HUMIDITY OF AIR AND WATER VAPOUR LOSS OF SKIN - CHANGING PERMEABILITY

The water vapour loss of the skin decreases as the environmental air is more humid. This decrease is less than could be expected when Pick's law of diffusion through membranes is applied, because the skin’s permeability increases as the ambient humidity increases. The increase of the permeability can only partly compete with the decrease of the water vapour loss. As a result the decrease of the water vapour loss is mitigated with increasing humidity of the air. The factors governing these phenomena have been followed quantitatively by measurements on a piece of cadaverous human skin of the back. The results are represented graphically. The influence of natural circumstances in the temperate climate of the Netherlands are considered. © 1969 S. Karger AG, Basel.