ON THE ASSESSMENT OF MELANIN IN HUMAN SKIN in vivo*, †.

Abstract— A method for estimating the amount of pigment in normal human skin in uivo is presented. This method is based on remittance spectroscopy. The spectrum of normal skin is compared to amelanotic skin and the logarithm of the ratio is fitted with a straight line in the range 620‐720 nm. The parameters obtained are strongly correlated for all the volunteers in this study. therefore each spectrum determines one parameter for each individual. When similar analysis was performed on DOPA‐melanin we obtained the same strong correlation among different concentrations. We are thus able to determine a relation between the coefficient obtained from the remittance spectrum from normal skin and an equivalent concentration of DOPA‐melanin in aqueous solution. We can thus estimate. to a first approximation, the total melanin mass in human skin non‐invasively, and can determine a parameter that is uniquely correlated to the amount of melanin pigment in the skin.