title: [Benefits of using the cutometer to evaluate the effectiveness of skin treatments in plastic and maxillofacial surgery].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Evaluating skin properties is often too subjective. Using the cutometer allows one to take objective measures of certain mechanic properties of the skin such as visco-elasticity. The aim of this article is to evaluate through a review of existing literature the advantages and the limits of the cutometer and to propose an improvement.
  
  
  METHODS
  The selection of articles has been conducted with the PubMed database in order to identify all publications concerning the cutometer up until September 2013. The analysis criteria were: (1) quantitative distribution of articles from the first publication until today; (2) qualitative distribution over the various medical fields. The articles have been organized in 3 groups: medical, surgical and burns; (3) list of biases in the interpretation of results and limits of this measuring tool.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred and twenty-nine publications have been included. The first article regarding the cutometer was published in 1994. We observe an increase in the number of publications after 2005. Most of the articles were published in medical journals of dermatology or cosmetology (83%), only 9% of articles have been published in burn study journals and 8% in surgical journals. The pressure applied by the experimenter constitutes the main measure bias.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The use of an external device maintaining the probe with an invariable pressure corresponding to its own weight enables more reliable results all the while limiting the inter- and intra-individual variability.
authors: Service de chirurgie plastique, reconstructrice et esthétique, hôpital Tenon, AP-HP, université Pierre et Marie Curie Paris 6, 4, rue de la Chine, 75970 Paris cedex 20, France. Electronic address: nstroumza@gmail.com.
authors: N
authors: N
authors: Stroumza
authors: Service de chirurgie plastique, reconstructrice, esthétique et maxillo-faciale, hôpital Mondor, 94000 Créteil, France; IFR10, groupe Henri-Mondor-Albert-Chenevier, AP-HP, faculté de médecine, université Paris 12, 94000 Créteil, France.
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Bosc
authors: Service de chirurgie plastique, reconstructrice, esthétique et maxillo-faciale, hôpital Mondor, 94000 Créteil, France; IFR10, groupe Henri-Mondor-Albert-Chenevier, AP-HP, faculté de médecine, université Paris 12, 94000 Créteil, France.
authors: B
authors: B
authors: Hersant
authors: Service de chirurgie plastique, reconstructrice, esthétique et maxillo-faciale, hôpital Mondor, 94000 Créteil, France; IFR10, groupe Henri-Mondor-Albert-Chenevier, AP-HP, faculté de médecine, université Paris 12, 94000 Créteil, France.
authors: O
authors: O
authors: Hermeziu
authors: Service de chirurgie plastique, reconstructrice, esthétique et maxillo-faciale, hôpital Mondor, 94000 Créteil, France; IFR10, groupe Henri-Mondor-Albert-Chenevier, AP-HP, faculté de médecine, université Paris 12, 94000 Créteil, France.
authors: J-P
authors: JP
authors: Meningaud
mesh_terms: D001837:Body Weights and Measures / Q000295:instrumentation*; D062109:Dermatologic Surgical Procedures / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D004864:Equipment and Supplies; D006801:Humans; D012867:Skin / Q000473:pathology; D013515:Surgery, Oral / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D013518:Surgery, Plastic / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Biais; Bias; Cutometer; Cutomètre; Elasticity; Peau; Skin; Visco-elastic; Visco-élasticité; Élasticité