Skin Tension Lines

About

This system is likely also to be of use in assessing the efficacy of cosmetic products. Ageing and photodamage can degrade collagen in the dermis. This degradation is likely to affect the mechanical anisotropy of the skin. Currently, the efficacy of anti-ageing products whose purpose is to alleviate age based skin wrinkles by stimulating collagen synthesis is primarily assessed by quantifying clinical changes in appearance. While in-vivo mechanical testing devices do exist such as cutometers or reviscometers, these devices have limitations. Cutometers ignore the mechanical anisotropy of the skin and reviscometers require multiple repeat tests at any one anatomical site to measure the collagen fiber orientation. Our system requires only one test at any given anatomical site to record collagen fiber orientation and could be used to measure the impact of anti-ageing products on skin over time by quantifying changes in skin firmness and mechanical anisotropy.