The effect of melanin on in vivo optical coherence tomography of the skin in a multiethnic cohort
Abstract
Background: Noninvasive real‐time assessment of living tissue is quickly becoming invaluable for bolstering histologic and dermatoscopic measures of cutaneous conditions. While many skin researchers have explored the utility of noninvasive imaging in inflammatory and malignant skin conditions, there is yet to be a definitive and direct assessment of the effects of melanin on the quality of optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging and its accuracy in multiethnic patient populations. We conducted a study to evaluate the effects of melanin on the quality of in vivo OCT imaging. Methods: Volunteers of all Fitzpatrick skin types were imaged once in five skin regions. Images were analyzed for quality, defined quantitatively as depreciation of light as it passes through the depth of skin, and qualitatively as depth and contrast ranked by blinded clinicians. Results: Our analysis of sixteen subjects shows that there is a significant difference in quantitative OCT image quality between light (Fitzpatrick I–III) and dark (IV–VI) skin types for both epidermal (p 0.0328) and dermal levels (p 0.0021). However, there was no significant difference in qualitative blinded rater measures of image clarity (p 0.11) or perceived depth (p 0.13). Conclusion: Based on our definition of image quality, our study shows that OCT images taken from darker skin types have slightly lower quality than those taken from lighter skin. However, because blinded rater assessment showed no differences in clarity or perceived depth, we conclude that OCT may be used without hesitation for manual visualization of skin and its appendages in all Fitzpatrick skin types. Further studies are required to more extensively characterize the effects of melanin on OCT imaging. Lasers Surg. Med. 51:407–411, 2019. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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The penetration depth of light for imaging purposes and the results from medical wearable devices are affected by skin color.
“the penetration depth of light for imaging purposes and the results from medical wearable devices are affected by skin color.7–10”
From Effect of skin color on optical properties and the implications for medical optical technologies: a review (2024) · cites this paper as [8]
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Setchfield, K., Gorman, A., Simpson, A. H. R. W., Somekh, M. G., & Wright, A. J. (2024) · Journal of Biomedical Optics · doi:10.1117/1.jbo.29.1.010901 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
- Authors
- Ekelem, C., Yu, J., Heydarlou, D., Heidari, E., Csuka, E., Chen, Z., & Mesinkovska, N. A.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Irvine (US)
- Corresponding author
- Mesinkovska, Natasha Atanaskova
- Venue
- Lasers in Surgery and Medicine
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2019-03-18
- Volume
- 51
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 407-411
- ISSN
- 0196-8092 (ISSN-L)
- 1096-9101
- OpenAlex
- W2924481518
- Cited by
- 10
- References
- 17
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 0.35
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Lasers in Surgery and Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Optical Coherence Tomography Applications
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cutaneous Melanoma Detection and Management
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Photoacoustic and Ultrasonic Imaging
- Keywords
- melanin, optical coherence tomography, skin imaging, Fitzpatrick skin type, image quality, epidermis, dermis, multi-ethnic population, non-invasive skin imaging
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