Engineering Commons^™

A Non-Invasive Semiconductor Optical System To Measure Skin Tension, Anna Charron Dugas

LSU Master's Theses

The objectives of this project are to design, construct, validate and test a low-cost, non-invasive and painless device to measure skin tension. Skin is a complex, multi-layered, anisotropic material with non-linear viscoelastic behavior during stress application. The intricate balance of different semi-elastic fibers and continuous regeneration has brought difficulty to the accurate measurement of its mechanical properties. Commercial skin tension measurement products have been described, but are too expensive to be readily accessible for skin research and clinical utilization. The device to be developed in this project differs from existing devices in that it measures skin deformation under vacuum using …