Lasers and optical imaging are all the rage for assessing skin barrier

What started out as a method used in the medical and pharmacology sectors, is now moving into cosmetic applications as the techniques used to image the skin to assess wound healing or treat burns are transferrable.

Impressive examples of new non-invasive optical techniques using lasers, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), and spectroscopic methods to probe and render images from beneath the surface of the skin are now being used in a wide variety of medical and cosmetic applications, and as such, has been a focus in the Journal of Biomedical Optics​.

Skin barrier​

"The skin is the biggest organ of the body, and serves as its barrier to the environment,"​ notes Special Section Guest Editor Jürgen Lademann of the Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin.

"It provides protection against water loss, keeps micro-organisms from invading the body, and responds sensitively to external stimuli. As a sensory organ, the skin is an essential means of interpersonal communication."​

Lademann explains that because they are easily accessible, the skin barrier and the underlying living cell layers are ideal subjects for investigation by optical and spectroscopic methods using light-based technologies that work from outside the body.

Technologies​

Technologies such as fluorescence, reflectance, laser scanning microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy enable identification of tissues and fluids based on how their specific physical and chemical properties cause them to react to different wavelengths of light.

Optical imaging methods have become increasingly popular in the field of pharmacology, specifically for investigating the penetration of topically applied substances into and through the skin barrier, and this is now finding its way into cosmetic application.

Other uses are imaging blood flow and analyzing the wound healing processes.

The special section features in the journal published by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics.