Assessment of erythema in irritant contact dermatitis

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Abstract
Assessment of erythema in experimentally‐induced irritant contact dermatitis has been performed visually and using the laser Doppler flowmeter (LDF). A close correlation was shown between the 2 methods (r= 0.9079, p < 0.001), with the LDF producing menu blood flow values which were able to discriminate between the different visual scores. Of the 100 patch tests evaluated, 3 gave poor correlations between their visual and LDF readings, including 2 dithranol reactions and 1 sodium hydroxide response. Patch tests with no visible erythema had blood flow values similar to those of normal untreated skin. Although the LDH was an easy instrument to operate, it was not considered suitable for use in the routine patch lest clinic, due mainly to the unacceptable length of time required to measure each patch test.