Acne:in vivomorphologic study of lesions and surrounding skin by means of reflectance confocal microscopy

Abstract

The fast and reliable characterization of acne lesions and identification of subclinical alterations in acne-prone skin through confocal examination, corresponding to infundibular hyper-keratinization, may have important clinical consequences in the assessment of acne severity, therapeutic decisions and treatment efficacy monitoring.

Confocal microscopy in adult women with acne

“…The apparently healthy skin of acne patients has been studied by RCM by Manfredini et al . in 25 patients with mild to moderate acne . However, the studied population was younger than our patients, aged between 14 and 27 years.…”

“…The total number of hair follicles per cube was counted in each group at a mean depth of 38 μ m. The studied features were: diameter of the infundibulum, aspect of the border (thickness), onion‐like appearance, presence of amorphous material into the infundibulum, signs of inflammation, vascularization, and presence of Demodex mites (Fig. ) …”

“…Morphological features of acne lesion and normal skin of acne patients have first been described by Manfredini et al . in 2015 using RCM . They showed subclinical alterations in the morphology of the pilosebaceous unit, with infundibular hyper keratinization and plugs of keratin on apparently healthy skin of acne patients without differentiating teenagers and adults.…”

Identification of ex‐vivo confocal scanning microscopic features and their histological correlates in human skin

“…In the last decade the confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) or reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) has developed into a widespread und useful diagnostic method in dermatology and other fields of medicine, as well as in various research areas. It has been successfully used mainly in the field of dermato‐oncology but also in inflammatory dermatoses and therapeutic monitoring .…”

Caracterização da pele fotoenvelhecida, desenvolvimento e eficácia clínica de formulações dermocosméticas por técnicas de biofísica e análise de imagem

“…As imagens obtidas pelo microscópio confocal permitem a avaliação de características cutâneas tais como espessura das diferentes camadas da epiderme, identificação de áreas hiperqueratóticas na epiderme superficial, visualização de células de queimadura, aspecto superficial da pele, organização dos queratinócitos, alterações no padrão de pigmentação, quantidade de papilas dérmicas por área, formato dos contornos das papilas dérmicas, tamanho das glândulas sebáceas, e estrutura da rede de colágeno, contagem e tamanho de poros e microcomedões, características da acne (KAWASAKI;YAMANISHI;YAMADA, 2015;MANFREDINI et al, 2015;SAUERMANN et al, 2002;ULRICH et al, 2009;WURM et al, 2012;XIANG et al, 2015).…”