Optical characters and texture maps of skin and the aging mechanism by use of multiphoton microscopy and optical coherence tomography

Cutaneous aging is a complicated biological process affecting different constituents of skin, which can be divided into two types: the chronological aging and the photo-aging. The two cutaneous aging processes often co-exist accompanying with each other. The effects are often overlapped including changes in epithelium and dermis. The degeneration of collagen is a major factor in dermal alteration with aging. In this study, multiphoton microscopy (MPM) with its high resolution imaging and optical coherence tomography (OCT) with its depth resolved imaging were used to study the anti-aging dermatology in vivo. It was attempted to make the optical parameter and texture feature to evaluate the process of aging skin using mathematical image processing. The links among optical parameter, spectrum and texture feature in collagen with aging process were established to uncover mechanism of aging skin.