COMPARISON OF NARROW-BAND REFLECTANCE SPECTROPHOTOMETRIC AND TRISTIMULUS COLORIMETRIC MEASUREMENTS OF SKIN COLOR - 23 ANATOMICAL SITES EVALUATED BY THE DERMASPECTROMETER(R) AND THE CHROMA-METER-CR-200(R)

Two types of portable reflectance instruments, tristimulus colorimeter s (Chroma Meter CR-200(R)) and narrow-band spectro-photometers (Dermas pectrometer(R), have recently become available for the quantification of skin color. In order to know the difference and the relationship be tween the different color systems, the CIE La*b* system and the eryth ema melanin (E/M) indices, respectively, adopted by the two, the varia tions in skin color were measured at 23 different anatomical sites of 10 healthy Caucasian male subjects. The reddish tint of the skin Two b y the two, the variations color of the face, palm and sole was readily detected by either of them in the increase in the a value or in the E index, and a strong linear correlation (r = 0.92, p < 0.00 1) was no ted between the two values. The fair color appearance of the trunk was detected in the high L value and in the low M index, but the correla tion between the two was much less significant (r -0.56, p < 0.001). A lthough the mean b values were highest in the trunk, they are signifi cantly lower on the non-light-exposed side than those on the light-exp osed side of the arm. The correlation between the b value and the M i ndex was weak.