Visco-elastic response of human skin and aging.

UNLABELLED: The changes in visco-elastic properties of skin belong to the most conspicuous manifestations of cutaneous aging. In spite of apparent simplicity, the measurement of mechanical parameters of skin in vivo presents both theoretical and practical problems. Reproducibility, standardization, duration of measurement, discomfort for experimental subjects are the main complications. Measurement and analysis of transient deformation response to pressure stress provides theoretically consistent and practically applicable methodology.

EXPERIMENT: The transient deformation response of skin was measured in two groups consisting of 15 healthy men and 17 healthy women. The range of age interval was 20 to 58 years. The deformation response was measured as reaction of skin on sudden change of pressure stress between two levels of loading on skin surface.

RESULTS: Transient response of human skin consists of sum of two exponential curves. A "rapid" exponential curve has time constant typically of order 10 ms, while "slow" exponential curve has a time constant of order 0.1 to 1s. Both time constants increase with chronological age. Time for drop of deformation on 12.5% of full deformation proved to be a simple and sensitive criterion of skin aging, with strong correlation with chronological age. Main advantage of the method: Measurement is quantitative and reproducible. Procedure is easy to repeat. Its average duration is approx. 2 minutes and it does not represent any discomfort for test subjects.