The influence of a single application of different moisturizers on the skin capacitance

Moisturizers are believed to improve the skin condition by increasing the water content of the stratum corneum. A variety of techniques for assessing skin hydration has been developed. In the present study the capacitance following a single application of different moisturizers to normal skin on 12 volunteers was measured with the commercial available Corneometer 420. The moisturizers were pure petrolatum and three oil-in-water creams. The latter contained either glycerine, glycerine and pyrollidone carboxylic acid, or urea as humectant agents. The first measurement of the change in the capacitance was done 2 h after application of the products. All tested products increased the capacitance in the same order of magnitude. For the creams the values were significantly enhanced during the experimental period (6 h). Excess product were removed from some skin areas after the 2 h measurement. This caused immediately a significant decrease in the capacitance of the cream treated sites, whereas a tendency towards higher values were noted on the petrolatum-treated sites. These findings indicate that the non-absorbed components influences the capacitance values. Hence, the interpretation of electrical measurements with respect to skin moisture should be made with caution.