Influences of age, ethnic group, and skin sites on a provisory skin marking, experimentally induced, in vivo

Applications of the new Aeva-HE™ imaging system: Its link with the visual evaluation of facial wrinkles and its potential in screening tensile products

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate, in vivo, a recently developed imaging system (Aeva-HE™), based on fringe projection methodology: (i) its correlation with expert's assessments and real age of 85 French Caucasian women and (ii) its potential, as a screening tool, in rapidly selecting prototypes of tensile cosmetic products.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

First, the bare faces of 85 differently aged French/Caucasian women were photographed under standard conditions and further analyzed by the Aeva-HE™ device. An expert aesthetician graded the severity of wrinkling on a fixed scale, helped by the use of a dedicated Skin Aging Atlas. A panel of 15 judges performed the same task on full-face standard photographs. The Aeva-HE™ software yielded various wrinkle's parameters (density, volume, mean depth, etc.) on different facial locations, according to age-groups. Second, seven women, balanced in age and wrinkling severity, were recruited in a separate study. These women applied at Day 1 a prototype of the tensile product and at Day 2, they applied another prototype of the tensile product. The whole faces (before and after products application) of the seven studied women were captured and analyzed by the Aeva-HE™ system.

RESULTS

The density of wrinkles was significantly highly correlated with the aesthetician scores and, unsurprisingly, with age. Some parameters (volume, depths) of different wrinkles (glabellar, crow's feet, cheeks) were quantified, showing different absolute values and of statistically different progressions with age. The amplitudes of the rapid effects brought by the two prototypes of tensile products were clearly differentiated.

CONCLUSION

The recently developed device Aeva-HE™ is an efficient system for rapidly establishing a faithful and precise status of facial wrinkles, in vivo and seems like a precious tool in the rapid screening of tensile products, possibly performed on a rather limited number of subjects.

Objective and automatic grading system of facial signs from selfie pictures of South African women: Characterization of changes with age and sun‐exposures

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the capacity of the automatic detection system to accurately grade, from smartphones' selfie pictures, the severity of fifteen facial signs in South African women and their changes related to age and sun-exposure habits.

METHODS

A two-steps approach was conducted based on self-taken selfie images. At first, to assess on 306 South African women (20-69 years) enrolled in Pretoria area (25.74°S, 28.22°E), age changes on fifteen facial signs measured by an artificial intelligence (AI)-based automatic grading system previously validated by experts/dermatologists. Second, as these South African panelists were recruited according to their usual behavior toward sun-exposure, that is, nonsun-phobic (NSP, N = 151) and sun-phobic (SP, N = 155) and through their regular and early use of a photo-protective product, to characterize the facial photo-damages.

RESULTS

(1) The automatic scores showed significant changes with age, by decade, of sagging and wrinkles/texture (p < 0.05) after 20 and 30 years, respectively. Pigmentation cluster scores presented no significant changes with age whereas cheek skin pores enlarged at a low extent with two plateaus at thirties and fifties. (2) After 60 years, a significantly increased severity of wrinkles/texture and sagging was observed in NSP versus SP women (p < 0.05). A trend of an increased pigmentation of the eye contour (p = 0.06) was observed after 50 years.

CONCLUSION

This work illustrates specific impacts of aging and sun-exposures on facial signs of South African women, when compared to previous experiments conducted in Europe or East Asia. Results significantly confirm the importance of sun-avoidance coupled with photo-protective measures to avoid long-term skin damages. In inclusive epidemiological studies that aim at investigating large human panels in very different contexts, the AI-based system offers a fast, affordable and confidential approach in the detection and quantification of facial signs and their dependency with ages, environments, and lifestyles.

Changes in facial signs due to age and their respective weights on the perception of age and skin plumpness among differently aged Korean women

OBJECTIVE

To determine the respective weights of certain facial signs on the assessment of perceived age and plumpness on Korean women of different ages.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Photographs were taken of the faces of 112 Korean women of different ages (18-80 years) under standardized conditions. These photographs allowed to focus and define 19 facial signs, which were then graded by 15 experts and dermatologists, using standardized scales provided by a reference Skin Aging Atlas. The facial signs were dispatched into 5 clusters, namely Wrinkles/Texture, Ptosis/Sagging, Pigmentation disorders, Vascular disorders, and Cheek skin pores. A naïve panel, composed of 92 Korean women, of similar age range were asked, when viewing full-face photographs, to: (a) attribute on a 0-10 scale their perception of the skin plumpness (ie supple/hydrated/nourished) and (b) estimate the age of the subject.

RESULTS

With the exception of Vascular disorders, the severity of all 4 clusters increased with age, although at different rates. The Wrinkles/Texture or Ptosis/Sagging showed a rather regular progression. Although perceived ages and real ages were found highly correlated, half of the subjects were judged older by 2-12 years. The facial signs/clusters were significantly correlated with perceived age, with the exceptions of vascular disorders, size of pigmentary spots and cheek skin pores. The weights in perceived ages of Wrinkles/Texture and Ptosis/Sagging represent 37% each and Pigmentation disorders at 26%. Skin plumpness was logically found significantly anti-correlated with perceived age. If, surprisingly, Vascular disorders were found not impacting the plumpness aspect, Cheek skin pores presented a clear influence.

CONCLUSION

Within facial clinical clusters, Wrinkles/Texture, Ptosis/Sagging, and Pigmentation disorders are major factors in the assessment of perceived age in Korean women. The perception of a decreased skin plumpness is significantly associated with increased perceived age.