Superficial wounds may be evaluated and treated in the cosmetic field. However, with natural wounds it is difficult to evaluate the effects of therapy upon the repair process because natural wounds may vary according to several factors, such as wound induction (physical or chemical), depth (superfi cial or deep), size (regular or irregular), site-to-site variability, and environmental factors (infection or not).1-4 It would be ideal to evaluate topical wound agents in the actual clinical situation, but quantitative experimental wound models are important also.
This article introduces the common utilization of micro wound healing models and summarizes related data.
Yang et al5 utilized three hairless mice wound models (lipid solvent - acetoneinduced disruption of barrier function; cellophane tape stripping-induced mechanical wound; and detergent-induced irritant dermatitis) to determine the healing effect of a lipid mixture (cholesterol, ceramide, palmitate and linoleate 4.3:2.3:1:1.08). The lipid mixture accelerated barrier repair following disruption of the barrier by solvent treatment or tape stripping (mechanical), and by certain detergents such as sarkosyl and dodecylbenzensulphuric acid. But, following barrier disruption with other detergents (sodium dodecyl sulphate and ammonium lauryl sulphosuccinate) the lipid mixture did not improve recovery.
Reed et al6 compared skin barrier recovery rate on different races and genders with a tape stripping model. Neither the number of tape strippings required to perturb the barrier nor the rates of barrier recovery were signifi cantly different in white versus Asian subjects or in female versus male subjects. But, patients with skin types II/III required only 30±2 tape strippings to perturb the barrier, while the skin type V/VI group required 67±7 tape strippings. Furthermore, while barrier function in skin type II/III recovered by approximately 20% by 6 hours and 55% by 48 hours, barrier function in skin type V/VI, independent of race, recovered more quickly, 43% and 72% at 6 and 48 hours, respectively. They concluded that darkly pigmented skin displays both a more resistant barrier and one that recovers more quickly after perturbation by tape stripping than does the skin of individuals with lighter pigmentation.
Tanaka et al7 evaluated the recovery of the barrier function following complete stratum corneum (SC) removal by tape stripping in patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) and agematched healthy control subjects. They reported no difference in the recovery process of the water barrier function of the SC between the groups.
