Color difference thresholds of maxillofacial skin replications.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to determine perceptibility and acceptability thresholds for color differences in light and dark skin-colored maxillofacial elastomers.


METHODS
A total of 15 pairs of light specimens (mimicking white, Asian, and Hispanic skin) and 15 pairs of dark specimens (mimicking African-American skin) were made using skin-colored maxillofacial silicone elastomers, combined with opacifiers and pigments. Color match/mismatch and acceptable/unacceptable mismatch of each pair of specimens were visually evaluated by 45 evaluators under controlled conditions of a viewing booth. Color differences were calculated using CIELAB and CIEDE2000 formulae. After calculating the model parameters, receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves and area under the ROC curve (AUC) were analyzed. Repeated measures ANOVA and Tukey's HSD test were used in a statistical analysis (alpha= 0.05).


RESULTS
CIELAB/CIEDE2000 perceptibility and acceptability thresholds for light specimens were 1.1/0.7 and 3.0/2.1, respectively. Corresponding values for dark specimens were 1.6/1.2 and 4.4/3.1, respectively. Differences in primary specimen color and type of threshold were found to be significant (p < 0.001). Only the primary specimen color effect was found to be significant in AUC comparisons.


CONCLUSIONS
Within the limitations of this study, both main effects of threshold type (perceptibility and acceptability) and primary color (light and dark) on 50:50% color-difference thresholds of colored maxillofacial elastomers were found significant for both color-difference formulae used (CIELAB, CIEDE2000). In addition, significant interaction between the two main effects was found, indicating a stronger effect of skin type on acceptability than perceptibility thresholds. Primary specimen color (light vs. dark) was found to be the only significant main effect on the AUC of ROC curves constructed from logistic regression.
Department of Restorative Dentistry and Biomaterials, The University of Texas Dental Branch at Houston, Houston, TX 77030-3402, USA. Rade.Paravina@uth.tmc.edu
Rade D
RD
Paravina
Goran
G
Majkic
Maria
M
Del Mar Perez
Sudarat
S
Kiat-Amnuay
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003118:Color Perception; D003124:Colorimetry / Q000379:methods; D004056:Differential Threshold; D006801:Humans; D008447:Maxillofacial Prosthesis; D015588:Observer Variation; D017797:Prosthesis Coloring / Q000592:standards*; D012372:ROC Curve; D012826:Silicone Elastomers; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
D012826:Silicone Elastomers