Menstrual cycle and skin reactivity

The hypothesis was tested that a cyclic variation exists in skin reactivity to irritant stimuli. Twenty-nine healthy women with regular menstrual cycles were challenged with sodium lauryl sulfate as an irritant patch test at day 1 and at days 9 through 11 of the menstrual cycle. The skin response to the applied irritant stimulus was evaluated by visual scoring and also quantified by measurements of transepidermal water loss, edema formation, and blood flow in the skin. The skin response to challenge with sodium lauryl sulfate was found to be significantly stronger at day 1 than at days 9 through 11 in the menstrual cycle as evaluated by visual scoring (p less than 0.05) as well as by measurement of transepidermal water loss (p less than 0.05) and edema formation (p less than 0.005).