Digital imaging: a weapon to fight skin ageing
high-resolution imaging technology is becoming the preferred choice
for many beauty salons. Visia Complexion Analysis can be used to
predict how the skin will age in the future, providing an enhanced
means to marketing a host of anti-aging treatments, reports
Simon Pitman.
The latest company to take up on the technology is Beverly Hills Aesthetics, a non-surgical skin and beauty salons business. Using the technology, the company says that it is now possible to find out how fast the face and neck skin is destined to age and what damage has already been done.
Dr. Sam Assassa, aesthetic medicine specialist and founder of Beverly Hills Aesthetics, has introduced the system, which relies on digital high-resolution photographs and computer analysis of the skin's complexion, which in turn enables individuals to discover what issues may be causing additional signs of aging.
"Visia is the very latest and only diagnostic procedure that can identify what you can do to turn back the hands of time and save your skin from aging faster than it has to," said Dr. Assassa. "This procedure was designed for people who worry that their skin can't ever return to its youthful, glowing appearance."
Although the technology has been around for two years, the take-up on it is now evolving rapidly, in line with consumers' desires to prevent signs of skin aging before irreversible damage is caused by life-style or environmental influences.
Canfield Imaging Systems, the New Jersey-based company behind Visia, says that the technology's ability to quantify skin condition makes it a powerful visual tool for motivating patients to proceed with skin care treatments as well as aesthetic procedures.
One of the first company's to take up on the technology was Proctor & Gamble who placed the technology on its SKII skin counters throughout Japan. Canfield claims that as a result over the counter sales increased by an average of 30 per cent after the implementation.
To carry out the procedure, the first step is to take high quality digital images of the various layers of skin. The images are then analyzed by the computer to measure skin conditions, wrinkles, evenness, spots, texture, pores and pigmentation as compared to the same age group.
The skin is analyzed in the following categories: brown spots; pores; porphyrins (bacteria beneath the skin that causes acne, redness and thereby uneven tone to the skin); wrinkles; evenness; and UV spots.
"The UV mode, which is extremely important in California, shows subsurface skin conditions, including sun damage that will give you a picture of what your skin will look like ten years from now," said Dr. Assassa. "If people don't start taking preventive and restorative measures to reverse damage now, it will be much harder to fix the problems in the future. And best of all, the cost of this procedure is extremely inexpensive."
The cost of the procedure is around $50, and is usually backed up with a consultation and recommendations for a personal anti-aging skin rejuvenation program. Suggested treatment can include anything from wearing a high protection sunscreen to anti-wrinkle treatments such as Botox or fillers such as Restylane or microdermabrasion.
As the technology becomes more widespread, it is looks set to become a strong tool for the cosmetics industry to accurately market various anti-ageing treatments that are targetted at specific conditions.
