2/5/2025 | 11:00 AM - 12:20 PM | Grand Peninsula A

KEYNOTE: Objective and subjective methods to quantify skin color and pigmentation; recent results and insights.

Author(s)

Wim Verkruysse | Philips Medical Systems

Abstract

Objective and subjective pigmentation measurement methods (PMM) were evaluated in two studies with 12 and 21 subjects, respectively with balanced enrollment of light and dark subjects.  Objective PMM included a colorimeter (Konica Minolta, CM700d), and two melanin meters (Courage &Khazaka, SPA and MX18).  Subjective PMM included three skin color scales : Fitzpatrick, Von Luschan and Pantone SkinTone guide.  Measurements were on four anatomical locations: forehead, dorsal forearm, ventral forearm and inner upper arm. Precision was much better for objective PMM than for subjective PMM: about 5% and 20% of the entire pigmentation range, respectively. Similarly, operator bias was negligible (< 2%) for the objective PMM while for the subjective PMM it was considerable: > 15%. All four operators matched swatches from the three scales. People with light skin were matched with swatches that were objectively lighter than the skin, and vice versa.