ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Physiological parameters of the skin measured by non-invasive methods have been considerably developed. It is known that there are some differences in physiologic parameters between different races. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to understand the differences between the races. METHODS: A total of 757 Mongolian participated in this study. All subjects had no major history of skin diseases requiring medical treatment. Several instruments were used such as Sebumeter, Corneometer, Mexameter for measuring sebum excretion rate, values of capacitance, melanin index and erythema index respectively. These were measured on various areas of the skin such as cheek, forehead, palm, outer arm, inner arm, back and buttock. RESULTS: The sebum excretion rates showed higher in males than in females on the cheek and forehead in Mongolian. However, they showed higher in the females on the palm. There were good correlation between the skin sebum level and the capacitance in males and females. The melanin index and erythema index showed higher in males than in females at all sites. When we compared this with the data published in other countries, many data were similar to Korean rather than a western country's. However, the capacitance data were lower than those of Korean. CONCLUSION: Although, this study has some limit for direct comparison between each race, our results can be used as basic data for the comparison between Mongolian and other races in the future.
Subject(s)
Female , Humans , Male , Arm , Bioengineering , Cheek , Racial Groups , Erythema , Forehead , Melanins , Sebum , Skin , Skin DiseasesABSTRACT
The patch test is the most reliable method for diagnosing a metal allergy. However, interpretation of patch test results depends on the experience of the investigator and on the conditions of the individual patient. In the case of patch tests for metal salts, irritant reactions such as pustular or follicular reactions are quite common. Therefore, one must be careful not to interpret irritant reactions as allergic responses, and objective standards to evaluate erythema in patch tests need to be established.In the present study, we attempted to objectively evaluate patch test results for metal salts using an erythema index meter. We used the Erythema Index Difference (EID) (patch test site erythema index (EI) minus the mean EI of healthy skin outside the patch test area and at the unit tape site) rather than the EI itself in order to eliminate the effects of the patch test unit and individual differences. We measured the EID over time in patients with suspected metal allergies to various metals. Significant differences in EID were observed among ++ assessments, + assessments and irritant reactions based on International Contact Dermatitis Research Group (ICDRG) standards. In considering changes in EID over time, allergic and irritant reactions can be discriminated with high sensitivity (73.3%) and specificity (91.2%).These results suggest that the measurement of erythema over time with an erythema index meter is useful for the objective assessment of metal patch test reactions.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The bioengineering methods for investigating irritant skin reaction have been developed for several decades to evaluate the irritation potential more objectively and quantitatively and obtain the information which is not obvious by the visual examination. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to compare the irritant skin reaction of three kinds of surfactants with various low concentrations which produce little reaction visually and investigative the threshold concentration that is reliable for a patch test. Also we investigated the sensitivity and the correlation between visual examination and bioengineering methods in four different concentrations of surfactants METHODS: Twenty healthy volunteers were patch tested with 0.01%, 0.05%, 0.1%, 1.0% of sodium lauryl sulfate(SLS), cetyl trimethyl ammonium chloride(CETAC), POE(20) sorbitan monolaurate (Tween-20) on the flexor side of the Lt. forearm. The result of patch test was evaluated by visual scoring, evaporimeter, colorimeter, and corneometer until 72 hours. RESULTS: 1. SLS, anionic surfactant, showed the highest irritation potential in visual scoring, TEWL, and skin color measurement. And CETAC, cationic surfactant, showed the greatest irritation in corneometer measurements than other surfactants. 2. TEWL was the most sensitive method for evaluation of skin irritation and correlated most closely with visual examination. 3. Concentration of surfactant higher than 0.1% showed to produce reliable and constant result of skin irritation as the experimental primary irritant. CONCLUSION: SLS is proved to be the most appropriate primary irritant for studying irritant contact dermatitis, and the degree and mode of skin irritation is different according to the concentration and kinds of surfactants. TEWL measurement is the most sensitive bioengineering method, which could detect early stages of irritation and correlate well with visual examination.