Modeling of global skin aging indices among Caucasian and Asian women.

Background: The skin aging process is defined as the gradual degradation of several skin properties such as firmness, color, or the appearance of wrinkles. These properties can be assessed by trained experts, who perform an overall evaluation of the entire face.

Objective: The objective of this paper is the construction of two Global Skin Aging Indices specifically designed to model the overall skin aging process of Caucasian and Asian women.

Methods: Two hundred forty Asian women and 129 Caucasian women aged between 20 and 60 years old are recruited. Parameters related to wrinkles, sagging, elasticity, and skin tone are measured (clinically or instrumentally). The global skin aging index is defined as the normalized projection on the first principal component of a principal component analysis of the skin measurements. Then, linear regressions are performed between the indices and age of both panels.

Results: The first principal component carries around 50% of the initial variance for both indices. Both Global Skin Aging Indices statistically correlate with age (R ≥ 0.7, p-value < 0.05). An equation linking the indices with age is computed.

Conclusion: The proposed indices are good indicators of the overall aging process for Caucasian and Asian women. They offer new approaches to assess antiaging product efficacy.