Quantification of skin aging by three-dimensional measurement of skin surface contour

Tateki Uchida, Takashi Komeda, Masao Miyagi, Hiroyuki Koyama, Hiroyasu Funakubo Center of Education & Research Shibaura Institute of Technology
307 Fukasaku, Omiya-city, Saitama 330, Japan
ABSTRACT been investigated in relation to aging [l], quantification of skin aging had not succeeded adequately. Our study is aiming to find a quantitative relation between skin aging and skin surface contours. However, it is difficult to measure the human skin surface directly due to the movement of human body. In our study a measuring object is a negative replica of the skin surface. Using an optical measuring system, we measured the skin surface contours of male subjects and also analyzed the skin surface contours by two-dimensional Fourier Transform in order to obtam the quantitative parameter of sk

In order to quantify the skin aging, the skin surface contours

for 72 male subjects from in his 20s to in his 60s were measured three-dimensionally and analyzed by twodimensional Fourier Transform method. The measuring part of the body was the back of the hand. The results of the three-dimensional measurements showed that the pattern composed of longitudinal, oblique, and transverse ridges on i t h age. the skin surface changed w The results of two dimensional Fourier analysis of skin surface contours showed,that the skin surface contours of young male subjects included much of high spatial frequency components while the skin surface contours of aged male subjects included low spatial frequency components mainly. The aging parameter for 72 male subjects, which expressed the skin aging quantitatively, was calculated by summing up the Fourier coefficients within a specified area on the X-Y spatial frequency plane. The aging parameter decreased with age. However the aging parameter showed wide scattering. This wide scattering might be caused by the low frequency components such as the waviness or the inclination of the skin surface itself. The wide scattering of the aging parameter will be removed by applying the high pass digital filter to the skin surface contours.

In this paper we describe Its of three-dimensional measurements of skin surface contours for the back of the hand of male subjects from in his 20s to 60s. We also describe the results of the frequency analysis of the skin surface contours by two-dimensional Fourier Transform and the aging paiameter obtained from the results of Fourier analysis, which expresses the skin aging quantitatively
2. MEASURING SYSTEM FOR SKIN SURFACE CONTOUR
Our measuring system needs twenty or thirty minutes to measure a skin surface contour and the accuracy of measurement is required to be 1 pm. Therefore it is difficult to measure a human skin surface directly and accurately due to the movements of a human body during the measurement. In our study a measuring object is a negative replica of skin surface which is made of silicone rubber.

1. INTRODUCTION In recent years the population of aged people in Japan has increased greatly and Japan is becoming an aged society rapidly. Now much attention is being paid to aging. Especially quantitative evaluation of the degree of aging is required while many scientists are trying to elucidate the mechanism of aging itself. In our study we focus on the skin aging because skin plays an important role as barrier to the surroundings outside our body. Skin is also important from the view point of beauty culture and the quantification of the skin aging is significant.
Physiological and morphological characteristics of the facial skin such as skin surface conductance, skin color, skin surface microtopographyby means of image and so forth, had

Fig.1 shows the constnicti of our tluee-dimensional measuring system for skin suiface c
system consists of a laser measuri

sliding table, and a personal computer. The laser measuring instrument is a kind of range finder and it consists of a measuring probe and a control unit. According to the command from the control unit, laser beam is emitted from the measuring probe and reflects on the surface of a measuring object. Reflected laser beam is focused on the PSD (Position Sensitive Device) photodetector inside the measuring probe and the PSD photodetector detects the

0-7803-3280-6/96/$5.00

1996 IEEE

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laser measuring instrument

for X-Y sliding table

Fig. 1 Construction of three-dimensionaloptical measuring system for skin surface contour

position of the laser beam on the PSD photodetector. Using this position data of the laser beam, the control unit calculates the distance between the PSD photodetector and the surface of the measuring object based on the triangulation method. Therefore, the laser measuring instrument allows us to measure the distance between the measuring instrument and a certain point on the surface of the replica where the laser beam reflects. Table.1 shows the specifications of the laser measuring instrument. The resolution of the measuring instrument is 0.1 pm and the diameter of the laser beam is about 40 pm.
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3. THREE-DIMENSIONAL MEASUREMENTS OF SKIN SURFACE CONTOUR

3.1 Method The measuring pait of the body is the back of the hand because our preliminary experiments showed that the s k 5 surface contour of the back of the hand expressed most close relation to aging. Subjects are male from in his 20's to 60's. The total number of subjects is 72. In this study we selected the subjects who were mainly engaged in desk work indoors. The skin surfaces of the subjects, who have been working mainly outdoors, have been damaged by ultraviolet. Photoaging will be much disturbance for us to observe the pure aging of skin. Therefore we selected such subjects as staff of some universities or research laboratories of some companies to remove as much effect of photo-aging as possible from the skin surface.

When we carry out a three-dimensional measurement of a skin surface contour, the negative replica of a skin surface is fixed to the X-Y sliding table. The three-dimensional surface contour of the negative replica is measured With the laser measuring instrument by scanning the surface of the replica two-dimensionally with the X-Y sliding table. Positioning accuracy of the X-Y sliding table is 1 pm.Measured data of the skin surface contour are transferred to the personal computer and the skin surface contour is displayed on the CRT. The X-Y sliding table and the laser measuring instrument are controlled by the personal computer through YO port or RS-232C interface respectively.

The skin surface contour vanes depending on the tension applied to the skin. The skin surface contour of the back of the hand varies depending on the bending angles of a wrist and fingers and the experimental condition has to be kept constant. Therefore, when a negative replica of the back of the hand is taken from the subjects, the subjects are required to keep their wrist as straight as possible and close their fist lightly with a tennis ball inside. The measuring range of a skin surface is 5 mm square around the center of the replica and the measuring interval is 20 pin in both X and Y direction. The total number of measured points for one replica is 251 ~251=63001.

Table. 1 Specifications of laser measuring instrument

Measuring range Resolution Laser beam diameter Working distance Output power

I"[
bml [pm]

0.4 0.1 40
12

I"[
rmwl

0.2

3.2 Result and Discussion Fig.2 shows the skin surface contour of a typical subject of each age group from in his 20's to 60's. This figure shows the surfaces of negative replicas. Therefore the ridges and furrows are inverted. These ridges in this figure correspond

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to the f k o w s of human skin surface. In each figure, right side is the finger direction and left side is the wrist direction.
As showii in fig.2(a), the skin surface of the male subject

of the subject in his 20s. In fig.Z(c), the skin surface of the male subject in his 40s mainly consisted of longitudinal ridges, but the number of the longitudinal ridges decreased compared with the young subjects. Transverse and oblique ridges were very low aiid the skin surface between ridges became smooth
As shown in fig.2(d), the ridges of the male subject in his 50s were lower and more round than those of the subject

in his 20s showed high and clear longitudinal ridges and also showed oblique and transverse ridges. The height of these ridges was about 100 pm and the interval between two longitudinal ridges was about 1 mm. We could easily recognize that the skin surface of the young subject showed a clear pattern composed of ridges. hi fig.2(b), the skin surface of the male subject in his 30s still showed longitudinal, oblique, and transverse ridges. However the ridges were lower and more round than those

in his 40s and the skin surface between ridges became smoother.
As shown in fig.2(e), the skin surface of the male subject in

his 60s showed a few of longitudinal ridges. However they were very low and the pattem composed of ridges almost disappeared, and the total skin surface became very smooth The skin surface contours of 72 subjects were measured and the skin surface contours of each age group showed the similar pattem. However some variations between individuals existed. The skin surfaces of some young subjects showed low ridges. However their skin surface pattenis composed of longitudinal, oblique, and transverse ridges appeared and they were very similar to the pattems of the typical young subjects above-mentioned. The skin surfaces of some aged subjects showed high and wide longitudinal

(a) a male subject in his 20s

(b) a male subject in his 30s

Fig.2 Skin surface contours of male subjects

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ridges which seemed to be a kind of wrinkles. However such high longitudinal ridges were only a few and transverse and oblique ridges almost disappeared. Furthermore their skin surfaces between longitudinal ridges were very smooth. Therefore the skin surface pattern composed of longitudinal, oblique and transverse ridges almost disappeared, 2nd their skin surface patterns were very similar to the patterns of the typical aged subjects. From these results, we confirmed that the skin surface pattern composed of ridges changed with age.

4.2 Result and Discussion Fig.3 shows the results of Fourier analysis for 5 typical subjects from in his 20s to ~ O S ,which correspond to the skin surface contours of the typical subjects in fig.2.

In this figure, high peaks appeared in the low frequency area around 0 Hz. These high peaks correspond to the low frequency components such as the waviness or the curve of the skin surface itself and the inclination of the replica on the X-Y sliding table. The sidelobes of these high peaks also appeared especially along the X and Y axes on the spatial frequency plane. Therefore the difference between age groups is not clear.
As shown fig.3(a), however, the result of frequency analysis

4. FOURIER ANALYSIS OF SKIN SURFACE CONTOURS

In order to obtain the quantitative parameter of skin aging, we analyzed the skin surface contours by two-dimensional Fourier Transfomi method.
4.1 Method According to the formula (1) we calculated the Fourier coefficients F( m,n) by integrating the measured data within the measuring range. The Fourier coefficients F(m,n) of the spatial frequencies from 0 Hz to 25 Hz were obtained at the spatial frequency interval of 0.1 Hz for the X and Y axes. The spatial frequency of 1 Hz means a sine wave with a spatial period of 5 mm.

for the young subject in his 20s showed many low peaks in the high frequency area around from 5 Hz to 20 Hz of both X and Y axes. These low peaks were considered to show the frequency components which corresponded to the ridges on the skin surface.
As shown fig.3(e), the result of frequency analysis for the

aged subject in his 60s showed that peaks concentrated in the low frequency area around 0 Hz and that the height of peaks became lower than that of the young subject. The low peaks for the young subjects appeared in larger area than the aged subjects, especially in high frequency area of the X and Y axes. On the other hand, the high frequency area w i t h no

e-2njX

= cos2jcY

-j sin2sY
it

nr [ H z ] : spatial frequency of the X axis

d,x [pm] : measuring interval in the X direction

[Hz] : spatial frequency of the Y axis

dy [ p i ] : measuring interval in the Y direction y [pin] : Y coordinate of measuring point

( y=ld.v )

. x [pm] : X coordinate of measuring point ( x=kdx )

21 [pm] : measuring range in the X direction

N [ p i ] : measuring range in the Y direction

El

total number of measured p i n t s in the X direction

: total number of measured points in the Y direction

S(X>Y) IpmI : measured value of skin surface contour at the position of the coordinates ( . x , y )

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(a) a male subject in his 20s

(d) a male subject in his 50s

(b) a male subject in his 30s

(e) a male subject in his 60s

(c) a male subject in his 40s Fig.3 Fourier analysis of skin surface contours
peaks for the aged subjects was larger compared with the young subjects. Therefore we confirmed that the result of Fourier analysis changed with age.
5. AGING PARAMETER

coeficients within a specified area on the spatial frequency plane.

As shown in fig.4, the tlueshold frequency xo or yo was determined on the spatial frequency plane and the area was specified so as to be the area of the frequencies more than the ) the X and Y axes same threshold frequency ( X O ~ Oof

We tried to obtain the aging parameter from the results of Fourier analysis which could express the skin aging quantitatively.
5.1 Method The aging parameter was obtained from the result of the twodimensional Fourier Transfonn by summing up the Fourier

In other words, the aging parameter was calculated by summing up the all Fourier coefficients in the area of the frequencies more than the threshold frequency on the spatial frequency plane.

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Spatial fiequency of X axis

1.8

B [
m
M

lS
1.2
0

% 0.9

d 9

0 . 6
0.3 20

3
25 [I

30

40

50

60

70

age

Fig.4 Specified area for aging parameter xo : threshold frequency of X axis yo : threshold frequency of Y axis
The threshold frequency was changed from 0 Hz to 24 Hz at the frequency interval of 1 Hz and 25 aging parameters were calculated for 72 male subjects. However, the aging parameter for one threshold frequency could not be compared directly with other aging parameters for other threshold frequencies because the value of the aging parameter for a large specified area was much larger than the aging parameter for a small specified area. Therefore, the aging paranieter, which was divided by the average value of the aging parameter for 72 male subjects, was employed finally.

Fig.5 Aging parameter

Fourier Transform (DFT) method within the fmite interval. In order to obtain the appropriate aging parameter with less scattering, therefore, the low frequency components have to be removed from the skin surface contours by ineans of high pass digital filter.
6. CONCLUSION

The skin surface contours of the back of the hand for 72 male subjects from in his 20s to in his 60s were measured. The results of the measurements showed that the patteni composed of ridges on the skin surface changed with age and that the skin surface contours of aged subjects became smooth. Analyzing the skin surface contours by two-dimensional Fourier Transform, we found that the skin surface contours oi young subjects showed much of high spatial frequency components compared with aged subjects. The aging parameter, which was obtained from the result of two-dimensional Fourier analysis, showed wide scattering. This wide scattering may be caused by the low frequency components such as the waviness of skin surface itself. This scattering will be removed by applying the high pass digital filter to the slun surface contours.
7. REFERENCES

5.2 Result and Discussion Among the 25 aging parameters which were calculated by changing the threshold frequency at the frequency interval of 1 Hz,the aging parameter for the threshold fiequency of 12.5 Hz showed the best correlation with age.
Fig5 shows the value of the aging parameter for 72 male subjects, which was obtained by summing up the Fourier coefficients within the specified area of the frequencies more than the threshold frequency of 12.5 Hz As shown in fig.5, the aging parameter decreased with age. However the aging parameter showed wide scattering especially among the young subjects. This scattering may be caused mainly by the low frequency components such as the waviness or the inclination of the skin surface itself. As shown in fig.3, the results of Fourier analysis showed high peaks around 0 Hz which corresponded to the waviness or inclination of skin surface. These low frequency components might cause the sidelobes in the high frequency area and affect the frequency components which corresponded to the pattern composed of ridges, because we employed Discrete

[l] H. Kumagai, et. al. Physiological and Morphological Changes in Facial Skin with Aging (I) J. Soc. Cosmet Chem. Japan, Vo1.23, No.1, 1989, pp.9-21, (in Japanese)

[2] M. Takahashi, et. al. Physiological and Morphological i t h Aging (II) J. Soc. Cosmet Changes in Facial Skin w Chem. Japan, Vo1.23, No.1, 1989, pp.22-30, (in Japanese)

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