title: Materials used to simulate physical properties of human skin.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  For many applications in research, material development and testing, physical skin models are preferable to the use of human skin, because more reliable and reproducible results can be obtained.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This article gives an overview of materials applied to model physical properties of human skin to encourage multidisciplinary approaches for more realistic testing and improved understanding of skin-material interactions.
  
  
  METHODS
  The literature databases Web of Science, PubMed and Google Scholar were searched using the terms 'skin model', 'skin phantom', 'skin equivalent', 'synthetic skin', 'skin substitute', 'artificial skin', 'skin replica', and 'skin model substrate.' Articles addressing material developments or measurements that include the replication of skin properties or behaviour were analysed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  It was found that the most common materials used to simulate skin are liquid suspensions, gelatinous substances, elastomers, epoxy resins, metals and textiles. Nano- and micro-fillers can be incorporated in the skin models to tune their physical properties.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  While numerous physical skin models have been reported, most developments are research field-specific and based on trial-and-error methods. As the complexity of advanced measurement techniques increases, new interdisciplinary approaches are needed in future to achieve refined models which realistically simulate multiple properties of human skin.
authors.affiliation: EMPA, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Laboratory for Protection and Physiology, St. Gallen, Switzerland.
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Dąbrowska
authors.affiliation: EMPA, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Laboratory for Protection and Physiology, St. Gallen, Switzerland.
authors.forename: G-M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Rotaru
authors.affiliation: EMPA, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Laboratory for Protection and Physiology, St. Gallen, Switzerland.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Derler
authors.affiliation: EMPA, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Laboratory for Protection and Physiology, St. Gallen, Switzerland.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Spano
authors.affiliation: EMPA, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Laboratory for Protection and Physiology, St. Gallen, Switzerland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Camenzind
authors.affiliation: EMPA, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Laboratory for Protection and Physiology, St. Gallen, Switzerland.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Annaheim
authors.affiliation: EMPA, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Laboratory for Protection and Physiology, St. Gallen, Switzerland.
authors.forename: R
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4374-3950
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stämpfli
authors.affiliation: EMPA, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Laboratory for Protection and Physiology, St. Gallen, Switzerland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schmid
authors.affiliation: EMPA, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Laboratory for Protection and Physiology, St. Gallen, Switzerland.
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Rossi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001458:Bandages; D040761:Biomimetic Materials / Q000737:chemistry*; D012867:Skin / Q000166:cytology*; D012879:Skin Physiological Phenomena; D017768:Skin, Artificial; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: human skin; physical skin models; properties of skin; simulation of skin