Measurement of Sebum Secretion Using a Lipid Absorbent Tape

A lipid absorbent tape(Sebutape®)is a new device for measurement of skin surface lipid I have tested the utility of lipid absorbent tape method for the measurement of sebum secretion rates of 20 healthy adult males comparing with conventional hexane extraction technique. The results are as follows :

1) The average amount of total sebum collected using lipid absorbent tape technique and hexane extraction technique were 109.20±43.89µg/3hrs/cm² and 113.94±47.l2µg/3hrs/cm² respectively. and the correlated well(r=0.93).

2) The 2 techniques were in good accord with reference to their efficacy in collection of free fatty acid(r=0.55). triglyceride(r=0.76). wax and cholesterol esters(r=0.91), and squlaene (r=0.89) from the surface of the skin, but the correlation of cholesterol(r=0.17) was poor.

3) Lipid absorbent tape furnished a good means of visualization of the droplets produced by individual follicles.

Above results indicate that the lipid absorbent tape provide a new convenient technique for the measurement of sebum secretion rate and quantitation of components of skin surface lipids.