Japanese beauty giant Shiseido has taken the wraps off its research into the behaviour of light on the skin, including how emissions decrease with age.
Working with the Muroran Institute of Technology and Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Shiseido has developed the world’s first optical measurement system capable of non-invasive measurement and analysis of three-dimensional facial shape and optical conditions.
In pursuit of achieving skin translucency, Shiseido’s optical research focused on how light incident on the skin penetrates the stratum corneum, reaches the dermis, and again exits the skin’s surface (subsurface scattering light).
Measurement and analysis results revealed that short-wavelength light reaches the epidermis, mid-wavelength light reaches the area from the epidermis—centred around the basement membrane—to near the upper dermis, and long-wavelength light reaches the collagen layer of the dermis before it is re-emitted from the skin’s surface.
Furthermore, as short-wavelength light reaches the epidermal layer, non-invasive measurement and analysis of the relationship between melanin level and light reaching and emitted from the epidermal layer revealed that melanin is significantly involved in light absorption.
Melanin blocks light, making it difficult to penetrate the skin, thereby reducing the amount of light emitted from the skin’s surface.
