Skin image processing and skin characterizations

Abstract

The skin hydration and skin Trans epidermal water loss (TEWL) are of great importance in many skin research areas, such as dermatology, clinical analysis, pharmacology and cosmetic science etc. However, to measure them is not easy. Over the year , our research group has developed three novel technologies for such measurement : Opto Thermal Transient Emission Radiometry (OTTER), AquaFlux and capacitive contact imaging based on the Fingerprint sensor. The aim of this research is to develop new skin image processing and data analysis techniques for capacitive contact images, as well as digital colour images, and to develop new methodologies for skin characterization by using the three technologies. For skin image processing, a new GUI based MATLAB programme has been developed, which can be used for extracting and analysing the images from the result files created by the measurement instruments. The programme implement the skin image processing techniques such as image enhancement (i.e. brightness equalization, extraction of skin texture, hair removal), image stitching, image matching and skin surface 3D profiling etc. Another image processing programme based on OpenCV has also been developed, which is more suitable for real time video processing, including contour detection, texture extraction and face detection etc. For the skin characterization, several experiments are conducted: skin over hydration experiments; kin damage assessment including intensive washing, SLS irritations, and tape stripping; dermabrasion experiments; soap drying effect assessment. These experiments provide better understandings of the technologies. The occlusion effects in capacitive images shows good potential for skin damage assessment, as it can not only reflect the scale of damage, but also the types of damage