Non-Ionising Radiation: Techniques and Dosimetry

Dermatology patients and normal subjects are exposed to ultraviolet radiation intentionally for supposed health and tanning purposes, accidentally in the course of everyday life and medically for the purposes of diagnosis and treatment. The effects of such exposure on the skin depend on the spectrum and intensity of the radiation emitted by the radiation sources concerned, and thus on the accuracy of measurement of these variables. The problems are three-fold. The first is that sources and filters do not produce exactly the radiation spectrum and intensity required for a given effect. The second is that measuring devices do not detect and measure exactly the emitted radiation spectrum and intensity for all types of radiation and conditions. The third is that the exact spectrum and intensity of radiation to induce most cutaneous effects are not known, so it is not in any case possible to select the wanted and exclude the unwanted effects. These problems of matching radiation emission from source with responsivity of detector and action spectrum for desired cutaneous effect are considered in detail below.