JP2007061307A - Method for classifying fleck - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for classifying a fleck, that is a method for classifying the flecks by acquiring the image of melanin at a fleck section existing in the skin using a confocal microscope and analyzing and evaluating the state of melanin based on the acquired image in detail, and to provide a method for evaluating melanin at the fleck section to classify the fleck and classifying a patient based on the classified fleck for beam treatment such as IPL/laser therapy for improving and treating the fleck by the classification of the fleck. <P>SOLUTION: The image of melanin in the skin of the fleck section is acquired using the confocal microscope and the state of melanin at the fleck section is analyzed and evaluated by analyzing the acquired image to classify the fleck. For example, based on the evaluation of melanin, an effect of the IPL/laser therapy to the fleck on the skin is judged previously, and the patient can be classified based on the fleck classified for the IPL/laser therapy. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for classifying a stain, and more specifically, using a confocal microscope, an image of intracellular melanin in the skin of the stain site is obtained, and the obtained image is analyzed to analyze the melanin state of the stain site. It is related with the method of classifying a spot by analyzing and evaluating. The present invention also relates to a method for classifying stains by assessing melanin at the site of the stain, thereby sorting patients based on the stains classified for IPL / laser procedures.

  Conventionally, when the structure of the internal tissue of the skin is measured non-invasively, it has been measured using an ultrasonic tomography apparatus, an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) apparatus, or the like. However, in any of the measurement methods using these apparatuses, it has been difficult to obtain cell-level resolution.

  On the other hand, an apparatus for visualizing the skin tissue structure using light waves has also been proposed. This apparatus includes one that detects forward scattered transmitted light and one that detects backward scattered light. Normally, in this type of device, light having a wavelength from visible light to near infrared light with little absorption in the skin is used, but the light (electromagnetic wave) in this region is in comparison with X-rays and radio waves (MRI). Strong scattering in the skin.

In addition, in an apparatus configured to detect forward scattered transmitted light, it is necessary to process a light scattering process in order to improve accuracy, which complicates arithmetic processing and decreases processing speed. On the other hand, in the method for detecting the backscattered light, it is possible to obtain a relatively accurate internal image of the skin more easily and at a higher speed than the case of detecting the forward scattered transmitted light. In recent years, a confocal microscope has been used as an apparatus for visualizing this type of skin tissue structure. (For example, see Patent Documents 1, 2, and 3.)
In the confocal microscope, it is possible to obtain a three-dimensional image by performing computer processing based on a two-dimensional image at a predetermined depth (depth) of the skin. For this reason, it has come to be used for research and application of the skin including the field of aesthetic medicine because it can visually detect the interface between the epidermis and dermis in the skin and the melanin present in the skin. . (For example, refer nonpatent literature 1 and 2.)
By the way, now that interest in health and beauty is increasing, in particular, interest in the health and beauty of women's skin has become very high. Under such circumstances, in cosmetic skin / plastic surgery, etc., the opportunity to treat spots and freckles generated by ultraviolet rays has been greatly increased. For example, in the field of aesthetic medicine, IPL or laser treatment is used to remove spots.
JP 2003-57169 A JP 2003-52642 A JP 2003-57170 A Yamashita et al, Non-Invasive Visualization of Melanin and Melanocytes by Reflectance-Mode Confocal Microscopy, 2004, The Journal of Investigative Dermatology, Inc., pp235-240 Toyonobu Yamashita, Examination of skin improvement effect of spot site by IPL treatment, Abstract of Cosmetic Dermatological Association

  However, with respect to a stain that looks the same on the skin, the stain may disappear completely even if IPL or laser treatment is performed, or it may be almost ineffective. For this reason, the degree of improvement by the treatment is often due to the experience of the doctor, and there is a problem that there are many cases where it is not known unless the treatment is actually performed.

  Studies have speculated that the difference in treatment effect on the stain was based on the difference in the pattern of melanin in the skin at the stain site. However, not only the superficial judgment on the skin of the stain but also the effective treatment for classifying the stain can be achieved if the stain can be pre-classified for treatment treatment based on melanin. There was no way yet.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above points, and provides a method for detecting and analyzing and evaluating the state of melanin at a spot site present in the skin and classifying spots based on the evaluation. Objective. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for classifying spots using a confocal microscope, and further to a method for classifying patients for phototherapy such as IPL or laser treatment for improving spots. The purpose is to provide.

  As described above, it was estimated that the difference in the treatment effect on the stain was based on the difference in the melanin pattern in the skin at the stain site. Therefore, the present inventors confirmed the pattern of melanin existing corresponding to the spot site in the skin before treating the spot, and analyzed the melanin. The present invention has been developed on the basis of the idea that it can be used for treatment and that it is possible to effectively carry out improvement treatment for spots.

That is, the invention according to claim 1
A stain classification method,
Obtaining a planar image of melanin present in the skin corresponding to a spot site on the skin;
Evaluating the melanin by analyzing the planar image;
Have
The melanin evaluation step comprises:
Removing noise from the planar image;
Setting a luminance threshold for the image processed in the removing step;
Separating particles from the image processed in the luminance threshold setting step;
Setting a particle size for the image processed in the particle separation step;
Measuring the particle area, particle number and particle area ratio for the image processed in the particle size setting step;
Evaluation step of melanin based on the processing of the measurement step of the particle area, the number of particles and the particle area ratio,
It is achieved by a method for classifying spots characterized by comprising:

  According to the above invention, a planar image of melanin corresponding to a spot site in the skin is obtained, and melanin evaluation is performed by a series of image analysis processing on the obtained planar image. Can predict the effect of phototherapy on

The invention according to claim 2
The stain classification method according to claim 1,
The step of obtaining the planar image is performed by using a scanning confocal microscope.
Irradiating the skin with a laser beam scanned in a plane;
Receiving reflected light reflected at a predetermined depth of the skin;
Obtaining a planar image of melanin present in the skin corresponding to a spot site on the skin at the position of the predetermined depth based on the luminance intensity of the reflected light;
It is characterized by comprising.

  According to the above invention, the two-dimensional image of melanin corresponding to the spot in the skin acquired by the confocal microscope is processed by a series of image analysis processing, and the classification of the spot becomes possible by evaluating the state of melanin. The effect of phototherapy on spots can be predicted.

The invention of claim 3
This is achieved by a patient classification method using the classification method of claim 1 or 2 for phototherapy for improving spots.

  According to the said invention, based on the evaluation of melanin, the improvement effect of the spot with respect to phototherapy can be determined, and a patient can be classified based on the effect of treatment.

The invention of claim 4
The patient classification method according to claim 3,
The phototherapy is an IPL treatment or a laser treatment.

  According to the said invention, based on evaluation of melanin, the improvement effect of the stain which uses IPL treatment or laser treatment can be determined, and a patient can be classified based on the effect of treatment.

  According to the present invention, for example, by using a confocal microscope, an image of the melanin in the skin of the spot site is acquired, and the obtained image is analyzed and analyzed to analyze and evaluate the melanin state of the spot site. Can be classified. For example, by evaluating the melanin at the spot site, the effect of the spot on the skin on the IPL / laser treatment can be pre-determined prior to the treatment, and the patient is based on the spots classified for the IPL / laser treatment. Can also be separated.

  Specific examples carried out according to the present invention will be described in more detail below, but the present invention is not limited to these examples. In addition, various aspects are possible about the detail, unless it deviates from the meaning and range of this invention.

  Before explaining the present invention, first, the action of the IPL / laser on the spot site will be explained. The IPL / laser is a light beam used for spot improvement treatment. IPL is an abbreviation for Intense Pulsed Light, which is light having a wide wavelength range used for blemishes and freckles improvement treatment. The laser uses light of one wavelength. These lights are generally used for blemishes and freckles improvement treatment in the field of aesthetic medicine and the like.

  FIG. 1 illustrates the action of the IPL / laser on the spot site. As can be seen from FIG. 1, the IPL / laser can specifically damage the pigmentation sites in the skin. When the IPL / laser is irradiated toward the pigmentation site in the skin which is the cause of the stain, melanin absorbs the light energy of the IPL / laser. After that, only keratinocytes rich in melanin are killed by heat, and scabs and microcrusts appear and appear on the top of the skin. In this way, the IPL / laser treatment at the spot site is performed, and an example of the result is shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, a scab appeared on the spot site on the second day after the IPL / laser treatment, and the spot was improved in about 20 days.

  In order to improve the spot site in this way, in order to obtain a foresight to effectively improve the skin of the spot site, a confocal microscope is used to detect the state of melanin in the spot site existing in the skin. A method for classifying spots by analyzing the detected melanin image will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 3 shows a schematic configuration of an optical inspection apparatus 1 applied to a skin two-dimensional image generation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 shows a drive system of the optical inspection apparatus 1. In the present invention, a scanning microscope is used as the optical inspection apparatus 1.

  In the figure, reference numeral 2 denotes a scanning microscope main body, and the confocal microscope main body 2 is provided with a light source 10. As will be described later in detail, the light source 10 irradiates the surface of the skin 4 of the measurement subject as a sample with laser light. The laser light emitted from the light source 10 passes through the half mirror 11 and travels to the optical scanning device 12. The intensity of the actually used laser was 1.4 mW. A good image can be obtained by using a laser intensity in the range of 1.2 to 2.0 mW. In this embodiment, the skin 4 is a spot site.

  The optical scanning device 12 scans the laser beam from the light source 10 two-dimensionally in the XY direction in a predetermined measurement region of the skin 4 in accordance with a drive control command from the XY direction drive control device 13. As shown in FIG. 4, the optical scanning device 12 includes a polygon mirror 25, a polygon driver 26, a galvano mirror 27, a galvano driver 28, and the like.

  The polygon mirror 25 driven by the polygon driver 26 scans laser light in the X direction. The galvanometer mirror 27 driven by the galvanometer driver 28 scans laser light in the Y direction. Therefore, the laser beam can be scanned on the skin 4 in the XY direction by the optical scanning device 12.

  The optical scanning device 12 is connected to an XY direction drive control device 13. This XY direction drive control device 13 has an XY direction control circuit 30 connected to a polygon driver 26 and a galvano driver 28 via I / Os 33 and 35. The X-Y direction control circuit 30 is connected to the computer 3 and controls the polygon driver 26 and the galvano driver 28 in accordance with commands from the computer 3 as will be described later. Thereby, the operations of the polygon mirror 25 and the galvanometer mirror 27 are controlled by the computer 3.

  As described above, the laser beam scanned in the XY directions by the optical scanning device 12 is irradiated to the skin 4 through the objective lens 14. The objective lens 14 is attached to a depth of focus adjustment device 15. In this embodiment, the magnification of the objective lens is 50 times. The focal depth adjusting device 15 moves the objective lens 14 in the optical axis direction (Z direction) in accordance with a control command of a Z direction drive control device 16 described later, thereby varying the focal depth.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the depth-of-focus adjustment device 15 includes a focus adjustment mechanism 31 and a focus depth adjustment driver 32. The focus adjustment mechanism 31 adjusts the focus position of the laser beam by the objective lens 14 by moving the position of the objective lens 14 in the Z direction. Therefore, by focusing the objective lens 14 on the inside of the skin 4, the tissue inside the skin 4 can be measured based on the reflected light.

  A depth-of-focus adjustment driver 32 that drives the focus adjustment mechanism 31 is connected to the Z-direction drive control device 16.

  The Z direction drive control device 16 has an XY direction control circuit 30 connected to a focal depth adjustment driver 32 via an I / O 36. The XY direction control circuit 30 is connected to the computer 3 and controls the depth-of-focus adjustment driver 32 in accordance with a command from the computer 3 as will be described later. Thereby, the operation of the focus adjustment mechanism 31 is controlled by the computer 3.

  On the other hand, the laser light applied to the skin 4 through the objective lens 14 is reflected at a predetermined depth in the skin 4 determined by the focal position of the objective lens 14. The reflected light passes through the objective lens 14 and returns to the optical scanning device 12, and further returns from the optical scanning device 12 to the half mirror 11.

  The half mirror 11 is a semi-transparent mirror, and is provided on the optical path between the light source 10 and the optical scanning device 12. The half mirror 11 is provided to guide the reflected light from the skin 4 traveling from the optical scanning device 12 toward the photodetector 20.

  The reflected light whose direction has been changed by the half mirror 11 is received by the photodetector 20 through the pinholes of the lens 18 and the pinhole plate 19. The lens 18 focuses reflected light toward the photodetector 20. The photodetector 20 has a light detection element that converts light obtained through the pinhole of the pinhole plate 19 into an electric signal corresponding to the light amount.

  The pinhole plate 19 has a pinhole having a predetermined diameter, and is disposed between the lens 18 and the photodetector 20. Further, the arrangement position is set so that the pinhole matches the focal position of the lens 18.

  The reflected light from the skin 4 that has entered the photodetector 20 is converted into an electrical signal by the photodetector and sent to the computer 21. The computer 21 generates a two-dimensional image by performing processing described later based on the transmitted electric signal, and displays it on the monitor 22.

  The computer main body 21 is also connected to the XY direction drive control device 13 and the Z direction drive control device 16 described above. The computer 21 comprehensively controls the XY direction drive control device 13 and the Z direction drive control device 16, thereby controlling the X-Y direction scanning of the laser light and the depth of focus by driving the objective lens 14. It is the structure which performs control.

  In the optical inspection apparatus 1 configured as described above, the confocal microscope body 2 constitutes a scanning confocal microscope. In this confocal microscope, the laser light emitted from the light source 10 is irradiated by scanning the surface of the skin 4 in a dot-like manner, and the reflected light from the illuminated skin 4 is pinholes of the lens 18 and the pinhole plate 19. This is a microscope using a confocal effect in which the light is condensed again into a dot shape and imaged on the photodetector 20 and the luminance information of the imaging is obtained by the photodetector 20.

  In such a scanning confocal microscope, an image at a predetermined depth of the skin 4 in the range scanned with the laser light is obtained as a two-dimensional image in a focused state in the entire range by the above confocal action. Can do. This utilizes the fact that the luminance of the skin 4 (sample) obtained at the focal position is the maximum luminance.

  Specifically, the reflected light of the laser light is not reflected only at a predetermined depth of the skin 4, but is reflected within a predetermined thickness range centered on the predetermined depth. Therefore, the light reflected from the part other than the predetermined depth in the reflected light becomes noise. The confocal microscope is configured to remove light reflected from a portion other than a predetermined depth, which becomes noise, using a pinhole plate 19. That is, the reflected light passing through the pinhole plate 19 is only light focused on a predetermined depth of the skin 4, and the image of the skin 4 finally obtained thereby becomes a two-dimensional image focused on the whole.

  Next, various measurement processes for the skin 4 using the optical inspection apparatus 1 configured as described above will be described. First, a two-dimensional image generation process for generating a two-dimensional image of the skin 4 using the optical inspection apparatus 1 will be described.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a two-dimensional image generation process of the skin 4. When the process shown in the figure is activated, the activation process is first performed. Specifically, in step 10 (step is abbreviated as S in the figure), the focal depth D (μm) is set to α (initial value) (D = α), and step 11 will be described later. A count value N indicating the number of two-dimensional images generated is set to “1” (N = 1). Although not shown in the flowchart, the startup process includes the startup process of the computer 3 and the light source 10 (laser light source).

  In the subsequent step 12, a process for setting the depth of focus D is performed. In this optical scanning device 12, the computer 3 transmits a control signal to the Z-direction control circuit 33 of the Z-direction drive control device 16 so that the focal depth becomes the focal depth D that is the initial value set in Step 10.

  The Z-direction control circuit 33 drives and controls the focal depth adjustment driver 32 of the focal depth adjustment device 15 so that the focal seismic intensity of the objective lens 14 becomes D. Accordingly, the objective lens 14 is driven in the Z direction by the focus adjustment mechanism 31 so that the depth of focus becomes D. When acquiring a three-dimensional image, the measurement of the sample 4 is performed sequentially from the skin surface toward the deep layer, but in this embodiment, since a two-dimensional image is acquired, the focal depth D as an initial value is a spot region. It is set so as to be the optimum depth in the skin 4 (sample) in which the melanin is accumulated.

  Here, referring to FIG. 6, a cross-sectional view showing the structure of the skin 4 is shown. As shown in the figure, the skin 4 is roughly divided into an epidermis and a dermis. The epidermis is classified from the upper part into the skin surface (indicated by arrow A in the figure), the spiny layer (indicated by arrow B in the figure), and the basal layer (indicated by arrow C in the figure). The dermis (indicated by an arrow E in the figure) exists below the epidermis. It is also known that melanocytes that produce melanin are scattered in the vicinity of the basal layer of the epidermis. Therefore, it is important for researches such as spots and freckles generated by melanin that the depth of focus D corresponds to the vicinity of the epidermis basal layer where a large amount of melanin is accumulated at the spot site. Moreover, since the depth to the vicinity of the epidermis basal layer varies depending on the physical characteristics of the subject, the depth of focus is preferably adjusted as appropriate according to the subject.

  When the depth of focus D is set as described above, in the subsequent step 13, laser light is emitted from the light source 10 and processing for scanning this laser light is performed. Specifically, as described above, the laser light emitted from the light source 10 and passed through the half mirror 11 is scanned in the X direction by the polygon mirror 25 provided in the optical scanning device 12, and in the Y direction by the galvano mirror 27. Scanned. Thereby, the laser beam scans the skin 4 two-dimensionally in the XY direction.

  The scanning speed of the laser light is controlled by the computer 3 through the XY direction control circuit 30, the polygon driver 26, the galvano driver 28, and the like so as to be an optimum speed for image generation to be described later.

  In the following step 14, the brightness of the reflected light is detected. That is, the laser light irradiated on the skin 4 is reflected on the skin 4. The reflected light from the skin 4 returns to the two-dimensional scanning mechanism 12 through the objective lens 14, and passes from the two-dimensional scanning mechanism 12 to the photodetector 20 through the half mirror 11, the lens 18, and the pinhole plate 19. Incident light is photoelectrically converted by the photodetector 20 and transmitted to the computer 3 as an electrical signal.

  At this time, as described above, in the scanning confocal microscope, the laser light emitted from the light source 10 irradiates the surface of the skin 4 in a dot-like manner and irradiates the reflected light from the illuminated skin 4 with the lens 18. In addition, the light is condensed again in a spot shape by the pinhole of the pinhole plate 19 and imaged on the light detector 20, and the light intensity information of the image formation is obtained by the light detector 20. Yes. Since the luminance of the skin 4 (sample) obtained at the focal position is the maximum luminance, the dynamic range of the electrical signal that is photoelectrically converted and output from the photodetector 20 can be improved.

  In the subsequent step 15, a two-dimensional image generation process is performed based on the luminance signal of the reflected light obtained in step 14. As described above, the laser light emitted from the light source 10 is scanned as spot light, and the reflected light is detected by the photodetector 20, but the computer 3 synchronizes with the scanning of the laser light by the optical scanning device 12. The detection signal from the photodetector 20 is captured. As a result, the computer 3 can generate a two-dimensional image in the scanned range of the laser light based on the detection signal transmitted from the photodetector 20.

  The two-dimensional image generated in step 15 is stored in a storage device (not shown) provided in the computer 3 in step 16. FIG. 8 shows an image of the skin surface of each spot site on panels A, B, and C, and each spot site on panels A, B, and C obtained by the above-described method of optical inspection apparatus 1 (confocal microscope). The corresponding two-dimensional image of melanin is shown. Since melanin has a higher refractive index than other skin cell tissues, in the two-dimensional image obtained by the optical inspection apparatus 1, this melanin is displayed as an image with a high brightness of reflected light (white state). Therefore, melanin could be detected with high accuracy by using the optical inspection apparatus 1 (confocal microscope).

  Next, the melanin evaluation process of a spot site | part by analyzing the two-dimensional image acquired in this way is demonstrated. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a melanin evaluation process for a spot site. A two-dimensional image of the melanin at each spot site obtained by aiming at the spot site shown in the upper panel of FIG. 8 is analyzed along each step described in the flowchart of FIG. A method for evaluating melanin by processing and detecting the state of melanin will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 9 shows an analysis image of a series of flows analyzed along the steps of the flowchart of FIG. 7 based on the melanin image in the skin of the spot site obtained from panel A of FIG.

  In step 17, a filtering process is performed to remove noise from the obtained two-dimensional image. By this process, noise undesirable for the analysis process can be removed from the original image, and the subsequent extraction of a high-concentration site of melanin by the image analysis process can be facilitated. An image (2) in FIG. 9 shows an image after noise removal of the original image.

  In step 18, a brightness threshold value setting process is performed on the image after noise removal processed in step 17. In the case of this example, a luminance of 160 or more was selected for an 8-bit image. The result is shown in an image (3) in FIG. In the subsequent step 19, the selected particles are separated with a luminance equal to or higher than the threshold set in step 18. This particle separation treatment may be performed by any known method. For example, a typical method is an image segmentation method, and there are various image segmentation methods such as an automatic threshold, an edge-based method, a method based on morphology used to classify a contacted object such as a Watershed transformation. . In the present embodiment, specifically, the particles are separated based on the Watershed subdivision process. This separation method is a method that automatically cuts or separates the parts that are touched by different particles. As a specific means, first, an Euclidean (Euclidean) distance map (EDM) Euclidean distance map is created. Then, create EDM final erosion points (UEPs) and make each UEP (EDM maxima or vertices) as far as possible until the edge of the particle reaches or other UEP (growing) This is done by expanding until it reaches the edge of the area. The result is shown in an image (4) in FIG. In the following step 20, a particle size setting process is performed. Here, the particle size is selected as a certain particle size depending on the number of pixels. In the case of this example, 20 or more pixels were selected. The image (5) in FIG. 9 is an image selected with a size of 20 or more pixels. In this way, a high-concentration portion of melanin can be extracted, and in step 21, a composite image combined with the original image can be created. This step 21 is not necessarily a necessary step, but can be created as a distribution map of a portion having a high melanin concentration by combining with the original image. In the lower part of FIG. 10, the melanin analysis processed images of the spot portions of panel A, panel B, and panel C of FIG. 8 created by image processing in the above steps are the original images of the respective panels A to C. It shows correspondingly.

  Further, steps for analyzing the extracted high-concentration site of melanin and evaluating melanin at the spot site will be described. In the subsequent step 22, in the melanin pattern extracted by the processing up to step 20 or step 21, the particle area, the number of particles, and the area ratio of the particle image area are measured. When each numerical value is shown for each panel, the area in panel A is 3117.096 square micromillimeter, the particle ratio is 92, the area ratio is 3.5%, and in panel B, the area is 2533.228 square micromillimeter. The particle ratio was 68 and the area ratio was 2.8%. In the panel C, the area was 662.970 square micromillimeters, the particle ratio was 23, and the area ratio was 0.7%. The lower part of FIG. 10 is shown together with numerical values obtained by measuring images synthesized in combination with the original image in each panel. As can be seen from FIG. 10, the panel A, the panel B, and the panel C have different melanin patterns. In this way, it can be recognized that the melanin state at the spot site is different even in a spot that looks the same on the skin. Based on the difference in the melanin pattern, the effect of the IPL / laser acting on the melanin at the spot site is recognized. As a result, even if it looks like a similar spot, it can be classified into several spots. Therefore, the effect of IPL / laser treatment can be predicted from the classified stains, and patients can be classified based on the stains classified for IPL / laser treatment. For example, due to the melanin evaluation process in the stain area of panel A, the melanin is considerably dense and the area, the number of particles and the area ratio are also high, and the effect of the IPL / laser treatment is considerably effective for the stain of panel A And can be classified as a patient having a stain worthy of the subject of IPL / laser treatment. Moreover, the stain of the panel B has a melanin pattern that is not aggregated as much as the panel A, but the area, the number of particles, and the area ratio are not so low. Therefore, the effect of the IPL / laser treatment is not limited. The patient can be classified and can be classified as a patient having a stain that may be included as an IPL / laser treatment target. On the other hand, the stains in panel C can be classified as those in which the effect of IPL / laser treatment cannot be expected because the melanin is hardly concentrated and the numerical values of the area, the number of particles and the area ratio are low. It can be classified as a patient having a spot that is not subject to laser treatment. Panel C spots can also be classified as spots that should be properly treated by other useful treatments rather than IPL / laser therapy.

  In addition, in FIG. 11, the image of the skin of the spot site | part several days after IPL treatment of the spot site | part of the panel A of FIG. In panel A, it can be seen that the occurrence of scabs and microcrusts after IPL / laser irradiation was high, and the effect of IPL / laser treatment was high. In panel B, the occurrence of scab and microcrust is small and the effect is not so high (moderate), while in panel C, the occurrence of scab and microcrust is very small, and the effect is almost recognized. There wasn't.

  Therefore, the present invention acquires an image of melanin in the skin of the spot site using a confocal microscope, and analyzes and evaluates the melanin state of the spot site by analyzing the obtained image, thereby classifying the stain. can do. For example, by evaluating the melanin at the spot site, the spot can be classified, and the effect on the IPL / laser treatment in the spot on the skin can be predicted in advance before the treatment. It is also possible to sort patients based on stains classified for IPL / laser treatment. In addition, the present invention can also classify spots other than phototherapy such as IPL / laser treatment.

The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, but the present invention is not limited to such specific embodiments, and various modifications and changes can be made within the scope of the gist of the present invention described in the claims. It can be changed.

It is a figure which shows the effect | action of IPL / laser to a spot site | part. It is a figure which shows an example (after IPL treatment) of a spot site | part improvement. It is a whole block diagram of the optical inspection apparatus used for this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the drive system of an optical inspection apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows the two-dimensional image generation process implemented using an optical inspection apparatus. It is a figure for demonstrating the structure of skin. It is a flowchart which performs the melanin evaluation process of a spot site | part. It is the confocal microscope image of the melanin in the skin on the skin before IPL treatment in 3 panels, and the skin of this spot part. It is a figure which shows a series of flows of the image analysis process based on the flowchart of FIG. It is a confocal microscope image of the melanin pattern in the skin of the spot site | part in 3 panels after the image processing of the flowchart of FIG. It is a figure which shows the difference of the effect of the IPL treatment between 3 panels.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Optical inspection apparatus 2 Operation type | mold microscope main body 3 Computer 4 Sample (skin)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Light source 12 Optical scanning device 13 XY direction drive control device 14 Objective lens 15 Depth of focus adjustment device 16 Z direction drive control device 18 Lens 19 Pinhole board 20 Photo detector 21 Computer main body 22 Monitor 25 Polygon mirror 26 Polygon driver 27 Galvano mirror 28 Galvano driver 30 XY direction control device 31 Focus adjustment mechanism 32 Focus adjustment mechanism driver 33 Z direction control device

Claims (4)

A stain classification method,
Obtaining a planar image of melanin present in the skin corresponding to a spot site on the skin;
Evaluating the melanin by analyzing the planar image;
Have
The melanin evaluation step comprises:
Removing noise from the planar image;
Setting a luminance threshold for the image processed in the removing step;
Separating particles from the image processed in the luminance threshold setting step;
Setting a particle size for the image processed in the particle separation step;
Measuring the particle area, particle number and particle area ratio for the image processed in the particle size setting step;
Evaluation step of melanin based on the processing of the measurement step of the particle area, the number of particles and the particle area ratio,
A method for classifying spots characterized by comprising: The step of obtaining the planar image is performed by using a scanning confocal microscope.
Irradiating the skin with a laser beam scanned in a plane;
Receiving reflected light reflected at a predetermined depth of the skin;
Obtaining a planar image of melanin present in the skin corresponding to a spot site on the skin at the position of the predetermined depth based on the luminance intensity of the reflected light;
The spot classification method according to claim 1, comprising:   A method for classifying patients using the classification method according to claim 1 or 2 for phototherapy for improving spots.   4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the phototherapy is IPL treatment or laser treatment.