OCT aids in high-res imaging of acne lesion development, scarring
An international team of researchers at the University of Washington (Seattle, WA) and Yildırım Beyazıt University (Ankara, Turkey) explored the feasibility of a high-resolution imaging technique that incorporates optical coherence tomography (OCT) to study acne lesion development in human skin. The technique they used, optical microangiography (OMAG), could detect changes in microvasculature during acne lesion progress without the need for exogenous contrast agents.
The study's authors feel that new research tools are needed to better understand the natural history, subtypes, and triggers of acne and to compare and improve the therapeutic efficacy of treatment products.
"We have been focused on engineering clinically useful, high-resolution imaging techniques for early diagnosis, treatment, and management of human diseases," says Ruikang Wang, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Bioengineering and the director of the Biophotonics and Imaging Laboratory (BAIL), both at the University of Washington. "Optical coherence tomography is increasingly getting popular in dermatology. Our methods improve this technology by noninvasively providing clinically useful functional microvascular network that innervates the skin tissue, giving a better chance of understanding the most common skin diseases in dermatology, acne vulgaris, from an angle has never been looked at before."
Full details of the work appear in the journal Lasers in Surgery and Medicine; for more information, please visit http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/lsm.22339.
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BioOptics World Editors
We edited the content of this article, which was contributed by outside sources, to fit our style and substance requirements. (Editor’s Note: BioOptics World has folded as a brand and is now part of Laser Focus World, effective in 2022.)