High-tech device facilitates contact-free skin analysis

The new device developed at ZHAW School of Engineering provides a means of detecting skin problems early and cheaply. Because it is based on so-called active thermography, it can conduct analyses without the use of a laser or radiation.

Instead, it uses airflows of different temperatures to stimulate disparities on the skin surface. An infrared camera captures the variations in temperature measured on the skin and transmits the data to a software programme, which then publishes the results as images on a tablet.    

As well as showing how deep a burn is and whether the skin will be able to self-heal, the technology can identify poorly circulated areas that help dermatologists diagnose disease, explained ZHAW School of Engineering. It can also be deployed in plastic surgery to assess circulation following a skin transplant.  

The researchers used a method that has already proved successful in the aviation industry. Because it can identify the smallest tears and defects in material, it was used in the quality control of aeroplane components, explained ZHAW researcher Mathias Bonmarin from the Institute of Computational Physics.

Since then, the technology has also been used in a clinical trial at Geneva University Hospitals. Thanks to financing from the Swiss Innovation Agency Innosuisse and the Gebert Rüf Stiftung, the researchers have been able to develop a prototype. To market the device, they founded the startup company Dermolockin.