Nobutoshi Ojima*, Norimichi Tsumura**, Syuuichi Akazaki*, Kimihiko Hori*, and Yoichi Miyake**
*Skin Care Beauty Center, Kao Corporation, Tokyo, Japan
**Department of Information and Image Sciences, Chiba University, Chiba,
Japan
The Journal of Imaging Science and Technology May/June 2004, vol. 48, no.
3; p. 222-236;
Abstract
The spatial distributions of melanin and hemoglobin in human skin can be 
determined by image-based skin chromophore analysis including independent 
component analysis (ICA) of a skin color image. The separation is based on the 
skin color model in the optical density domain to quantify the change in the 
chromophores. In this paper, the analysis technique developed by Tsumura et al. 
was applied to many skin images, and the distribution of skin chromophores, such 
as melanin and hemoglobin, agreed well with the physiological knowledge. The 
effectiveness of cosmetic products was also evaluated by observing the changes 
in the amount of each chromophore. Finally a simulation to synthesize the 
changes in skin chromophores was performed to demonstrate its validity. 
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