Skin irritation in man: a comparative bioengineering study using improved reflectance spectroscopy

Variable types of skin irritation were induced in 8 human female volunteers, ranging from subclinical to visible erythema with slight oedema. Skin reactions were graded clinically and objectively using transepidermal water loss (TEWL), laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) and improved reflectance spectroscopy. This last technique enables separation of in vivo erythemas into relatively deoxygenated (venous--deoxy hem) and oxygenated (arterial--oxy hem) haemoglobin components. Compared to uninvolved skin, an empty patch increased oxy hem by 197% +/- 121% (p < 0.05). Exposure to vehicles also changes skin biophysics. At sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) and hydrochloric acid (HCl) exposed sites, a linear correlation between concentration and oxy hem, LDF and TEWL was found. These chemicals predominantly increased TEWL values. Nonanoic acid (NON) and imipramine (IMI) also raised oxy hem, LDF and TEWL values linearly at increasing concentrations. Although IMI 2.5% clinically was graded as a type ++ response, no significant increase in TEWL was found. The improved reflectance spectroscopic technique proved valid in skin irritation studies, with a higher sensitivity than laser Doppler flowmetry, and allowed irritant vascular reactions to be discriminated into arterial and venous components. Furthermore, our observations clearly demonstrate that clinically indistinguishable skin irritation reactions induce significantly different changes in barrier function (disruption) and vascular status.