The objective evaluation of the severity of psoriatic scales with desquamation collecting tapes and image analysis
Abstract
Background: Assessment of psoriatic scales is important to determine the severity of psoriasis. However, there are very limited numbers of objective, quantitative and observer-independent tools for measuring the severity of psoriasis.
Objective: To determine whether the bioengineering parameters of the psoriatic scale can be used to assess the severity of psoriasis instead of the psoriatic severity index of scales (PSIs) score.
Methods: Thirty-four patients with psoriasis were included. A representative lesion from each patient was selected and bioengineering parameters were measured using the Corneofix®. Simultaneously, the severity of the scales was assessed by the PSIs score using clinical photographs of the lesions. In addition, skin color and elasticity parameters were also measured using the Colorimeter®, the Mexameter® and the Cutometer®.
Results: Statistical differences in the scale parameters were observed between the PSIs 2 and 3 scores. Among the scale parameters, the percent area and area in μm2 were negatively correlated with the PSIs score. In addition, the Colorimeter®a, b parameters and the Cutometer® R9 parameters were significantly correlated with the PSIs score.
Conclusions: The results of this study showed that the severity of psoriatic scales could be measured objectively using the Corneofix®.
