Korean J Dermatol.
1997 Apr;35(2):292-302.
Evaluation of Skin Furrows in the Ageing Process using an Image Analysis System
Abstract
- BACKGROUND
The confgurations of the skin surface, as characterized by surface furrows and plateaux, are known to change with ageing. There are many parameters to analyze the effects of ageing processes on the surface configuration. However, there are contradictory results among the authors.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to compare the sensitivity of various parameters being described in other reports with our new parameters used in evaluating the changes of the skin surface in the agein processes.
METHODS
112 healthy Korean males in 4 age groups participated in this study. Silicon skin replicas were taken from medial and lateral aspects of the forearm. Images of the skin replicas were analyzed by means of a digital image processing system (AIC, GA). Most parameters were calculated and measured in the primary skin axis. Image analyses were porformed by 3 different processes i.e., morphometry, densitometry (optical profilometry), and histograms.
RESULTS
In Morphometry, the furrow count in the vertical section (VFC), the coefficient of the developed skin surface (CDSS) and mean width at maximal interception (MWMI) showed a tendencies to decrease with ageing.Irregularity of shadow shape (ISS) showed a tendency to increase with ageing. In Densitometry, the mean surface roughness(Ra) and mean depth of roughness(Rz) showed a tendency to increase with ageing. On histogram analysis, skewness was decreased with ageing but kurtosis did not show any significant changes.
CONCLUSION
Ra, Rz, and ISS have shown a tendency to increase in the ageing processes (p<0. 05). VFC, CDSS, MWMI and skewness showed tendencies to decrease with ageing but the results were not statistically significant. The different results between morphometry and densitometry are likely to be due to increrr ent angles in the skin furrows with ageing.
