Skin barrier repair after contact burns. electrometric evaluation using the passive sustainable hydration test

Corrosive compounds and burns destroy the skin barrier function. Little is known about the dynamics of repair of this function during the healing process. The passive sustainable hydration test was performed as a non-invasive approach to measure water loss through the skin using electrometric evaluations under continuous occlusion by the sensor probe. Evaluations were made in 10 patients suffering from recent second- and third-degree contact burns. Skin sites corresponding to burned and unburned areas, and to healing sites following grafts or not were compared. The data show that the skin barrier function improves progressively and often irregularly after contact burn, and may remain altered for more than 2 months after epithelialisation. Therefore, maturation of the stratum corneum appears to be a slow process. The consequences of this during the healing phase following contact burns are twofold: the resistance of the water barrier remains impaired and the risk of transcutaneous penetration of various xenobiotics including toxic products is increased. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.