Acute skin barrier disruption with repeated tape stripping: an in vivo model for damage skin barrier

PURPOSE: To establish a model of standardized acute barrier disruption, investigate the response of normal human to repeated tape stripping, and analyze the change of damaged skin with non-invasive examination techniques for skin, such as TEWL and squamometry. METHODS: Repeated tape stripping with corneofix was applied on three different anatomical sites; the measurement of TEWL was performed on the baseline and after every 5 strips. Then, the samples of corneofix were analyzed using Visioscan VC98 and squamometry. RESULTS: The parameter of TEWL and cohesion score show stable change trend. TEWL increased with frequency of stripping and were significantly higher compared with that of baseline on three sites. The results of staining of corneofix showed that the intercorneocyte cohesion is increased with the number of strips, and the more the number of strips, the more the fixation of dye per cell. CONCLUSION: The changes in the skin barrier function of different sites were different after it accepted physical stimulation, the process of damaging skin barrier could be divided into three stages based on the △TEWL. In addition, through stripping the skin of an adult, the in vivo model of damaged skin barrier could be setup.