Imaging device tracks skin improvement following prebiotic treatment in skin of color

Key takeaways:

• SkinCam is a portable camera that can capture 2D and 3D images of skin under LED light.
• Using SkinCam, a prebiotic skincare regimen improved atopic dermatitis and xerosis in skin of color.

A new imaging device effectively monitored skin texture changes in patients with skin of color with atopic dermatitis and xerosis following a prebiotic skincare regimen, according to a study.

As Healio previously reported, there is a lack of representative images of pathologies in patients with skin of color across diseases.

“This results in deficient dermatology education, which relies heavily on the use of images to teach diagnosis,” Hawasatu Dumbuya, PhD, director of clinical research and medical affairs for La Roche-Posay USA at L’Oréal USA, and colleagues wrote. “In patients with melanin-rich skin, hyper- or hypopigmentation, plus greater visibility of scaling and dryness, are distinct features of AD and xerosis.”

In light of this, Dumbuya and colleagues evaluated a new imaging device called SkinCam (Newtone Technologies) for effectively monitoring improvement of AD and dry skin, also known as xerosis, in patients with skin of color.

SkinCam is a portable camera with a 2.5 cm diameter that can capture 2D and 3D images of skin under LED light. Images of patients’ affected legs on the same area were captured at baseline, then again after 2 weeks of using a prebiotic cleanser (Lipikar AP+ Gentle Foaming Cleansing Oil, La Roche-Posay), then once more after 8 weeks of using the same prebiotic cleanser as well as a prebiotic moisturizer (Lipikar AP+M Moisturizing Cream, La Roche-Posay).

Thirty-four of 39 patients completed the study, of which 22 suffered from xerosis and 12 from AD. Skin types included Fitzpatrick I to III (n = 16) and IV to VI (n = 18).

Results showed that the use of a prebiotic skincare regimen significantly improved both skin texture irregularity and skin color patterns over time in patients with AD and xerosis. While the researchers did not see an improvement in skin color texture after 2 weeks of patients using prebiotic cleanser only, noticeable changes were observed by week 10 with the addition of the moisturizer in both groups.

Patients with skin of color saw a significantly greater improvement in skin color texture and skin texture irregularity vs. their white counterparts, suggesting that patients with skin of color with AD and xerosis may benefit more from prebiotic skincare treatment vs. white patients.

“We conclude from our results that the SkinCam imaging device has the capability to effectively monitor skin texture parameters over time in both AD and xerosis ethnically diverse patients with lightly and darkly pigmented skin following 10 weeks of prebiotic skincare regimen,” the authors wrote. “Our findings highlight that this device allows for both qualitative and standardized imaging of various skin conditions on multiple skin tones.”