Surface area measurements of psoriatic corneocytes: effects of intralesional steriod therapy.

Quantitative measurements of surface areas of corneocytes from the desquamating portion of psoriatic lesions in 11 patients showed that psoriatic corneocytes were much smaller (27%) than corneocytes from noninvolved normal skin in the same patients. Corneocyte surface areas gradually increased in size following one intralesional injection of triamcinolone acetonide suspension and were almost normal approximately 6 weeks after treatment. These findings support other observations suggesting that rapidly proliferating epidermal cells have smaller surface areas than normal cells.