Skin characteristics: normative data for elasticity, erythema, melanin, and thickness at 16 different anatomical locations.
BACKGROUND
The clinical use of non-invasive instrumentation to evaluate skin characteristics for diagnostic purposes and to evaluate treatment outcomes has become more prevalent. The purpose of this study was to generate normative data for skin elasticity, erythema (vascularity), melanin (pigmentation), and thickness across a broad age range at a wide variety of anatomical locations using the Cutometer(®) (6 mm probe), Mexameter(®) , and high-frequency ultrasound in a healthy adult sample.


METHODS
We measured skin characteristics of 241 healthy participants who were stratified according to age and gender. Sixteen different anatomical locations were measured using the Cutometer(®) for maximum skin deformation, gross elasticity, and biological elasticity, the Mexameter(®) for erythema and melanin, and high-frequency ultrasound for skin thickness. Standardized measurement procedures were applied for all participants.


RESULTS
The means and standard deviations for each measured skin characteristic for females and males across five different age groups (20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, and 70-85 years old) are presented. As previously described, there were variations in skin characteristics across age groups, anatomical locations, and between females and males highlighting the need to use site specific, age and gender matched data when comparing skin characteristics.


CONCLUSIONS
The reported data provides normative data stratified by anatomical location, age, and gender that can be used by clinicians and researchers to objectively determine whether patients' skin characteristics vary significantly from healthy subjects.
School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.|Centre de recherche, Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CRCHUM), Montreal, QC, Canada.|Hôpital de réadaptation Villa Medica, Montreal, QC, Canada.
B
B
Nedelec
School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
N J
NJ
Forget
School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
T
T
Hurtubise
School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
S
S
Cimino
School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
F
F
de Muszka
School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
A
A
Legault
School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
W L
WL
Liu
Centre de recherche, Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CRCHUM), Montreal, QC, Canada.|Hôpital de réadaptation Villa Medica, Montreal, QC, Canada.
A
A
de Oliveira
Hôpital de réadaptation Villa Medica, Montreal, QC, Canada.
V
V
Calva
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
J A
JA
Correa
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D055119:Elastic Modulus / Q000502:physiology*; D004890:Erythema / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008543:Melanins / Q000378:metabolism*; D008875:Middle Aged; D008954:Models, Biological; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012867:Skin / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D012879:Skin Physiological Phenomena
D008543:Melanins
Cutometer®; DermaScan C®; Mexameter®; elasticity; erythema; melanin; normative data; thickness