Facts and myths about electrical measurement of stratum corneum hydration state.

Some of the views presented in the chapter on 'Examination of stratum corneum hydration state by electrical methods' in Skin Bioengineering - Techniques and Applications in Dermatology and Cosmetology (Karger, 1998) are in strong disagreement with the results from basic research that has been conducted on skin impedance measurement over the last decades. This research has e.g. non-ambiguously shown that the frequency response of the stratum corneum does not obey the Cole equation and that measurement depth is strongly dependent on measurement frequency. One consequence of these findings is that multifrequency electrical measurements on stratum corneum are impossible to achieve in vivo with any electrode system known today. Hence, electrical measurements of stratum corneum hydration must be conducted at one single, low frequency.