Health & Wellbeing

Microfluidic sticker measures skin's pH levels

Microfluidic sticker measures skin's pH levels
My Skin Track pH is adhered to the inner arm
My Skin Track pH is adhered to the inner arm
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My Skin Track pH may be commercially available as of the end of the year
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My Skin Track pH may be commercially available as of the end of the year
My Skin Track pH is adhered to the inner arm
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My Skin Track pH is adhered to the inner arm
An expanded view of My Skin Track pH
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An expanded view of My Skin Track pH
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It was just a couple of months ago that L'Oréal announced My Skin Track UV, a wearable battery-free device that measures its user's ultraviolet light exposure. Well, the company has now unveiled My Skin Track pH, a wearable that monitors the pH levels of its user's skin.

According to L'Oréal, pH imbalances in the skin can produce inflammatory responses, which may in turn lead to or worsen conditions such as dryness, eczema, and atopic dermatitis. That's where My Skin Track pH comes in.

Developed by L'Oréal's La Roche-Posay skincare division in partnership with Epicore Biosystems, it takes the form of a thin-film sticker that is adhered to the skin of the user's inner arm. Microfluidic channels within the device then draw in trace amounts of sweat. After five to 15 minutes, the pH content of that sweat causes two dots on top of the device to change color.

An expanded view of My Skin Track pH
An expanded view of My Skin Track pH

Utilizing their smartphone's camera, users proceed to take a photo of those dots. An accompanying app analyzes their color, and from that deduces the skin's pH levels. If those levels are out of whack, the app advises users on what action to take.

And in case you're wondering about just pressing a strip of pH paper against your skin to get the same results, we asked – it turns out that quite a large amount of sweat would be required, and even then the reading wouldn't be very accurate.

Plans call for My Skin Track pH to be trialled through select US La Roche-Posay dermatologists, with an eye towards releasing a direct-to-consumer product late this year.

Source: L'Oréal

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