Measurement of sebum excretion rate and skin temperature above and below the neurological lesion in paraplegic patients.

The sebum excretion rate (SER) was measured above and below the neurological lesion in seventeen male and four female paraplegic patients and at comparable sites in a similar number of age-matched controls. There was no significant difference between paraplegics and controls for forehead SER. For the thigh SER there was a highly significant difference between paraplegics and controls (t = 6.27:P less than 0.001), the level for paraplegics being twice that for controls. Simultaneous thigh skin temperature measurements showed no significant difference between paraplegics and controls.