Daily Variations in Skin Surface Properties Using Mixed Model Methodology

Abstract

In order to explore the variations over the course of a day in certain skin biophysical properties, a study was conducted on 8 female volunteers. An assessment of several skin biophysical properties was carried out on the face and the volar forearm every 4 h over a period of 48 h. The biophysical parameters were assessed on the face for sebum secretion, skin surface pH, skin colour, transepidermal water loss, capacitance and skin surface temperature. The same parameters were measured on the volar forearm (excepted for sebum secretion). A statistical analysis based on mixed effect models was conducted. Four models, with different covariance structures, were successively tested. The analysis allowed us to identify a structure that repeated itself over time in the same way over each 24-hour period for capacitance on the forearm and for sebum secretion, skin surface pH and skin colour (L* and a* parameters) on the face. Mixed effect methodology is a powerful tool to analyse longitudinal data involving correlations among repeated measurements made on the same subject.