Capacitance imaging of the skin surface.
OBJECTIVE
A new device allowing recording capacitance images of the skin surface was recently presented. Parameters, extracted from the gray-level histogram of the images, are tested for a new approach of skin surface hydration measurement in comparison with the classical capacitance method. Illustration of the interest of having both images and parameters for studying the homogeneity and the level of skin surface hydration are presented.


METHODS
Software for selecting a region of interest from an image and measuring the parameters derived from its gray-level histogram was used to characterize skin hydration.


RESULTS
There is a very close correlation between a Corneometer and the parameters extracted from the SkinChip measurements. The importance of having capacitance images of skin is demonstrated in case of non-homogeneity of the skin hydration, either because of photoaging or following an inflammation process.


CONCLUSIONS
Capacitance imaging is a necessary tool for both completely describing and quantifying skin surface hydration.
Batisse
Dominique
D
L'Oréal Recherche, Chevilly Larue, Clichy, France.
Giron
Franck
F
Lévêque
Jean Luc
JL
D003872:Dermatitis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D025802:Electric Capacitance; D004566:Electrodes; D004568:Electrodiagnosis / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D012867:Skin / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D012869:Skin Absorption; D014159:Transducers