Newsletter  2019.2  Index

Theme : "Mechanical Engineering Congress, 2018 Japan (MECJ-18)" Preface Masaaki MOTOZAWA, Sadao KUROSAWA Biomimetic consideration of means to catch fluid forces Yoshihiro KUBOTA, Osamu MOCHIZUKI (Toyo University) Technical Section on Plasma Actuators - Activities in the Past 5 Years and Future Prospects - Takehiko SEGAWA (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology), Koji FUKAGATA (Keio University), Takashi MATSUNO (Tottori University), Taku NONOMURA (Tohoku University), Naofumi OHNISHI (Tohoku University) Study of Flow Control by Trial and Error Learning Approach Hitoshi ISHIKAWA (Tokyo University of Science) Thrust Vector Control of Transonic and Supersonic Under-Expanded Jets Toshihiko SHAKOUCHI (Mie University) Active Boundary Layer Control by Jets in a Crossflow Hiroaki HASEGAWA (Utsunomiya University) Micro-tomographic Visualization of Capillary Blood Flow Velocity using Multi-Functional Optical Coherence Tomography Souichi SAEKI, Daisuke FURUKAWA (Osaka City University), Takafumi ITO, Yoshiaki NISHINO (Takaoka Toko Co., Ltd.) Application of multi-functional OCT to diagnose skin mechanics ~Visualization of skin vasculature~  Yusuke HARA (Shiseido Global Innovation Center), Souichi SAEKI (Osaka City University)

 

Application of multi-functional OCT to diagnose skin mechanics ~Visualization of skin vasculature~

Yusuke HARA Shiseido Global Innovation Center Souichi SAEKI Osaka City University

Abstract

Skin is a thin tissue whose thickness is approximately 2 to 3 mm. It covers the entire human body and, despite its thinness, the skin’s total weight actually accounts for 16% of a person’s total weight. This makes skin the largest organ in the human body. It essentially has two layers, the epidermis and dermis, and consists of many components, such as blood vessels, lymph vessels, sweat glands, and others. Since the skin is the boundary between the living body and the outside world, it plays an extremely important role in the maintenance of life, such as performing the barrier function, adjusting body temperature, and many others. It is well known that malfunctioning skin directly leads to appearance troubles, such as wrinkles and aging spots, as well as diseases and disorders related to quality of life and beauty. Therefore, diagnosing the various functions of the skin with high accuracy is important in not only the medical field but also the cosmetic industry.

To evaluate skin structure, Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) has recently been developed and its clinical application is being studied. OCT can obtain sectional images of the skin in vivo non-invasively with a high spatial resolution from 1 to 10 μm at a speed higher than the average video rate. In this study, we focused on the possibility of extending the OCT’s functionality. We successfully developed a novel technology which can visualize the skin’s vasculature using OCT and investigated its application to facial skin.

Key words

Facial skin, Optical Coherence Tomography, Vasodilation effect

Figures

Fig. 1 Vasodilation effect of blood circulation promoter.
Blood vessel images before and after application of benzyl nicotinate are shown in (a) and (b), respectively.
White regions indicate the blood vessels.