The DISC method, as a non-contact technique, is a potential clinical research tool for the diagnosis of facial skin condition and underlying muscular activity. We demonstrate how these factors can be used to monitor the effects of aging, formation of wrinkles, and the efficacy of topical applications of skin creams.

We have shown previously that DISC can be used to determine skin mechanical properties and muscular activity. We show here that DISC, as a non-contact technique, can map, in two dimensions, the surface deformation patterns of a polymer solution on a substrate at any time point during the drying process. DISC analysis generates for each speckle of the sample analyzed, the orientation and magnitude of displacement of the polymer solution. DISC can map in two dimensions the deformation undergone by the substrate and skin stretch is measured in this particular case. We therefore show that the DISC method, as a non-contact technique has great potential for characterization of film formation and is a potential clinical research tool for the measurement of epidermis stretch and epidermis properties.