[The regional skin temperature of hand under different clothing conditions].

Abstract

The change in the regional skin temperature of hand was investigated under two different clothing conditions. The skin temperatures at six points on the palm, dorsum, and middle finger of the hand, respectively, were measured by using thermister thermometers simultaneously. The measurements were performed in a climate chamber conditioned at 20 degrees C and 65% R.H.. The subjects were 10 healthy females aged between 20 and 24 years. Five out of the 10 subjects wore light clothing (ca. 0.36 clo) and the others heavy clothing (ca. 0.75 clo). They first rested sitting on a chair for 30 min in the climate chamber before the onset of measurement. The results are as follows: 1) The skin temperature of the palm was higher than that of the other parts. Data were rather scattered in the case of the middle finger. 2) The skin temperature of the middle finger dropped to about 3 degrees C within 20 min after the start of measurement. 3) The skin temperature of the middle finger was affected by the clothing condition. We imagine that the skin temperature of the middle finger closely relates to arteriovenous anastomoses (AVA) located in the finger. Clothing probably plays an important role in controlling the blood flow of the AVA vessels, and consequently the skin temperature of the middle finger changes more sensitively than other parts of the hand.