Figure 3

Skin symptoms in IAD patients after the switch to the skin-adapted brief design. Skin symptoms in 12 patients with pre-existing IAD were followed for 21 days after incontinence products had been switched to the new skin-adapted version. A: Illustration of the number of patients with IAD-associated skin lesions over the 21 day observation period. At the beginning 12 patients had skin lesions. After 21 days, 8 patients were free of skin symptoms while 4 patients were still affected. B: The skin severity score (see material and methods) was recorded for the observational period. There was a quick response in the skin severity score after the change to the skin-adapted diaper design within the first week. The score remained rather stable during the second week and a major improvement occurred between days 14 and 21 reflecting the clearing of skin symptoms in 8 patients. In one patient lesions progressed from exuding erythema to lesions in which infection was suspected. C: The size of the lesions was compared between the start and at the end of the observational period. 3 patients with disseminated skin lesions had to be excluded from the analysis. In the remaining 9 patients the size of the lesions regressed significantly.