Advanced tools for in vivo skin analysis

Abstract

A thorough examination of the skin is essential for accurate disease diagnostics, evaluation of the effectiveness of topically applied drugs and the assessment of the results of dermatologic surgeries such as skin grafts. Knowledge of skin parameters is also important in the cosmetics industry, where the effects of skin care products are evaluated. Due to significant progress in the electronics and computer industries, sophisticated analytic devices are increasingly available for day-to-day diagnostics. The aim of this article is to review several advanced methods for in vivo skin analysis in humans: magnetic resonance imaging, electron paramagnetic resonance, laser Doppler flowmetry and time domain reflectometry. The molecular bases of these techniques are presented, and several interesting applications in the field are discussed. Methods for in vivo assessment of the biomechanical properties of human skin are also reviewed.

Skin Viscoelasticity

“…The Cutometer allows the investigator to measure the amount of skin raised into a suction probe upon application of an operator-defined amount of constant negative pressure over an operator-defined amount of time and number of application/release cycles (time-strain mode). Changes in skin deformation are recorded optically (Cal et al, 2010), and analysis of the recorded measurement curves (see Figure 2) makes it possible to determine the elastic and plastic characteristics of the skin (C+K, 2005; Cua et al,1990). The Cutometer software allows for four operational modes, with the only difference being the means of negative pressure application, from Mode 1 with constant negative pressure to Mode 4 with pressure rising linearly and then stopping abruptly; researchers have used Mode 1 most extensively (C+K, 2005; Dobrev, 2005, 2007; Smalls et al, 2006).…”

The tissue viability imaging system—Suitable method for discovering minimal skin changes in occupational screenings? Results of a cross‐sectional field study

“…A number of bioengineering methods have been employed for the detection of early signs of hand eczema in an occupational screening setting. Several of these methods are supposed to enable a standardized qualitative and quantitative evaluation of skin diseases or follow‐up evaluation of therapeutic success . However, the comparisons of bioengineering methods such as TEWL and colorimetry during occupational screenings with the Hand Eczema Score for Occupational Screenings (HEROS) revealed only moderate accuracy concerning the estimation of disease severity, especially in the early stages of hand eczema …”

Influence of probe pressure when using MM‐wave open‐ended probe for diagnosis of the human skin

“…For many diagnostic applications this is an undesirable effect since it makes the measurements quite unstable, inaccurate and poorly repeatable. For some other applications, it might be a useful feature, for example, for the evaluation of mechanical properties of the skin which is very important in various fields of science [4]. In this letter we report a preliminary study to quantify this effect.…”