Skin Measurement

     In recent years, exciting advances have been made regarding both wound bed and surrounding skin measurement. We are just beginning to quantify, characterize, and measure different aspects of chronic wounds and pathophysiology that occur in what we perceive as normal tissue repair. Areas with substantial progress include new imaging technologies, biochemical assessment of the wound bed, and physical measurement of surrounding skin. The use of new devices, which range from sophisticated and highly-engineered technologies to the scientific evaluation of wound assessment has paved the way for improvements in wound care product development that address the common problems of wound inflammation and bacterial burden control.      This issue focused on Skin Measurement presents research from different aspects regarding the factors that affect wound healing with the objective of enhancing the physical parameters related to tissue repair. Determining which of these factors has the greatest impact on diseased and healthy skin is essential in identifying new preventative strategies and therapeutic approaches.      Bertone et al present research on objective quantification of granulation tissue improvement by means of a laser scanning system, which was recently validated for use in wound management. The software system is able to create a color defragmentation and has a potential application in dermatology. The authors are testing a collagen-based biologic dressing on hard-to-heal venous leg ulcers and found there was substantial improvement during treatment.      Veraldi et al have focused their research on measuring the impact of mycological infection on chronic wounds. This is a substantial issue, both in dermatology and in wound management, but from the authors final evaluation, it now seems clear that there is no influence between this type of skin infection and the tissue repair process.      Dini et al also transfer a dermatological instrumentation into the wound assessment field. The authors have investigated the use of transepidermal water loss (TEWL) measurement on the surrounding skin of venous leg ulcers and pressure ulcers during treatment with a barrier film. The device used here is extremely portable and accurate for multiple assessments. This device has the potential for new and interesting applications in the near future.      The final contribution reports on a new portable device for 2-D and 3-D wound area and volume assessments. Different wounds were monitored with the portable laser scanner system, which has excellent intra- and inter-observer reproducibility. The system is also able to communicate between different centers in order to keep long distance end users in contact with the center of excellence.      I thank the contributors to this issue for their strong effort in producing and preparing such quality technical research on skin and wound measurement.