Smart, wearable technology for skin care

SMART technology is making inroads into the skin care and cosmetic industry, taking the cue from the success of devices such as the Apple Watch.

The popular Apple wearable device uses information about a user’s activities and fitness levels to improve measurement accuracy and suggest personalized all-day activity goals, with custom reminders aimed at encouraging the user to achieve such activity objectives.  

Researchers at L'Oréal and University of Illinois are leveraging similar technology to improve the science for skin care. Research teams have conducted human clinical studies on 25 subjects using mechanically soft arrays of thermal actuators and sensors laminated onto the skin. These provide rapid, quantitative in vivo determination of both the thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity in a completely non-invasive manner.

Analysis of measurements taken on six different body locations shows systematic variations and directional anisotropies in the characteristics, with optical coherence tomography determining correlations to the thicknesses of the epidermis (EP) and stratum corneum (SC). The findings also show water content assessed by electrical impedance based measurements.

Thermal transport can be further assessed by using the sensors and actuators interchangeably in two different modes.

The researchers likewise studied other factors affecting skin health, including blood flow near surface arteries and veins.