163 Skin Aging and Structure-Function Relations on Facial Skin Wrinkles in East Asian Women

The aim of this study was to explore correlations between structural and functional features measured on facial skin wrinkles in an East Asian population.A clinical study was conducted on eighteen healthy volunteers (21-61 years of age) from the Shanghai and Hangzhou region in China.Measurements on facial skin areas (forehead, glabella, temple, cheek, and nasolabial fold) were acquired using non-invasive methods including skin surface profilometry (3D), macro imaging (2D), micro topographic imaging, ultrasound, and skin viscoelasticity.Skin barrier function (trans-epidermal water loss rate) and skin surface hydration were measured on the cheek site only.The results show a clear correlation between wrinkle structural parameters and age that strongly depends on the skin site, with nasolabial folds showing the sharpest increase followed by glabella, temple, cheek, and forehead wrinkles.Skin firmness and skin elasticity-related parameters decrease with age in a site-depended manner, as well as the skin echo density in ultrasound.Interestingly, skin firmness inversely correlates with the skin surface roughness (Ra) measured by profilometry, as well as with other profilometric parameters (wrinkle depth, volume, and area).Surprisingly, while wrinkle area measured by 2D imaging correlated with profilometric wrinkle depth and roughness, it did not correlate with 3D measured wrinkle area, which indicates limitations of the 2D method.In summary, in this East Asian population structural and functional parameters of facial skin wrinkles are age -and site-dependent.Significant correlations exist between skin firmness and surface roughness.The findings underscore the importance of site-specific analysis in skin aging studies and highlight the structure-function relationships in skin physiology.