Non contact method for in vivo assessment of skin mechanical properties for assessing effect of ageing

G Boyer,C Pailler Mattei,J Molimard,M Pericoi,S Laquieze,H Zahouani

doi:10.1016/j.medengphy.2011.07.007

Abstract

The assessment of human tissue properties by objective and quantitative devices is very important to improve the understanding of its mechanical behaviour. The aim of this paper is to present a non contact method to measure the mechanical properties of human skin in vivo.A complete non contact device using an air flow system has been developed. Validation and assessment of the method have been performed on inert visco-elastic material. An in vivo study on the forearm of two groups of healthy women aged of 23.2±1.6 and 60.4±2.4 has been performed. Main parameters assessed are presented and a first interpretation to evaluate the reduced Young's modulus is proposed.Significant differences between the main parameters of the curve are shown with ageing. As tests were performed with different loads, the influence of the stress is also observed. We found a reduced Young's modulus with an air flow force of 10mN of 14.38±3.61kPa for the youngest group and 6.20±1.45kPa for the oldest group. These values agree with other studies using classical or dynamic indentation. Non contact test using the developed device gives convincing results.

Highlights

The knowledge of the human tissue mechanical properties is important for many research fields
The aim of this paper is to propose a new specific non contact device based on a controlled air flow system and a high speed triangulation laser measurement
TG2 has been calculated between a time of 0.1–0.2 s after the cut of the air flow

Summary

Introduction

The knowledge of the human tissue mechanical properties is important for many research fields. Information obtained can be used for example in the medical domain to compare healthy and diseased tissues, in order to continuously assess the evolution of a drug therapy. Another case where the objective measurement of the tissue properties is interesting is the cosmetic domain. The aim is here to compare the tissues before and after a product application in order to evaluate a potential improvement of the properties of the skin, generally rejuvenation In this case, the knowledge of the properties of the skin with ageing is important in order to have a database for the URL: http://www.peritesco.com

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