P12 Measurement of skin edema by a dielectric technique (MoistureMeter‐D)

Abstract

Easily applicable, cheap, noninvasive and quantitative techniques to measure edema in skin and subcutaneous tissues have not been available. Recently, a new device MoistureMeter‐D based on the local measurement of the dielectric properties of the biological tissues was validated in the quantitation of systemic edema in humans. In the present study the MoistureMeter‐D was applied to quantitate local skin edema related to skin irritation. The irritation was induced in the volar forearms of 12 healthy volunteers with the topical application of 1% sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) for 6 hours. After induction the volunteers were divided into two groups: the irritation site of group I (six volunteers) had no treatment for the irritation site while for group II (six volunteers) the corticosteroid cream was topically administered on the irritation site. A good correlation was measured between the temporal changes of edema during the three days’ follow‐up by the ultrasound‐measured skin thickness and the edema‐specific MoistureMeter‐D in group I (p < 0.001). The reduction of edema in group II by the corticosteroid treatment was consistently measured by both instruments. The coefficient of variation for a single measurement varied between 2 and 3%. The results demonstrate that the MoistuMeter‐D is an accurate instrument for the quick quantitative evaluation of local oedema and fluid retention in irritated skin.