Three-dimensional microscopic biopsy of in vivo human skin: a new technique based on a flexible confocal microscope.

A new noninvasive microscopic technique of three-dimensional optical biopsy from in vivo human skin based on real-time confocal microscopy and computer reconstruction is demonstrated. A tandem scanning confocal microscope is a prototype of a mobile, flexible design for the in-depth microscopic exploration of the skin on the human body. The various skin layers were observed in real-time, at the subcellular level down to a depth of 200 microns with a vertical resolution of 2 microns.

In vivo confocal microscopy of human skin: a new design for cosmetology and dermatology.

In-depth exploration of cellular structures in living human skin in situ is possible with the tandem scanning microscope (TSM). However, the rigid design of the microscope limited observations to the arms, hands, and fingers. A mobile version allowing the investigation of any parts of the body has been designed.

Mechanism of action of a lipophilic derivative of salicylic acid on normal skin.

Background/aims: Keratolytics are agents used for a very long period of time to improve various skin disorders such as acne, hyperkeratoses, ichtyose etc. Very little is known about their mechanism of action on healthy skin. On man, the chronic application of a cosmetic cream containing a lipophilic derivative of Salicyclic acid (LSA) markedly improves the aspect and texture of the skin.

A selective histochemical method for the quantitative estimation of elastic fibers by computerized morphometric analysis. Effect of colchicin treatment.

A morphometric technique is reported that uses a new selective staining of the elastic system fibers in skin biopsy specimens to facilitate the quantitative evaluation of the volume fraction occupied by these elastic fibers in the tissue. The study of elastic fibers in the dermis of 30 patients, before and after six months of treatment with Colchicin, was carried out with a Quantimet 720 system. Preelastic (oxytalan and elaunin) fibers and mature elastic fibers were quantitated separately.

Effect of colchicine on atherosclerosis. III. Study of dermal elastic fibers by quantitative histochemistry, automated image analysis.

Computerized automatic-image analytical procedure was applied on dermal biopsies stained for elastin by a new procedure giving a completely white background and staining only the elastic fiber system. In arteriosclerotic hypertensive patients, a 3-4 months' treatment with 1 mg colchicine per day resulted in a significant (60-80%, p less than 0.01) increase of the dermal elastic fiber density both in the superficial papillary dermis and in the deep dermis.