Thermal conductivity and heat transfer of the human skin.

Abstract

In all problems involving heat transfer in the human body or to the environment the thermal conductivity of the tissues, especially that of the epidermis, plays an important role. Quantitatively, however, regarding the required resolutions in time and/or space, the problems associated with the overall thermoregulation are quite different from those relating to local skin circulation. This has been discussed be referring to models designed to study the thermoregulation, electrical analogs representing also local skin areas and a number of examples. It was suggested that it is worthwhile to investigate high-resolution thermography as a useful tool for calibrating locally applied probes to measure skin blood flow.