Transepidermal water loss does not correlate with skin barrier function in vitro

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between transepidermal water loss and skin permeability to tritiated water ((H2O)-H-3) and the lipophilic penetrant sulfur mustard in vitro . No correlation was found between basal transepidermal water loss rates and the permeability of human epidermal membranes to (H2O)-H-3 (p = 0.72) or sulfur mustard (p = 0.74). Similarly, there was no correlation between transepidermal water loss rates and the (H2O)-H-3 permeability of full-thickness pig skin (p = 0.68). There was no correlation between transepidermal water loss rate and (H2O)-H-3 permeability following up to 15 tape strips (p = 0.64) or up to four needle-stick punctures (p = 0.13). These data indicate that transepidermal water loss cannot be unconditionally ascribed to be a measure of skin barrier function. It is clear that further work should be conducted to interpret the significance of measuring transepidermal water loss by evaporimetry.