Consequently, OCT could be a potential non-invasive diagnostic tool for the characterization and monitoring of cutaneous wound-healing processes over time.

The skin is not only the largest organ of the human body, but it is also a barrier to the environment. The major part of the human skin is in constant contact with textile materials. The objective of this study was to characterize textile materials and to investigate their influence on the skin properties. For this purpose, two different textile materials (polyamide and polyester) were objectively characterized by optical coherence tomography and surface structure 3D-profilometry. In addition, subjective textile properties like haptic sensation and stiffness, as tactile characteristics felt by volunteers, were analyzed. The objective textile characteristics and subjective parameters were compared to the barrier properties measured by in vivo laser scanning microscopy . Comparable results were achieved between barrier properties and subjective assessment in relation to the textile characteristics in favor of the polyester fabric. Consequently, the optical method used in dermatology for the analysis of the skin can be applied to characterize and evaluate textile fabrics and their interaction with human skin in vivo.

The study showed that optical methods could be applied to compare textile materials in vitro, which permit the wearing comfort to be predicted and in vivo perception on the skin.

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Significance: The development of a technique allowing for non-invasive measurement of retinal blood flow (RBF) in humans is needed to understand many retinal vascular diseases (pathophysiology) and evaluate treatment with potential improvement of blood flow. Aim: We developed and validated an absolute laser Doppler velocimeter (LDV) based on an adaptive optical fundus camera that provides simultaneously high-definition images of the fundus vessels and absolute maximal red blood cells (RBCs) velocity to calculate the absolute RBF. Approach: This new absolute LDV is combined with the adaptive optics (AO) fundus camera (rtx1, Imagine Eyes © , Orsay, France) outside its optical wavefront correction path. A 4-s recording includes 40 images, each synchronized with two Doppler shift power spectra. Image analysis provides a vessel diameter close to the probing beam, and the velocity of the RBCs in the vessels are extracted from the Doppler spectral analysis. A combination of these values gives an average of the absolute RBF. Results: An in vitro experiment consisting of latex microspheres flowing in water through a glass capillary to simulate a blood vessel and in vivo measurements on six healthy humans was done to assess the device. In the in vitro experiment, the calculated flow varied between 1.75 and 25.9 μL∕ min and was highly correlated (r 2 ¼ 0.995) with the flow imposed by a syringe pump. In the in vivo experiment, the error between the flow in the parent vessel and the sum of the flow in the daughter vessels was between −11% and 36% (mean AE sd, 5.7 AE 18.5%). RBF in the main temporal retinal veins of healthy subjects varied between 0.9 and 13.2 μL∕ min. Conclusions: The AO LDV prototype allows for the real-time measurement of absolute RBF derived from the retinal vessel diameter and the maximum RBCs velocity in that vessel.