Objective: To investigate changes in skin elasticity according to the severity of symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.

Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease caused by alpha-synucleinopathy. The cardinal symptoms of PD are caused by the loss of dopaminergic cells in substantia pars compacta. However, it has been known that Lewy bodies could be found not only in the brain, but also in the gastrointestinal tract or skin. The accumulation of lewy bodies in skin could affect the diverse biophysical characteristics of skin. We investigate the association of severity of Parkinson’s disease and skin elasticity.

Method: In 46 patients with PD, skin elasticity was measured in forearm and thigh using the Dermalab combo®. Young’s modulus (MPa) and retraction time (ms) were measured at each position. Patients were categorized into three groups according to HY stage (1, 2, and 3). We compared the skin elasticity among three groups.

Results: The disease duration, unified parkinsons’ disease rating scale (UPDRS) part III score, and Levodopa dosage were significantly higher in the the Hoehn Yahr (HY) stage 3 group. The Young’s modulus in the forearm and thigh showed significant difference among three groups. In addition, retraction time was significantly positive trend according to HY stage (P for trend <0.05). However, there was significantly negative trend between HY stage and Young’s modulus (P for trend <0.05). Especially, despite the similar age between HY stage 2 and 3 group, skin elasticity was significantly lower in HY stage 3 group.

Conclusion: Although this is a preliminary study, it showed that skin elasticity decreased as the severity of PD increased. Skin elasticity could be reduced by the aging process. However, in our study, skin elasticity in HY stage 3 was lower than skin elasticity in HY stage 2 group despite similar age group. The cause of the decrease in skin elasticity according to the severity of PD has not been clearly elucidated. However, higher deposition of alpha-synuclein in the skin in later stage of PD could be contributed to our finding.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/impact-of-the-severity-of-parkinsons-disease-on-skin-elasticity/