Mueller Matrix Microscopy for In Vivo Scar Tissue Diagnostics and Treatment Evaluation

authored by

Lennart Jütte, Bernhard Roth

Abstract

Scars usually do not show strong contrast under standard skin examination relying on dermoscopes. They usually develop after skin injury when the body repairs the damaged tissue. In general, scars cause multiple types of distress such as movement restrictions, pain, itchiness and the psychological impact of the associated cosmetic disfigurement with no universally successful treatment option available at the moment. Scar treatment has significant economic impact as well. Mueller matrix polarimetry with integrated autofocus and automatic data registration can potentially improve scar assessment by the dermatologist and help to make the evaluation of the treatment outcome objective. Polarimetry can provide new physical parameters for an objective treatment evaluation. We show that Mueller matrix polarimetry can enable strong contrast for in vivo scar imaging. Additionally, our results indicate that the polarization stain images obtained form there could be a useful tool for dermatology. Furthermore, we demonstrate that polarimetry can be used to monitor wound healing, which may help prevent scarring altogether.

Organisation(s)

Hannover Centre for Optical Technologies (HOT)
PhoenixD: Photonics, Optics, and Engineering - Innovation Across Disciplines

Type

Article

Journal

Sensors

Volume

22

ISSN

1424-8220

Publication date

12.2022

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Analytical Chemistry, Information Systems, Biochemistry, Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics, Instrumentation, Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.3390/s22239349 (Access: Open)