Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck
An imaging technique typically used in the automotive and aerospace industries could also be used to monitor the how effective substances such as Botox and Dysport are when it comes to removing wrinkles, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania have discovered.
The procedure in question is known as three-dimensional speckle tracking photogrammetry, but in essence it provides a “heat map” that allows researchers to measure a person’s dynamic facial wrinkles and their subsequent reduction following injection.
The research, which currently appears in the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, could allow experts to measure the efficacy of these treatments when used for cosmetic purposes, or to reduce facial paralysis resulting from conditions such as stroke or Bell’s palsy, they added.
By taking heat maps both prior to and after an injection, doctors can compare the two to evaluate wrinkle reduction and adjust factors such as the dosage to provide optimal results. This could also allow different types of treatments to be directly compared, providing objective evidence of their overall effectiveness and allowing physicians and consumers to choose the best option.
Measuring wrinkle reduction using 3D optical analysis
As part of the study, Ivona Percec, director of basic science research and associate director of cosmetic surgery in the plastic surgery division at the Perelman School of Medicine at Penn, used a dual-camera system and 3D optical analysis to evaluate 14 patients.
Each of those patients randomly had white foundation and black speckles applied to them both prior to and 14 days after injection of 20 units of filler in the area between the eyebrows. A digital camera tracked those speckles as they moved, and both pre- and post-treatment heat maps were created in order to allow the wrinkles in the affected areas to be analyzed.
In the pre-treatment heat map, wrinkles were represented by light blue, and in the post-treatment one, much of that blue had been replaced by light green and yellow – colors that represented the decrease in skin compression or wrinkling as a result of the therapy.
Left: before injection, the forehead shows increased stretch. Right: after injection, stretch of the forehead is decreased. (The light blue color is replaced with yellow.) (Credit: Penn State)
In addition, this allowed for the precise measurement of wrinkle reduction, illustrating that the treated area’s horizontal compression or wrinkling decreased from 9.11 percent to 2.60 percent and from 4.83 percent to 0.83 percent in the forehead, following injection. Also, average vertical stretch in the region during brow furrowing went from 2.51 percent to 1.15 percent, and average vertical stretch in the forehead fell from 6.73 percent to 1.67 percent.
“As new therapies and expanded applications become available for anti-aging and the treatment of neuromuscular disorders, this method may make it possible to quantify clinical efficacy and establish precise therapeutic regimens,” Percec said. “Though future studies will need to explore the use of digital image correlation in larger groups, our results are the first to show the modality can be applied to study a range of challenges in plastic surgery.”
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