Age related changes of human skin investigated with histometric measurements by confocal laser scanning microscopy in vivo

Abstract

Background/aims: The confocal laser scanning microscope Vivascope (Lucid, Henrietta) allows skin to be studied in real‐time with a resolution of 0.5 µm horizontal and 1.3 µm vertical in vivo. In this study, we present the results of a comparison between the skin of an older and a younger group of volunteers by in vivo histometric measurements. Methods: To investigate changes caused by age, 13 young (18–25 years) and 13 older (> 65 years) volunteers were examined. The following parameters were measured using the Vivascope at the volar forearm: minimal thickness of the epidermis (Emin), size of cells in the granular layer (Agran), thickness of the horny layer (DSC), thickness of the basal layer (DSB) and number of dermal papillae per area (PapI). The image analysis program image tool was used to measure the size of the cells and the thickness of the basal layer. Results: The older group of volunteers showed a significant increase in Emin, no significant change in DSC, a significant decrease in dermal papillae and in the thickness of the basal layer, and an increase in Agran compared to the younger group. Conclusions: Histometric measurements by in vivo confocal laser scanning microscopy are a sensitive and non‐invasive tool for characterizing and quantifying histological changes of the epidermis and papillary dermis due to ageing.

Age-Related Changes in Human Skin by Confocal Laser Scanning Microscope

“…In another study with 61 women with ages ranging from 18 to 94, authors found that the skin thickness increased on the forehead and buttock with age (Pellacani & Seidenari, 1999). In accordance with our results, in another study, Sauermann et al (2002) considered a relatively old group with a mean age of 72.5 years and reported a significantly larger epidermal thickness in elderly volunteers.…”

“…Today, it is well accepted that the number of dermal papillae decreases with age, according to several studies (Fenske and Lober, 1986;Sauermann et al, 2002;Neerken et al, 2004) and we observed the same downward trend. The decrease in the number of dermal papillae with age reflects the flattening of the epidermal-dermal junction (Sauermann et al, 2002).…”

“…Moreover, others (Fenske & Lober, 1986), who observed that in supra-basal cell layers the keratinocytes tend to display a decreased vertical height and an increased overall surface area, also reported this effect. Other authors suggested that this decrease in height and increase in irregularity could reflect the decrease in proliferation of the basal cell in aged skin (Sauermann et al, 2002). These changes, coupled with poor corneocytes adhesion, could lead to the increase of the thickness observed in our study.…”

In vivo assessment of melanocytic nests in nevi and melanomas by reflectance confocal microscopy

“…In vivo reflectance-mode confocal scanning laser microscopy (RCSLM) enables the instantaneous visualization of skin structures at a quasihistopathologic resolution, 1,2 representing a noninvasive approach for the in vivo study of normal skin, [1][2][3][4] inflammatory skin diseases [5][6][7][8] and skin tumours. [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] Some RCSLM features of melanocytic lesions have been recently identified.…”

Caracterização da pele fotoenvelhecida, desenvolvimento e eficácia clínica de formulações dermocosméticas por técnicas de biofísica e análise de imagem

“…As imagens obtidas pelo microscópio confocal permitem a avaliação de características cutâneas tais como espessura das diferentes camadas da epiderme, identificação de áreas hiperqueratóticas na epiderme superficial, visualização de células de queimadura, aspecto superficial da pele, organização dos queratinócitos, alterações no padrão de pigmentação, quantidade de papilas dérmicas por área, formato dos contornos das papilas dérmicas, tamanho das glândulas sebáceas, e estrutura da rede de colágeno, contagem e tamanho de poros e microcomedões, características da acne (KAWASAKI;YAMANISHI;YAMADA, 2015;MANFREDINI et al, 2015;SAUERMANN et al, 2002;ULRICH et al, 2009;WURM et al, 2012;XIANG et al, 2015).…”