Thermographic mapping of the skin surface in biometric evaluation of cellulite treatment effectiveness.
BACKGROUND
Cellulite is one of the worst tolerated aesthetic imperfections. Edema that accompanies cellulite causes disorders of blood flow what may be observed as changes in the skin surface temperature. The aim of this paper was to develop a new method based on the analysis and processing of thermal images of the skin for biometric evaluation of severity of cellulite and monitoring its treatment.


METHODS
The observations of the treatment effects were conducted on 10 females (33.4 ± 6.4 years). Thermal images of the volunteers' thighs were captured before starting the therapy (T0). In the following stages: T1, T2, and T3, thermal images were captured 2 weeks after the first, second and third Alidya treatment administration, respectively. Profiled algorithms were developed to determine the mean Grey Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM) contrast in the acquired thermograms.


RESULTS
The mean GLCM contrast for the phase T0was 70.91, and for the stages T1, T2, and T3: 57.78, 41.80, and 38.53, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
The use of proposed method (GLCM contrast) enables biometric evaluation of the effectiveness of cellulite treatment. Traditionally used parameters of infrared analysis such as local points of the maximum and minimum temperature or the median temperatures are not useful in thermal, biometric evaluation of anti-cellulite preparations.
School of Pharmacy with the Division of Laboratory Medicine in Sosnowiec, Department of Basic Biomedical Science, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Sosnowiec, Poland.
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S
Wilczyński
Department of Biomedical Computer Systems, Faculty of Computer Science and Materials Science, Institute of Computer Science, University of Silesia, Sosnowiec, Poland.
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Koprowski
School of Pharmacy with the Division of Laboratory Medicine in Sosnowiec, Department of Skin Structural Studies, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Sosnowiec, Poland.
A
A
Deda
Department of Medicine, Katowice School of Economics, Katowice, Poland.
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M
Janiczek
School of Pharmacy with the Division of Laboratory Medicine in Sosnowiec, Department of Basic Biomedical Science, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Sosnowiec, Poland.
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N
Kuleczka
School of Pharmacy with the Division of Laboratory Medicine in Sosnowiec, Department of Basic Biomedical Science, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Sosnowiec, Poland.
B
B
Błońska-Fajfrowska
D000328:Adult; D001699:Biometry / Q000379:methods*; D000071697:Cellulite / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D016903:Drug Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D000960:Hypolipidemic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012881:Skin Temperature / Q000187:drug effects*; D013817:Thermography / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D000960:Hypolipidemic Agents
Alidya; GLCM contrast; biomedical imaging; cellulite; gynoid lipodystrophy; thermography