Application of fluorescence photography in the evaluation of Acne

Abstract

This study introduces applying a simple optical system using UVA light for stimulating and obtaining in vivo facial fluorescence images. The red fluorescence was observed in all volunteers and it’s intensity was higher at the T-zone than at the U-zone in all cases regardless of their skin type. It’s known that the sebum amount of the T-zone is higher than of the U-zone. This result leads to the correlation between facial red fluorescence with sebum level, not with Propionibacterium acnes so far as is known [1, 2]. In addition, the blue fluorescence was found in inflammatory acne area. To the best of our knowledge, the nature of blue fluorescence has not been reported so far. Analysis of the skin fluorescence imaging can give information about the disease state of skin and be used for designing non-invasive optical devices for skin diagnosis.