A Method for the Measurement of the Thermal Conductivity of Human Skin

¹ From the Department of Medical Physics of the University of Nijmegen, Nijmegen, and the Department of Medical Physics of the University of Utrecht, Utrecht, Holland

A method for the measurement of the thermal conductivity of human skin is described which has hitherto not been applied for this purpose. If two homogeneous solids with different but uniform initial temperatures, T₁ and T₂, are brought into contact with each other the temperature of the contact surface gets a value T_c between T₁ and T₂ which is independent of time but depends on T₁ and T₂ and the product c of the two solids, , and c being thermal conductivity, density and specific heat, respectively. From the knowledge of T₁, T₂, T_c and c of one of both solids c of the other solid can be calculated. In the experiments described a piece of glass with known thermal properties was used. The initial temperature of the glass equaled room temperature. This piece of glass was brought into contact with the skin and the temperature of the contact surface was measured by means of a thermofoil. The initial skin temperature was measured with a similar thermofoil. From these data, c of the skin was calculated. For the skin of the inner forearm of three subjects at a room temperature of 23–25°C, c = 1.4 ± 0.2 x 10^–3 cal²/cm⁴sec.°C² has been found. The influence of the inhomogeneity of the skin on the measured value of is discussed.

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