Clinically normal atopic skin vs. non-atopic skin as seen through electrical impedance.

Background/aims: In an earlier study, we have shown that the electrical impedance (IMP) is dependent on the lipid content of the stratum corneum as studied by lipid extraction. Therefore, we now employ the IMP technique to compare the properties of clinically normal atopic skin with that of non-atopic skin. We looked at the same time at concomitant alterations in transepidermal water loss (TEWL) and skin moisture results.

Methods: Twenty-two healthy participants and 26 patients with atopic dermatitis were recruited. One test site on each volar forearm was used in the test procedure, of cyclohexane swabbing, skin stripping, and lipid extraction using a mixture of hexane:isopropanol. Responses were evaluated by measuring TEWL, skin moisture using electrical capacitance, and finally IMP spectroscopy in the frequency range 1 kHz to 1 MHz before the start of the study, after each step of the test procedure, and also during a 2 weeks recovery period.

Results: Only the IMP results showed significant changes between baseline values of clinically normal atopic skin and healthy skin. Furthermore, IMP and TEWL showed significantly larger reactivity for the atopic group after the skin stripping procedure, and IMP after lipid extraction as well.

Conclusion: Our results show that IMP is a useful method for detection of changes in the lipid content of the stratum corneum by discriminating healthy looking atopic skin from healthy control skin, and to detect changes in reactivity between the two groups.