Claims
- 1. A method of measuring an itch sensitivity of a skin surface of a subject patient, comprising:
- contacting a unitarily formed elongated stimulating monofilament having a curved, textured stimulating tip at a free end thereof with said skin surface of said subject patient such that said stimulating tip contacts said skin surface; and
- wherein each of a plurality of stimulating monofilaments of varying diameters is attached to one of a plurality of heads of a stimulating device, each of said plurality of heads being individually rotatable relative to one another into an operative position, and wherein said step of contacting a stimulating monofilament comprises:
- rotating one of said plurality of heads into said operative position such that said stimulating monofilament attached thereto is individually operable; and
- contacting said individually operable stimulating monofilament to said skin surface of said subject patient with increasing force until said individually operable stimulating monofilament bends at an acute angle to said skin surface;
- dragging said individually operable stimulating monofilament across said skin surface over at least a given distance while said stimulating tip is in contact with said skin surface; and
- recording a degree of itch rating of said subject patient responsive to a patient reaction to said step of dragging of said stimulating tip across said skin surface.
- 2. The method of measuring itch sensitivity according to claim 1, wherein said step of contacting a stimulating monofilament comprises repeating said steps of rotating, contacting and dragging each of said plurality of monofilaments individually, one-by-one, sequentially in order of diameter.
- 3. The method of measuring itch sensitivity according to claim 1, comprising applying said increasing force until said individually operable stimulating monofilament bends at a substantially 45.degree. angle to said skin surface.
- 4. The method of measuring itch sensitivity according to claim 3, wherein said force is applied to maintain said angle at substantially 45.degree. during said dragging step.
- 5. The method of measuring itch sensitivity according to claim 1, wherein said dragging step comprises dragging said bent stimulating monofilament across said skin surface both distally and proximally.
Parent Case Info
The present application is a divisional application of application Ser. No. 07/978,109, filed on Nov. 18, 1992, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,011, which was a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 07/860,900 filed on Mar. 31, 1992, now abandoned. The entire contents of application Ser. No. 07/860,900 are incorporated herein by reference.
US Referenced Citations (11)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
1641263A1 |
Apr 1991 |
SUX |
Non-Patent Literature Citations (2)
Entry |
Report entitled "Comparison of Three Antipruritics and a Vehicle" by Sidney Weinstein, Curt D. Weinstein and Ronald Drozdenko given at Alcon Laboratories, Inc., Apr. 29, 1980, pp. 1-8. |
Article entitled "Pocket Filaments and Specifications for the Semmes-Weinstein Monofilaments" by Judith Bell-Krotiski, published in the Journal of Hand Therapy, Jan.-Mar., 1990, pp. 26-30. |
Divisions (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
978109 |
Nov 1992 |
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Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
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Parent |
860900 |
Mar 1992 |
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