Skin water loss and accidental hypothermia in psoriasis, ichthyosis, and erythroderma.

Abstract

Accidental hypothermia has been reported in patients with generalized eczema and other erythrodermas, the aetiology of the hypothermia being said to be obscure (Krook, 1960 ; Magnus son, 1960) ; rectal temperatures as low as 83-86? F. (28.3 30? C.) have been described. It has been suggested that hypo thermia is related to the increased peripheral blood flow (Mali, 1952 ; Fox et al., 1965). It has also been suggested that the heat loss in erythroderma is due to vaporization of water lost from affected skin, in these conditions the skin water loss being enormously increased (Zoon and Mali, 1957). Hancock et al. (1929) pointed out that there are two kinds of water loss from the skin. The first is from sweating, the second from evaporation of water which has passed by diffusion through the epidermis, the corneous layer and its base behaving as a semipermeable membrane. The water loss by diffusion was designated by Rothman (1954) the transepidermal water loss.