Ultrasonic Evaluation of Local Human Skin Anisotropy

Abstract Anisotropy level of human skin is typically obtained by multi-axial tensile test, cutometry, elastography, ultrasonic imaging, etc. Most of the methods are time-consuming, expensive, or not suitable for in-vivo measurements. In this paper a new easily-applicable method for immediate evaluation of human skin local anisotropy is described. Results in this area are of great interest in dermatology, plastic surgery, and cosmetics. The method is also utilizable in many industrial applications for anisotropy evaluation of various materials like composites, etc. Proposed system exploits a special flexible multi-directional circular probe with built-in piezoelectric elements (ultrasonic array) for elastic waves propagation measurement. The anisotropy level of the tested structure is determined from directional dependence of elastic wave velocity related with complex elastic modules of the specimen. The method was tested on human skin tissue in-vivo and a composite sample. Comparative tests on isotropic materials were realized to verify the method and system accuracy.