The objective evaluation of the severity of psoriatic scales with desquamation collecting tapes and image analysis

Abstract

Background: Assessment of psoriatic scales is important to determine the severity of psoriasis. However, there are very limited numbers of objective, quantitative and observer‐independent tools for measuring the severity of psoriasis. Objective: To determine whether the bioengineering parameters of the psoriatic scale can be used to assess the severity of psoriasis instead of the psoriatic severity index of scales (PSIs) score. Methods: Thirty‐four patients with psoriasis were included. A representative lesion from each patient was selected and bioengineering parameters were measured using the Corneofix^®. Simultaneously, the severity of the scales was assessed by the PSIs score using clinical photographs of the lesions. In addition, skin color and elasticity parameters were also measured using the Colorimeter^®, the Mexameter^® and the Cutometer^®. Results: Statistical differences in the scale parameters were observed between the PSIs 2 and 3 scores. Among the scale parameters, the percent area and area in μm² were negatively correlated with the PSIs score. In addition, the Colorimeter^®a, b parameters and the Cutometer^® R9 parameters were significantly correlated with the PSIs score. Conclusions: The results of this study showed that the severity of psoriatic scales could be measured objectively using the Corneofix^®.