ABSTRACT
The oxygen supply of the skin can be evaluated by quantifying the transcutaneous oxygen pressure (tcpO2) with Clark electrodes (1). However, this measuring technique has a poor reproducibility when measuring tcpO2 at single points of the skin because of heterogeneity of skin and cutaneous oxygen supply. This corresponds to the heterogeneity of the arterioles, capillaries, and venules in the upper corium. The blood flow of these vessels can be visualized by using the laser Doppler perfusion imaging technique (2,3), but the laser Doppler signal allows only a restricted assertion about oxygen supply. In some diseases, for example chronic venous insufficiency, the laser Doppler signal may be increased and at the same time the tcpO2 may be decreased (4).
