[Methods for measuring the symptoms of "dry skin"]

"Dry skin" is a sign of many skin diseases and is, on account of its typical aspect, mostly diagnosed only macroscopically in everyday practice. Because the water content of the stratum corneum, according to current opinion, is said to be the most responsible for the appearance of the skin, using physical measuring methods is essential to investigate physiological relations. The more frequently used methods of capacitance measurement, infrared-spectroscopy, electrical resistance measurement, resonance frequency measurement, determination of the transepidermal water loss (TEWL), profilometry and scanning electron microscopy are characterized. Own investigations show correlations between the results of IR-spectroscopy, capacitance measurement and electrical resistance measurement with AC and DC in various depths of the stratum corneum.