered area compared to the non-covered one. Controversial results were observed in other parameters.…”

“…The effect in skin barrier function between surgical mask and N95 one has been evaluated in three studies 27,29,30 . Two studies showed higher transepidermal water loss (TEWL) values on the mask covered area compared to the non-covered 29,30 , while another two investigations did not report changes between both areas 28,31 . Comparing different types of masks, it was observed that temperature increase were higher when using a N95 mask (1.2 vs 0.7 ºC) 28 .…”