| 主权项 |
1. A method consisting of measuring the effectiveness of a cosmetic treatment of skin imperfections by topically applying an active cosmetic agent or a cosmetic composition including said cosmetic agent, comprising at least one step performed by software installed on a computer, the method characterizing at least one imperfection by implementing the following steps:
a) prior to said cosmetic treatment, taking at least one digital color image of an area of skin including at least one imperfection to be characterized with a digital color image taking device, said digital color image being defined by a multiplicity of pixels, said image being transmitted to the software on the computer; b) said software on the computer dividing the digital color image into three color planes: red, green, blue, designated R, G, B; c) said software extracting just only the blue plane; d) detecting with said software on the computer an imperfection on the extracted blue plane; e) defining with said software on the computer, on said blue plane, an origin point O in relation to said imperfection, and plotting from said origin point O at least a first straight line segment (S1, S2, Sn) passing at least partly through an area of the imperfection; f) defining with said software on the computer, on said segment (S1, S2, Sn), n points P, denoted P1, P2 . . . Pn, n being an integer greater than or equal to 2, at least one of the points, denoted P1, being situated within the imperfection; g) automatedly determining with said software on the computer, corresponding to each defined point P, a pair of values (x; y), x being the distance of said point P relative to the origin point O, y being the value of gray level recorded at said point P; h) said software on the computer placing each point P defined by its pair (x; y) in an orthonormed frame of reference, in which the x axis represents said distances and the y axis represents the gray level, or vice versa; i) said software on the computer defining, tracing or plotting a straight line corresponding to each segment defined at step e), by the least squares method, from the different points P1, to Pn in said orthonormed frame, and automatedly calculating slope of the obtained straight line, in order to characterize the imperfection before treatment; j) performing said cosmetic treatment by topically applying said cosmetic active agent or said cosmetic composition including said cosmetic agent on at least said skin imperfection; k) taking at least one second color digital image after having performed said cosmetic treatment of said imperfection using at least one said agent, and characterizing with said software on the computer the treated imperfection according to steps a) through i); l) said software on the computer including the calculation of the slope or of the average of the slopes obtained from the characterization method according respectively to steps i) and k); m) said software on the computer performing a statistical test of the variations of the slopes or of the averages of the above slopes before and after the treatment, thereby enabling an operator to determine significance of the effectiveness of the cosmetic agent or composition. |
