In vivo skin imaging for hydration and micro relief-measurement

Abstract

We present the results of our work with device used for measurement of skin capacitance before and after application of moisturizing creams and results of experiment performed on cellulose filter papers soaked with different solvents. The measurements were performed by a device built on capacitance sensor, which provides an investigator with a capacitance image of the skin. The capacitance values are coded in a range of 256 gray levels then the skin hydration can be characterized using parameters derived from gray level histogram by specific software. The images obtained by device allow a highly precise observation of skin topography. Measuring of skin capacitance brings new, objective, reliable information about topographical, physical and chemical parameters of the skin. The study shows that there is a good correlation between the average grayscale values and skin hydration. In future works we need to complete more comparison studies, interpret the average grayscale values to skin hydration levels and use it for follow-up of dynamics of skin micro-relief and hydration changes (Fig. 6, Ref. 15).