Skin occlusion: Effect on Pityrosporum orbiculare, skin $$P_{{\text{CO}}_{\text{2}} } $$ , pH, transepidermal water loss, and water content

Abstract

The effect of 8 days skin occlusion on Pityrosporum orbiculare, bacteria, skin \(P_{{\text{CO}}_{\text{2}} } \), pH, transepidermal water loss (TEWL), and water content (WC) was studied. P. orbiculare counts increased from a baseline of 2.1×10²/cm² to 2.3×10³/cm² after 3 days occlusion; bacterial counts increased from 2.9×10³/cm² to 1.8×10⁵/cm² after 8 days occlusion. pH increased during occlusion from 5.6 to a maximum at day 3 of 6.7; TEWL increased to a maximum of 11.74 g m⁻² h⁻ after 3 days occlusion compared with 4.39g m⁻² h⁻¹ before. P. orbiculare counts, pH, and TEWL were lower at 8 days than at 3 days occulusion. WC and \(P_{{\text{CO}}_{\text{2}} } \) remained high after 8 days; relative WC was then 60.6% compared with 52.5% before occlusion; \(P_{{\text{CO}}_{\text{2}} } \) was 63.1 mm Hg compared with 53.1 mm Hg before occlusion. The increased levels of these factors may partially explain the higher risk of infection in occluded compared with non-occluded skin.