JPH11326182A - Apparatus for measuring skin - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily and correctly measure a skin by an OCT by directly butting a probe to an examinee without collecting the skin from the person. SOLUTION: An apparatus 10A measures a layered fine structure of a skin of an examinee P according to interferometric method using a low interference light, whereby a low coherent light is brought into the skin of the person P and a reference mirror, and an interference signal of the light reflected or scattered from the skin of the person P and the light reflected from the reference mirror is measured. The apparatus 10A is provided with an examinee fix means 11 for fixing a measurement point to be measured of the examinee P, a probe 1 for sending the low coherent light to the measurement point of the examinee P, a probe position adjustment means 20 for independently adjusting a position in an X axis, a Y axis or a Z axis direction of the probe 1, and a probe angle adjustment means for adjusting an angle of the probe within a horizontal plane or vertical plane.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for measuring a layered microstructure of a subject's skin by low interference light interference measurement.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Ultrasonic tomography, X-ray CT (computed)
In addition to technologies such as tomography and MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), we use low coherent light in the visible or near-infrared region to measure the interference of reflected and scattered light from the sample and analyze the internal structure of the sample. Low interference optical interferometry (opt
ical coherence microscopy (OCM) or optical coherence
herence tomography (OCT)) attracts attention (Ap
plied Optics, Vol.34, No.25, 5699 (1995), Applied O
ptics, Vol.32, No.30, 6032 (1993), Optics, Vol.25, N
o.3, 156 (1996) etc.).

[0003] According to OCT, the layer structure of a sample can be measured, and furthermore, the light scattering ability of each layer inside the sample can be measured non-invasively. Therefore, OCT is designed, manufactured, and inspected for optical components such as optical fibers and connectors. It is used for etc.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION However, OCT
When the layered microstructure of the skin surface layer is measured by using the method, since the skin surface of the living body has many curved surfaces, the conventional O
In a CT measuring apparatus, it is difficult to make the probe abut on the skin at an appropriate position or orientation, and it is also difficult to fix a measurement site. Therefore, skin pieces collected from the subject are used, but it is difficult to perform sufficient sampling,
In addition, there is a limit in tracking changes over time of the same measurement site.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an OCT measuring device which can directly measure the skin of a subject.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a method of causing low coherent light to enter a subject's skin and a reference mirror, respectively, and to reflect or scatter light from the subject's skin and a reference mirror. An apparatus for measuring a layered microstructure of the skin of a subject by a low-interference light interference measurement method that measures an interference signal with reflected light from a subject, a subject fixing means for fixing a measurement site of the subject, Probe for injecting coherent light, X-axis, Y-axis or Z of probe
Provided is a measuring device provided with a probe position adjusting means for independently adjusting an axial position and a probe angle adjusting means for adjusting an angle of a probe in a horizontal plane or a vertical plane.

According to the measuring device of the present invention, the probe
The position is adjusted in the X-axis, Y-axis, or Z-axis directions by the probe position adjusting means, and the angle in the horizontal plane or the vertical plane is also adjusted by the probe angle adjusting means. Even if the probe is formed, the probe can be brought into contact with the skin from an optimal direction. Therefore, it is possible to directly measure the skin at the measurement site of the subject without having to collect the skin from the subject, and to analyze the layered microstructure such as the epidermis and the dermis and to track its temporal change. Becomes possible.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In each of the drawings, the same reference numerals represent the same or equivalent components.

FIG. 1 shows a measuring apparatus 10A according to one embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a top view of FIG. This measuring device 10A is for measuring the skin of the face of a person in particular, and as a subject fixing means 11 for fixing a measurement site of the subject P, a chin rest 12 on which the chin of the subject P is placed and a forehead of the subject P Forehead applying member 13 and rear belt 1 to be applied
Four. These are each supported by a support 15 and are movable in the Z-axis direction along the support 15.

Therefore, according to the subject fixing means 11, the height of the chin rest 12 is adjusted in accordance with the position of the chin of the subject P, and the subject P places the chin on the chin rest 12 and attaches the forehead. By applying a forehead to the member 13,
The head of the subject P can be fixed, and the head of the subject P can be more reliably fixed by pressing the head of the subject P with the rear belt 14 as necessary. By fixing the subject P in this manner, it becomes easy to repeatedly and accurately measure a specific measurement site of the subject.

On the other hand, in the measuring apparatus 10A, the probe 1 for causing low coherent light to enter the measurement site of the subject P is fixed to a probe support rod 21. The probe support rod 21 is attached to the macro adjustment table 22, but can be rotated in the direction of arrow a in a vertical plane about the axis L1 as the center of rotation. The macro adjustment table 22 can be moved in the direction of arrow b in the figure on the order of mm. Further, the macro adjustment table 22 is rotatable in the direction of arrow c in a horizontal plane about the axis L2 as a rotation center. The macro adjustment table 22 is mounted on a micro adjustment table 23.
It can move in the order of μm in the direction of arrow b. The lower part of the micro adjustment table 23 is a rotation table 23a, which can rotate 360 degrees. The micro-adjustment table 23 is mounted on a lower table 24, and the lower table 24 is mounted on the first horizontal support rod 2.
5 can be moved in the direction of arrow d in the order of mm. The first horizontal support bar 25 is rotatably connected to the second horizontal support bar 26, and the second horizontal support bar 26 is connected to the vertical support bar 27 in the Z-axis direction (arrow e direction) by mm. It is movably mounted on order. The vertical support bar 27 is fixed to the third horizontal support bar 28 and the third horizontal support bar 28
Is rotatably connected to the column 15. The support 15 is fixed to the base 29.

Therefore, in the measuring apparatus 10A, the macro adjustment table 22 movable in the direction b, the micro adjustment table 23 movable in the direction b, the lower table 24 movable in the direction d, and the movement in the Z axis direction (e direction). The possible second horizontal support bar 26 functions as probe position adjusting means 20 for independently adjusting the position of the probe 1 in the X-axis, Y-axis, or Z-axis directions. Of the probe position adjusting means 20, the micro adjusting table 23 movable in the direction b functions as a micro adjusting means for adjusting the position of the probe 1 on the order of μm, and the other is a macro adjustment for adjusting the probe on the order of mm. Functions as a means.

In this measuring device 10A, a macro adjustment table 22 rotatable in the direction c, a micro adjustment table 23 in which a rotation table 23a is rotatable 360 °, and a first rotatably connected micro adjustment table 23. Horizontal support rod 25 and second horizontal support rod 2
6. The third horizontal support rod 28 and the column 15 rotatably connected function as probe angle adjustment means for adjusting the angle of the probe 1 in a horizontal plane, and support the probe 1 rotatably in the a direction. The probe support rod 21 functions as probe angle adjusting means for adjusting the angle of the probe 1 in a vertical plane.

The rotation angle of the probe support rod 21 in the direction a, the amount of movement of the macro adjustment table 22 in the direction b, the amount of movement of the micro adjustment table 23 in the direction b, and the amount of movement of the lower table 24 in the direction d are respectively controlled. The box 30 allows computer control.

Therefore, according to this measuring device 10A, after the subject P is fixed to the subject fixing means 11, the tip of the probe 1 is roughly aligned with the measurement site by the macro adjusting means, and further accurately positioned by the micro adjusting means. It becomes possible to match. Furthermore, the angle of the probe 1 can be changed as necessary so that the low coherent light is perpendicularly incident on the skin as the measurement site from the probe 1. Therefore, the probe 1 can be appropriately brought into contact with the skin regardless of the position of the skin as the measurement site on the face or the curved surface. Further, it becomes easy to repeatedly contact the probe 1 with a specific measurement site, and it is possible to favorably track a temporal change of the specific measurement site.

In the present invention, the probe 1 is not particularly limited as long as the tip can be brought into close contact with the skin, and a probe used in a commercially available OCT measuring device can be used. The probe 1 is connected to an OCT device 40 in which a light source, a reference mirror, and an analyzer are incorporated.

The OCT device 40 includes a monitor 41 and a printer 42 that output measurement results regarding the layered microstructure of the skin obtained by measuring the interference signal using the probe 1.
Is connected.

In addition, the measuring device 10A may be provided with an image pickup device or the like so that the skin surface serving as a measurement site can be magnified and observed.

As described above, the measuring device 10 shown in FIGS.
Although the present invention has been described in detail based on A, the present invention can take various aspects. For example, the measuring device 10A shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 uses the subject fixing means 11 to hold the chin rest 12, the forehead abutment member 13, the rear belt, so that the skin of the human face can be accurately and easily measured. 14, the subject fixing means 11 is movable. However, the subject fixing means is not limited to the face, and may not necessarily be movable. When the whole body of the subject is to be measured, as in the measuring device 10B shown in FIG.
The subject P can be used as the subject placing table 11B on which the subject P lies. Further, like a measuring device 10C shown in FIG. 4, a chair-type fixing means 11C may be used. In these cases, the subject mounting table 11B or the chair type fixing means 11C
Around the rods 31 and 32, the probe 31 provided with the probe position adjusting means 20 and the probe angle position adjusting means may be attached to the rods 31 and 32, respectively. In particular, it is preferable that the probe position adjusting means 20 and the probe angle position adjusting means which support the probe 1 can be moved along the rods 31 and 32, respectively.

[0020]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be specifically described below based on embodiments.

Example 1 A total of 111 females aged 18 to 70 were set as subjects, and the optical thickness of the epidermis was measured by OCT using the skin on the left cheek of the face of each subject as a measurement site.

As the OCT measuring device, the device shown in FIG. 1 was used. In this case, the probe 1 and the OCT device 40
As HP-850 manufactured by Hewlett-Packard Company
4A was used. In this case, the probe 1 can be adjusted by a maximum of 2 mm by the macro adjustment table 22 and can be adjusted by a maximum of 2 mm in 1 μm steps by the micro adjustment table 23. In addition, the probe support rod 21 has a maximum of 25 cm.
Adjustable.

FIG. 5 shows the result. From the figure, it can be seen that the optical thickness of the epidermis tends to decrease with aging.

[0024]

According to the measuring apparatus of the present invention, skin measurement by OCT can be performed without collecting skin from a subject.
It is easy and accurate to apply the probe directly to the subject. Therefore, it becomes possible to collect the OCT measurement data of the skin widely. Further, it becomes easy to repeatedly measure a specific measurement site of the skin, and it becomes possible to track a temporal change of the layered microstructure of the skin.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a measuring device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a top view of the measuring device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an overall view of a measuring device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an overall view of a measuring device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between age and the optical thickness of the epidermis obtained in an example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 probe 10A, 10B, 10C measuring device 11 subject fixing means 11B subject placing table 11C chair type fixing means 12 chin rest 13 framed abutment member 14 rear belt 15 support 20 probe position adjusting means 21 probe support rod 22 macro adjusting table 23 Micro adjustment table 23a Rotating table 24 Lower table 25 First horizontal support bar 26 Second horizontal support bar 27 Vertical support bar 28 Third horizontal support bar 29 Base 30 Control box 31 Rod 32 Rod 40 OCT device 41 Monitor 42 Printer P subject

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI // A61B 10/00 A61B 5/10 300Q

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A low-coherence light interference measurement system in which low-coherent light is incident on a subject's skin and a reference mirror, respectively, and an interference signal between reflected light or scattered light from the subject's skin and reflected light from the reference mirror is measured. An apparatus for measuring a layered microstructure of the skin of a subject by a method, a subject fixing means for fixing a measurement site of the subject, a probe for emitting low coherent light to the measurement site of the subject, an X axis, a Y axis, or a Z of the probe.
A measuring apparatus comprising: probe position adjusting means for independently adjusting an axial position; and probe angle adjusting means for adjusting an angle of a probe in a horizontal plane or a vertical plane. 2. A probe position adjusting means, comprising: a macro adjusting means for adjusting the position of the probe in the X-axis, Y-axis or Z-axis direction on the order of mm or more; and a probe adjusting means in the X-axis, Y-axis or Z-axis direction. 2. The measuring apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a micro-adjustment means for adjusting an order of micrometers. 3. The measuring device according to claim 1, wherein the subject fixing means includes a chin rest on which the chin of the subject is placed, and a forehead applying member for applying the forehead of the subject. 4. The measuring apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the subject fixing means is a movable type that adjusts a fixed position of the subject in the X-axis, Y-axis, or Z-axis direction.