A functional study of the skin barrier to evaporative water loss by means of repeated cellophane-tape stripping.

The functional role of different layers of the horny layer in preventing evaporative water loss was studied by an adhesive cellophane-tape stripping technique. The increase in transepidermal water loss, as described by a mathematical equation based on curve-fitting analysis, was shown to be proportional to the decrease in thickness of the horny layer. In the second half of the curve the experimental data showed slightly higher transepidermal-water-loss values than would be expected on the basis of proportionality with thickness of the stratum corneum. The data suggest that the outer layers of the horny layer are also important in forming a barrier to evaporative water loss.