ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the currently available workups for evaluation and diagnosis of patients with sensitive skin from a practical clinical approach. The high prevalence and complex physiopathological origin of sensitive skin represent a challenge for dermatologists who face an increasing demand for the management of skin condition. Because the manifestations of skin sensitivity are mainly subjective and transient, symptoms self-reported by the patients through self-assessment questionnaires, along with an accurate clinical evaluation, remain the best methods of diagnosis. The chapter also presents the testing methods for sensitive skin: sensory reactivity tests, irritant reactivity tests and dermal function tests. Although dermal function tests are highly accurate quantitative methods, their use is mainly limited to the investigation field, as they are especially very time consuming and require expensive and specialized tools to be carried out in daily clinical practice.
